Artist: The Miracles
Title: Renaissance
Year: 1973
Label: Tamla
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Flwrpt Rating of this Record: 5.0/5.0
Review
Now this is what a love album is supposed to sound like! A mix of ballads, funky tracks, and grooves. The Miracles are another group that survived just fine once the star of the group left (in this case, Smokey Robinson). I found out about this album through a mix that was done by one of my favorite producers/dj’s…Madlib. He did a Motown mix some time back, and there was a Miracles song that he had thrown in there, and I was instantly like, “WHOOOOAAAAA, what’s that!?!?!?!?”. I had to get on the hunt asap, after about three weeks of searching, I found it in a record spot that I frequent in Brooklyn. Happy, I came home and instantly played the record, and to my surprise, EVERY track on this album was a smash!!! Therefore placing this LP in my favorites grouping. These guys were far from traditionalists on this album, that’s what I love about it, the writing and execution of songs is phenomenal. This is also the LP that introduced William Griffin as the new lead singer of the group, and he somewhat filled Smokey’s shoes I think, bringing a new sound to The Miracles, adding Griffin definitely hit the refresh button for these guys and gave them a whole new life. Get this album, it’s a necessity!!!
Check out the sound!
What Is A Heart Good For
I Don’t Need No Reason
Nowhere To Go
Design
These cats pulled off the look and feel of the renaissance period, but with afros! LOL! You have to love it. Really dark in tone with these glowing gauntlets, salmony skin tones, and grainy photography. It’s not like the greatest cover of all, but I like what they tried to do. The failure here is the front cover font, it’s not LEGIBLE, which is a HUGE design no-no. It’s too thin, and the color blends into the background waaaaay too much. They didn’t credit the designer here, hmmmmmm…I wonder why?
Additional info on The Miracles
One Comment
Nice cover….I like this one.