Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Four In Blue - 1969
1969's Four In Blue was an unusual release in that it wasn't full of 45 rpm 'a' sides and 'b' sides - none at all in fact (as far as I'm aware). That was a real rarity for a Motown album. What was not unusual, though was the presence of several covers. The album is presented in stereo but the sound is not quite as seriously impressive as it was on Away We A-Go-Go. It is a bit of a run-of-the mill album, not bad, not at all, but not possessing that something truly special.
The best material is, of course, the Smokey originals, and the ones that sound as if they are.
The album kicks off with a good one in the melodic and pleasant groove of You Send Me (With Your Good Lovin'), not a Robinson song, but delivered like one. Dreams, Dreams is an uptempo Smokey number. It's good, but nothing outstanding compared to some of his material. Tomorrow Is Another Day, a melodious ballad, falls into the same category.
Now it's Beatles cover time. We get Hey Jude - a song, let's be honest, only really exists properly in its original form. Smokey does his best to give it a bit of a different feel so kudos to him for that. He brings out the intrinsic soul of the song. He adds lyrics to the singalong "la la la" bit too, an inventive touch.
Another cover is the much-covered California Soul, originally done most atmospherically by The 5th Dimension. Something of that hot afternoon feeling is lost on Smokey's version. It still has a hell of a lot of soul, however. It's Smokey after all.
A Legend In Its Own Time is an inspirational/aspirational Smokey ballad, featuring some big orchestration.
Somewhere back in time, I had a copy of Smokey's version of The Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', and I have no idea how or why. I have always liked it, though, particularly the instrumental/vocal interplay on the "baby baby - I'd get down on my knees for you" bit. Smokey and the brass interact like the two original voices did. Clever.
We Can Make It We Can is a breezy Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson song, written very much in the Smokey style. When Nobody Cares is a ballad with some sombre, foreboding brass backing. Don't Say You Love Me is more uptempo, with a vague funkiness to it. It has some of those brassy breaks that disco songs would employ so much a few years later. Wish I Knew is pretty much standard Smokey ballad fare.
The album finishes with a cover of Diana Ross & The Supremes' My World Is Empty Without You, as Smokey gives us some typical Motown song-sharing to good effect.
