*JUST IN!* VA (Songwriter Series) – Shop Around The Smokey Robinson Songbook – Ace UK CD

Ace and Kent’s popular Songwriter Series goes from strength to strength and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

This month a master craftsman of 20th century songwriting gets a long overdue overview of his catalogue, featuring two dozen of his very best songs from a treasure trove that numbers over 150 published copyrights.

As well as fronting one of its flagship groups for more than 15 years William Robinson Jr. – forever known as ‘Smokey’ – was an integral part of the original backroom team at Berry Gordy’s fledgling Motown company, writing and producing not only the Miracles’ hits but also those of many of Motown’s other breakthrough singers. Smokey wrote and recorded Motown’s first million seller ‘Shop Around’ and it’s only right and proper that this compilation borrows that title.

Smokey’s songs were covered by all manner of artists in all genres of music, from Merseybeat to reggae. As with all of our Songwriter series sets, we strive to include examples of his work that you wouldn’t expect, and from artists you might not necessarily expect either. Such is the depth of Smokey’s catalogue that there was not room to include many other songs of comparable quality, but the prospect of a second volume is not beyond the realms of possibility in the future.

Smokey is still touring in his 80s, and it’s a pleasure to showcase his compositional skills in the Songwriter Series while he is still a living legend.

tracklist:

01 The Beat – The Tears Of A Clown
02 Bettye Swann – Don’t Look Back
03 Fanny – Ain’t That Peculiar
04 The Contours – First I Look At The Purse (UK Mix)
05 Elvis Costello & The Attractions – From Head To Toe
06 Sonny & Cher – You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me
07 Shades – Who You Gonna Run To
08 The Searchers – I’ll Be Doggone
09 The Temptations – I Want A Love I Can See
10 Blondie – The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game
11 Otis Redding – My Girl
12 Ella Fitzgerald – Get Ready
13 Lonnie Mack – Oh I Apologize
14 Marvin Gaye – One More Heartache
15 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates – Shop Around
16 Kiki Dee – I’ll Try Something New
17 Intruders – What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One
18 Helen Shapiro – My Guy
19 John Holt – The Further You Look
20 Little Richard – The Way You Do The Things You Do
21 Billy Bragg – The Tracks Of My Tears
22 Kim Carnes – More Love
23 Laura Nyro – Ooh Baby Baby
24 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – More, More, More Of Your Love (Mono Mix)