Album: A Quiet Storm
Artist: Smokey Robinson
Born: Detroit, Michigan
Released: March 1975
Genre: Soul
Influenced: Prince, Terence Trent D'Arby, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse
Most music journalists and old punk rockers will have you believe that the years immediately before the punk / new wave explosion were just a musical desert. I'm not having that; one ounce of A Quiet Storm or Blood On The Tracks is worth a ton of Never Mind The Bollocks (not sure if that image works, but you get the picture). What is noticeable though in 1975 is that the best music was being made by relatively "senior" recording artists, with Smokey 35 by the time of A Quiet Storm's release, and Dylan 33. Reggae and krautrock were exciting new groundswells in music, but in Britain and America the local music scenes must have seemed pretty stale for many young people. Anyway, this is a blog about Smokey and one of the best soul albums ever released, but I find that context does help to show how A Quiet Storm was a real outlier in musical history. By this time, the most successful soul voices, such as Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield, were more in thrall to the funk sound of Sly & The Family Stone. Smokey trod a very different path, opting for a mellow soul sound that would inspire an entire brand of late-night radio programming that lasts until this day (and is branded the "Quiet Storm"). This smooth, atmospheric sound also reminds me of Al Green, who sadly never released a great album, but is one of my favourite soul singers. Both his voice and Smokey's are like aural medicine.
I couldn't find any good clips of Smokey singing songs from A Quiet Storm, so I decided to post this from Soul Train, a duet with fellow Detroit-born star Aretha. This is so beautiful, the first time I watched it I was moved to tears. Smokey's singing on this album is also stunning, while the production and songwriting also make it shine. Atmospheric opening track Quiet Storm is unconventionally long (8mins) for a soul song and the sound of winds and slow bass that start proceedings are more reminiscent of prog rock. As the arrangement builds, the song becomes more conventionally soul and I love the backing vocals. Agony & The Ecstasy is more mellow, but the lyrics explore feelings of regret and the vocals soar again. All three of the first songs on the album were released as singles, with Baby That's Backatcha the most successful of them all, the upbeat percussion and flute solo no doubt appealing to musical tastes at the time. Wedding Song (composed for Jermaine Jackson's nuptials) is a little schmaltzy in parts, but has a great airy and light feel about it, while the stunning melody of Happy is a fitting tribute to the memory of Billie Holiday (the song, a Smokey arrangement, was first sung by Michael Jackson). Love Letters is the closest Smokey comes to funk on the album, that fuzzy bass working brilliantly with the synths. This tempo is maintained on Coincidentally, which again eschews social comment for matters of heart, and is one of the album's highlights. Soul had to wait until disco to find its way forward again, but in those barren years of the mid-70s this album stands tall.
P.S. Dylan didn't actually call Smokey "America's greatest living poet", but he certainly was one of the finest songwriters in the soul genre.
Most music journalists and old punk rockers will have you believe that the years immediately before the punk / new wave explosion were just a musical desert. I'm not having that; one ounce of A Quiet Storm or Blood On The Tracks is worth a ton of Never Mind The Bollocks (not sure if that image works, but you get the picture). What is noticeable though in 1975 is that the best music was being made by relatively "senior" recording artists, with Smokey 35 by the time of A Quiet Storm's release, and Dylan 33. Reggae and krautrock were exciting new groundswells in music, but in Britain and America the local music scenes must have seemed pretty stale for many young people. Anyway, this is a blog about Smokey and one of the best soul albums ever released, but I find that context does help to show how A Quiet Storm was a real outlier in musical history. By this time, the most successful soul voices, such as Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield, were more in thrall to the funk sound of Sly & The Family Stone. Smokey trod a very different path, opting for a mellow soul sound that would inspire an entire brand of late-night radio programming that lasts until this day (and is branded the "Quiet Storm"). This smooth, atmospheric sound also reminds me of Al Green, who sadly never released a great album, but is one of my favourite soul singers. Both his voice and Smokey's are like aural medicine.
I couldn't find any good clips of Smokey singing songs from A Quiet Storm, so I decided to post this from Soul Train, a duet with fellow Detroit-born star Aretha. This is so beautiful, the first time I watched it I was moved to tears. Smokey's singing on this album is also stunning, while the production and songwriting also make it shine. Atmospheric opening track Quiet Storm is unconventionally long (8mins) for a soul song and the sound of winds and slow bass that start proceedings are more reminiscent of prog rock. As the arrangement builds, the song becomes more conventionally soul and I love the backing vocals. Agony & The Ecstasy is more mellow, but the lyrics explore feelings of regret and the vocals soar again. All three of the first songs on the album were released as singles, with Baby That's Backatcha the most successful of them all, the upbeat percussion and flute solo no doubt appealing to musical tastes at the time. Wedding Song (composed for Jermaine Jackson's nuptials) is a little schmaltzy in parts, but has a great airy and light feel about it, while the stunning melody of Happy is a fitting tribute to the memory of Billie Holiday (the song, a Smokey arrangement, was first sung by Michael Jackson). Love Letters is the closest Smokey comes to funk on the album, that fuzzy bass working brilliantly with the synths. This tempo is maintained on Coincidentally, which again eschews social comment for matters of heart, and is one of the album's highlights. Soul had to wait until disco to find its way forward again, but in those barren years of the mid-70s this album stands tall.
P.S. Dylan didn't actually call Smokey "America's greatest living poet", but he certainly was one of the finest songwriters in the soul genre.
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