Essar (Smokey Robinson album)

Essar
Studio album by Smokey Robinson
Released 1984
Recorded 1984
Genre R&B, Soul
Label Motown
Producer Smokey Robinson and Reginald "Sonny" Burke
Smokey Robinson chronology
Touch the Sky
(1983)		 Essar
(1984)		 Smoke Signals
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link

Essar is a 1984 album by American singer Smokey Robinson. For the most part it was produced and arranged by Robinson with Reginald "Sonny" Burke. The album was released on the Motown sub-label Tamla.

Reception

The album only peaked at #141 on Billboard pop charts, and at #35 on R&B charts.

Singles weren't doing much better, with "And I Don't Love You" peaking at #106 Billboard and #33 R&B charts, and"I can't find" at #109 Billboard and #41 R&B charts.

Although the 12" B-Side of "And I Don't Love You" Larry Levan's Instrumental (Dub) became a Horse Meat Disco classic in the late 2000s.[1]

William Ruhlmann gave 2 out of 5 stars on AllMusic, addressing it as "the low point" in Robinson's career and holding Sonny Burke's dominating synthesiser play responsible.[2] Where Robert Christgau rated it as B+, acknowledging that there are "fillers", but concluding with "one thing you can say about Smokey's filler that you can't say about anybody else's--Smokey's singing it".[3]

Track listing

Side A

  1. "And I Don't Love You" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 5:20
  2. "Train Of Thought" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:55
  3. "I Can't Find" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 6:15
  4. "Why Are You Running From My Love" (Scott V. Smith, Stephen Tavani) – 4:20

Side B

  1. "Gone Forever (Theme from the motion picture Cry of the City" (Mark Davis) – 3:10
  2. "Close Encounters Of The First Kind" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:35
  3. "Little Girl Little Girl" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 5:12
  4. "Girl I'm Standing There" (William "Smokey" Robinson) – 4:25
  5. "Driving Thru Life In The Fast Lane" (Milton Brown, Snuff Garrett, Steve Dorff) – 3:32

Personnel

Additional credits:

"And I Don't Love You"

"I Can't Find"

"Why Are You Running From My Love" – Recorded at Mama Jo's, North Hollywood, with:

"Gone Forever" – Recorded at Golden Sound Studios, Inc., Hollywood with:

"Girl I'm Standing There"

"Driving Thru Life In The Fast Lane"

Essar to Emgee

The cover backside contains a handwritten message: "A note to Emgee: We're really gonna miss you, Essar" – obviously from Smokey Robinson (S.R.) to his colleague Marvin Gaye (M.G.) who was murdered on April 1, 1984.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "also included on "Horse Meat Disco" compilation, 2009".
  2. ↑ "William Ruhlmann, AllMusic on Essar".
  3. ↑ "Robert Christgau on Essar".
  4. ↑ "Cover backside scan". on Discogs

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.