''Renaissance'' (Tamla T-325L) was a 1973 album by R&B group

The Miracles The Miracles (also known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups ...

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

Records'

Tamla Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

label, noted as the first-ever album by the group not to feature original lead singer

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

on lead vocals. Instead, his replacement, new lead singer, Billy Griffin, did the lead vocals on this album.

History

Once Robinson decided to retire from the group to concentrate on his duties as Vice President of the Motown Record Corporation, Miracles members

Claudette Robinson Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson ( Rogers; born June 20, 1938) is an American singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which befor ...

(Smokey's then-wife) and Marv Tarplin decided to leave as well. Tarplin, after staying for a year, decided to leave the Miracles and began touring and working with Smokey. Claudette retired to concentrate on raising the couple's two children, Berry and Tamla. The other Miracles, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, and Ronnie White, decided to conduct a nationwide search for a singer to replace Smokey. After auditioning some 60 hopefuls, the group decided on Billy Griffin, a native of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. In the 2006 Miracles DVD release ''

The Definitive Performances (1963-1987) ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', Miracles Pete Moore & Bobby Rogers, commented that the group decided on Billy because, in addition to being a great singer, he also demonstrated "some writing ability". Smokey Robinson served as the album's executive producer, and took pains to add, in the album's liner notes, that Billy was ''"a determined young man with a fresh new sound, who is sure to become dynamic in the industry"''. In his answer to "unnamed skeptics" who claimed that The Miracles couldn't make it without him ...his reply was, concerning the new lineup, "All you have to do is listen". ''Renaissance'' included several songs from noted writer-producers....including

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

, Willie Hutch, Leon Ware,

Fonce Mizell The Mizell Brothers were an American record producing team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry Mizell (born February 17, 1944) and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell (January 15, 1943 – July 5, 2011). They worked together on a string of jazz or R&B albums. ...

, Freddie Perren, Pam Sawyer, and others. Griffin proved to be a more-than-capable lead singer, and Bobby, Ron and Pete's vocal blends were among their best. The album's first intended single was "What Is a Heart Good For" which was performed by the group on a July 13, 1973, telecast of NBC's '' The Midnight Special'' which marked the group's first national television appearance with Billy... and was hosted by Smokey himself. The Miracles also performed the song on a June 23, 1973 and a repeat performance on September 28, 1974 telecast of Don Cornelius' ''"

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series w ...

"''. Radio began playing the uptempo single (Tamla 54240), when it was inexplicably withdrawn, and replaced with a ballad "Don't Let It End ('Til You Let It Begin)", which, while not a bad song, may have been a poor choice for the group's inaugural single: seen by some as the weakest song in an otherwise very strong album. As a result, "Don't Let It End ('Til You Let It Begin)" only reached #56 Pop, #26 R&B on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart, and without a big hit single to promote it, ''Renaissance'' only reached #174 Pop, #33 R&B on the Billboard album chart. An undeserved fate for an album otherwise filled with potential hits that never saw the light of day as singles, including "Nowhere to Go", a powerful song featuring all of The Miracles on lead vocals, the Willie Hutch written-and-produced "I Didn't Realize the Show Was Over", (Hutch also contributed to Smokey's first Post-Miracles solo album), and Marvin Gaye's "I Love You Secretly"- a song about inter-racial love. Critics at the time gave the album almost universally positive reviews. However, the group's next album, ''

Do It Baby "Do It Baby" is a 1974 single recorded and released by the Motown R&B group The Miracles. The song was taken from the album of the same name, and written by Motown staff songwriters Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian and produced by Perren. Ba ...

'', based on their #13 million-selling hit single of the same name, would fare far better. While The Miracles' ''Renaissance'' had never been re-issued on CD, several of its songs did appear on the 2003 Motown compilation CD ''The Miracles-Love Machine: The 70's Collection''. However, it was finally released on CD in June 2012 in a CD package, also featuring the Miracles' 1974 ''

'' album.

Track listing

All lead vocals by Billy Griffin except where noted Side One #"What is a Heart Good For" ( Arthur Ross, Leon Ware) # "If You're Ever in the Neighborhood" (Don Fenceton, Jerry Marcellino, Mel Larson) # "I Wanna Be With You" ( Willie Hutch) # "Wigs and Lashes" (

Larry Mizell Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence (given name), Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American arti ...

) (lead vocals: Billy Griffin, Ronnie White) # "Don't Let It End ('Til You Let It Begin)" (Christine Yarian, Freddie Perren) (lead vocals: Billy Griffin, Ronnie White; spoken word segment: Bobby Rogers) Side Two # "I Love You Secretly" ( Anna Gordy Gaye, Elgie Stover,

) # "I Don't Need No Reason" ( Leon Ware, Pam Sawyer) # "Nowhere To Go" (Clay McMurray, Dennis Jackson, Gary Fears) (lead vocals: Billy Griffin, Pete Moore, Ronnie White, Bobby Rogers) # "I Didn't Realize The Show Was Over" (Richard Hutch, Willie Hutch)

Personnel

* Billy Griffin - lead vocals * Ronnie White - baritone backing vocals * Pete Moore - bass backing vocals * Bobby Rogers - tenor backing vocals * Marv Tarplin - guitar *

- executive producer *Assorted

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

studio musicians - instrumentation

Charts

Singles

References

External links

The Miracles-Renaissance at Discogs

{{Authority control 1973 albums">"RENAISSANCE" MEN: a Landmark MIRACLES Album turns 35
{{Authority control 1973 albums
The Miracles albums Albums produced by Smokey Robinson Albums produced by the Mizell Brothers Albums produced by Hal Davis Albums produced by Marvin Gaye Albums produced by Freddie Perren Tamla Records albums