''Touch the Sky'' is a 1983

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American 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 ...

. It was produced and arranged by Robinson with Reginald "Sonny" Burke, and recorded and mixed at Golden Sound Studios, Inc., Hollywood, California. The album was released on the

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 ...

sub-label ''Tamla''.

Reception

The album peaked at #50 on ''

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 ...

'' pop charts, and at #8 on

R&B charts The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. There were two singles released from this album. "I've Made Love to You A Thousand Times" peaked at #101

and #8

, "Touch The Sky" at #110

and #68

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a B+, giving a special recommendation to "cheating-song fans."

Track listing

Side A

#"Touch the Sky" (William "Smokey" Robinson) - 5:45 #"Gimme What You Want" (

Marvin Tarplin Marvin Tarplin (June 13, 1941 – September 30, 2011) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their bigges ...

, William "Smokey" Robinson) - 4:00 #"Even Tho'" (Forest Hairston) - 3:47 #"Gone Again" (William "Smokey" Robinson) - 3:40

Side B

#"All My Life's a Lie" (William "Smokey" Robinson) - 3:58 #"Sad Time" (Scott D. Getlin, Stephen D. Tavani) - 4:21 #"Dynamite" (

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

, William "Smokey" Robinson) - 4:37 #"I've Made Love to You A Thousand Times" (Marvin Tarplin, William "Smokey" Robinson) - 5:38

Personnel

Fellow

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

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 ...

, then Smokey's wife, joins for background vocals on the title track,

Marv Tarplin Marvin Tarplin (June 13, 1941 – September 30, 2011) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their bigges ...

is featured on rhythm guitar and songwriting. Also featured are Robinson regulars Fred Smith and Michael Jacobsen (since ''

A Quiet Storm ''A Quiet Storm'' is the 1975 third solo album by American soul music, soul singer, songwriter, and producer Smokey Robinson. The album received generally positive reviews, and spawned the hit single "Baby That's Backatcha", which spent one week ...

'' – 1975), and Sonny Burke (since ''

Smokey's Family Robinson ''Smokey's Family Robinson'' is an album by Smokey Robinson, released in 1976. The title is a pun on ''The Swiss Family Robinson''. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. Track listing All tracks composed by Smokey ...

'' – 1976). On "Dynamite" Robinson shares songwriting-credits with

, founder of

records ''(besides everything else)''. * Smokey Robinson – lead vocals, backing vocals * Reginald "Sonny" Burke – keyboards, synthesizers (1, 2, 5, 7, 8), drums (1, 2, 4-8) * Paul Fox – synthesizer programming (1, 2, 7, 8) *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthesi ...

– synthesizer programming (5, 7) * Charles Fearing – guitars (1, 5, 6, 7) *

– guitars (2, 8) *

David T. Walker David T. Walker (born June 25, 1941) is an American guitarist, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name. Career David T. Walker was born to ...

– guitars (4-7) *

Paul Jackson, Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

– guitars (7) *

James Jamerson, Jr. James Jamerson Jr. (born James L. Jamerson III; August 24, 1957 – March 23, 2016) was an American bass player and noted studio musician. During his over three-decades long career he recorded with Bob Dylan, Tavares, The Temptations, and many more. ...

– bass (1, 7) * Scott Edwards – bass (2, 6) *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

– bass (3, 4, 5, 8) *

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

– backing vocals (1), drums (4, 8) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (1, 2, 5, 7) * Fred Smith –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(5, 8) *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's ...

– flute (6), saxophone (6, 7) *

Chuck Berghofer Charles Curtis Berghofer (born June 14, 1937), professionally known as Chuck Berghofer, is an American jazz double bassist and electric bassist, who has worked as a studio musician and in the film industry for more than 60 years, including workin ...

, Michael Jacobsen, Gareth Nuttycombe and

David Schwartz David Schwartz is an American composer, known for his scoring of the music for several television series. He composed most of the songs for ''Arrested Development'', and he returned as the series composer for the fourth season, which debuted on ...

– strings (3) *

Harry Bluestone Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was a composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on radi ...

– concertmaster (3) * George Annis – music contractor * Ivory Davis – backing vocals (1) *

Brenda Lee Eager Brenda Lee Eager (born August 8, 1947) is an American soul singer, songwriter and musical theatre performer who has written and performed several hits, including "Ain't Understanding Mellow", " Close to You", and "Somebody's Somebody". Life and c ...

– backing vocals (1) * Patricia Henley – backing vocals (1) *

– backing vocals (1) * James Sledge – backing vocals (1) *

Leon Ware Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy ...

– backing vocals (1)

Production

* Produced and Arranged by William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke. * Recording Engineer – Paul Ring * Technical Engineer – Robert Biles * Assistant Engineer – Gary Jaye * Mixing – Gary Jaye, Paul Ring, William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke. * Mastered by Wally Traugott at

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

(Hollywood, California). * Album Coordinator – Randy Dunlap * Art Direction – Johnny Lee and Terry Taylor * Cover Photography – David Alexander * Sleeve Photography – Sheri Hyatt * Sleeve Photo Montage – Sarah Sakakibara * Sleeve Design – Alana Coghlan

References

External links

Touch the Sky on Discogs
{{Authority control Smokey Robinson albums 1983 albums Motown albums