"Motown Deep Cuts" "Smokey Robinson & The Miracles More, More, More Of Your Love" Stereo/Mono mixes
0"Motown Deep Cuts" "Smokey Robinson & The Miracles More, More, More Of Your Love" Stereo/Mono mixes"
For Motown Obsessionists and Fanatics. Stereo, Mono and isolated L/R channel
This is one of those cuts that _really_ highlights why Motown usually did multiple mixes of the same song. The goal was to get each and every song to its optimal potential in case it went out as a single. This song, "More, More, More" appeared as the closer of side 2 on the 1966 LP, "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Away We A Go-Go" and it sounds like one of many of "The Great Lost Motown Singles." This one had everything: an euphoric vocal by Smokey, backing vocals that gave plenty of spotlight time to Ronnie, Bobby, Pete and Claudette (yes, Claudette was here too. She had stopped touring around '65 so she was no longer featured in publicity photos, but she never stopped performing with the group in the studio.)
An beat fueled by an unexpected 1-2-Cha, Cha, Cha beat played at breakneck speed anchors this song. In fact, I can't say for certain, but at times it sounds as if there were two drummers here- one doing the 1-2- Cha, Cha, Cha riff while another played a relentless 4/4 beat. At any rate, it's an excellent production touch, along with a pounding piano that sounds as if it would have been right at home in an old-time Western saloon.
As great as those things are though, the _real_ gold is obscured somewhat in the stereo mix and brought to the fore in the mono mix; there are some amazing horns here, torrid but sweltering brass anchored by a fantastic Mike Terry baritone sax performance. With the mono mix, you hear all of that in high-def clarity, and when the song hikes up an octave after the instrumental break, Mike's sax and the low and dirty trombones practically fight Smokey for air time on the record. And everything just keeps gearing up hotter and hotter when the song reaches its coda. Notice at around the 4:51 mark while Mike and the hot trombones are blaring sweet and low, everything is punctuated by some very happy-sounding trumpets playing above everything (starting around 4:53) and sounding as bright as Springtime!
Even better is that the mono provides a much longer fadeout. I had been used to the stereo mix for years and when I finally found a mono LP, where I thought the song was going to end, instead kept rolling on and on and on. It was actually somewhat startling, but it was fantastic. I don't know how long this went on in the studio, but there's a glorious moment where Smokey even seems to run out of ways to vamp through the endless repeating choruses; he suddenly stops vocalizing, takes a breath and just goes with the all-purpose "yeah, yeah, yeah." Man, this longer version was one of the sweetest surprises I ever got on a Motown album.
Recording info from the site "Don't Forget The Motor City" http://www.dftmc.info/titles/tm-06.htm
More More More Of Your Love (William Robinson) published Jobete 15-Mar-66
The Miracles; recorded Hitsville, completed 21-Feb-66 ; produced by Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore
16-Nov-66; LP (M): Tamla T271 Away We A Go-Go
Dec-66; LP (S): Tamla S271 Away We A Go-Go"
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