Month: May 2021

ALBUM: The Best of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1979)

MVC RATING: 4.5/$$$$

This two-record set was something of a bargain package on Imperial House when I bought this more than 30 years ago, or so. Penny for penny, it was probably one of the best purchases I’ve made. Every song is good; some are all-time classics.

Most of that had to do with the pure-as-a-bell, falsetto, vocals and songwriting talents of the man they call Smokey.

He wrote 4,000 songs, according to Biography.com.

4,000 songs! Is that humanly possible? (Note to myself: Check that 4,000 number.) He did have 37 Top 40 hits. That is verifiable.

He wrote songs often with collaborators and provided a bunch of songs to Motown acts such as the Temptations.

Ironically before I saw that 4,000 statistic, I bought a book called ‘How to Write One Song,’ by rocker Jeff Tweedy of the group, Wilco, and before that Uncle Tupelo. I haven’t cracked that book yet, but it made me wonder: Shouldn’t Smokey write that book? He could change the title to “How to Write Thousands of Songs.’ No? Guess you have to write one to get started.

My wife and I have settled on some dynamite ambient music that puts us out like a light. Maybe dynamite was not the word. More like woozy space music.

I wrote about this before. But I forgot to try it out more than once or twice and promptly forgot about it. Then I started having trouble going to sleep. Then I bought a pre-owned Pink Floyd re-mastered ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and it reminded me of that post from several years ago.

I had described it as Pink Floy in their softer, repetitive passages. (No vocals). Or it’s like Electronic Dance Music (EDM) shorn of all that makes you want to dance.

In a study the Marconi Union music lowered anxiety by 65 percent.

So here’s what my wife and I do. I ask Alexa to play Marconi Union for two hours. I keep the volume very low.

Here’s my command from my bed: “Alexa, play for two hours Marconi Union.” (Putting the hours before the name of the song or group seems to work better with Alexa.)

Obviously you can play for 1 hour or 20 minutes or all night. We overcompensate at 2 hours because I’m usually out in 10 minutes or less.

More than 5 years ago I made a pledge to write mini-reviews of the 678 vinyl records I accumulated over decades. I just posted my Top 24 records here. Now I’m going to post the top essays/blog posts that are not part of my 678 countdown (which is at 129 now). These posts range in topics, tone and levity, as I progress in age. I am 61 and was diagnosed about 5 years ago. Average life expectancy after diagnosis is 4 to 8 years.