Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Essar (Smokey Robinson album)

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Released
  
1984

Essar (1984)
  
Smoke Signals (1986)

Release date
  
1984

Label
  
Motown/Universal Records

Recorded
  
1984

Artist
  
Smokey Robinson

Genre
  
R&B/soul

Essar (Smokey Robinson album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb4

Producers
  
Smokey Robinson, Sonny Burke

Similar
  
Smokey Robinson albums, Other albums

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.

Contents

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.

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. 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".

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

  • Vocals – William "Smokey" Robinson
  • Backing Vocals – Ivory Davis, Patricia Henley Talbert, Smokey Robinson
  • Guitars – Charles Fearing, Wah Wah Watson, David T. Walker
  • Bass – "Ready" Freddie Washington
  • Drums, Keyboards – Reginald "Sonny" Burke
  • Producers – William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke
  • Arranged by Reginald "Sonny" Burke
  • Assistant Mixing Engineers – William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. and Reginald "Sonny" Burke
  • Recording Engineer – Mitchel Delevie
  • Mixing & Editing Engineer – Barney Perkins at Kendun Recorders, Burbank, California
  • Editing Assistant – Phillip Walters
  • Second Engineers – Fred Law, Jeff DeMorris
  • Mastered By – Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, California
  • Contractor – George Annis
  • Copyist – Andres Victorin, Music Suite
  • Cover Concept – William "Smokey" Robinson
  • Photography By – Aaron Rapoport
  • Art Direction – Johnny Lee

    • Additional credits:

    "And I Don't Love You"

  • Yamaha DX7 Programming – Clark Spangler
  • Assistant Editor – Bob Robitaille

    • "I Can't Find"

  • Cello – Michael "Jake" Jacobsen
  • Concertmaster – Harry Bluestone

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

  • Backing Vocals – Howard McCrary, Howard Smith, Ivory Davis
  • Guitar – James Harrah
  • Keyboards – Michael Ruff
  • Synthesizer Programming – Rhett Lawrence
  • LinnDrum Programming – Davis Lynn Coulter, Scott V. Smith
  • Engineers – Chris Banninger, Frank Wolf, Win Kutz
  • Second Engineers – Steve Ford, Todd Van Etten
  • Producers - Scott V. Smith, Stephen Tavani

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

  • Backing Vocals – Allan Rich, Carmen Grillio, Mindy Sterling
  • Bass – Lequeint "Duke" Jobe
  • Keyboards, Synthesizer – Mark Davis
  • Oboe – William Green
  • Vocal Engineer – Mitchel Delevie
  • Rhythm Engineer – Karen Siegel
  • Assistant Engineer– Michael Dotson
  • Producer – Mark Davis and William "Smokey" Robinson

    • "Girl I'm Standing There"

  • Cello – Michael "Jake" Jacobsen
  • Concertmaster – Harry Bluestone
  • Rhythm Engineer – Mitchel Delevie, Paul Ring

    • "Driving Thru Life In The Fast Lane"

  • Backing Vocals – Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters, Smokey Robinson
  • Bass – Joseph Chemay
  • Drums – John E. Robinson
  • Guitars – Dann Huff, Paul M. Jackson, Jr.
  • Keyboards – John Hobbs
  • Percussion – Paulinho da Costa
  • Trombones – Dick Hyde, Richard Noel
  • Trumpets – Gary Grant, Warren Luening, Jerry Hey
  • Horns Arrangements – Larry Herbstritt
  • Rhythm Arrangements – Steve Dorff
  • Session Coordinator – Dave Pell
  • Engineer – Ed Barton, Gary Singleman, Marv Clamme
  • Producer – Randy Dunlap, Steve Dorff

    • 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.

    Songs

    1And I Don't Love You5:20
    2Train of Thought4:55
    3I Can't Find6:15

    References

    Essar (Smokey Robinson album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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