''Touch the Sky'' is a 1983

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

. 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 is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

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 advertis ...

'' 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 po ...

. 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 influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

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), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

, 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, 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 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 at the top ...

'' – 1975), and Sonny Burke (since '' Smokey's Family Robinson'' – 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 "Synthes ...

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

– guitars (2, 8) * David T. Walker – guitars (4-7) * Paul Jackson, Jr. – 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 (group), Tavares, The Temptation ...

– 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 guitarist 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 ...

– bass (3-5, 8) *

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 songwriter. ...

– backing vocals (1), drums (4, 8) *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion (1, 2, 5, 7) * Fred Smith –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(5, 8) *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and R&B 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 album '' ...

– flute (6), saxophone (6, 7) *

Chuck Berghofer Charles Curtis Berghofer (born June 14, 1937) is an American double bassist and electric bassist, who has worked in jazz and as a session musician in the film industry for more than 60 years, including working on more than 400 movie soundtracks. ...

, 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 an English-American 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 ...

– 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 ...

– backing vocals (1) * Patricia Henley – backing vocals (1) * Claudette Robinson – 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), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

(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