Medieval Miracles Collectings

The Ensemble Für Frühe Musik Augsburg is rightly counted among the leading groups for "authentic" medieval music. In their most vivid manners they appeal directly to the listener and show us that "authentic" must not mean antiquated, dusty, or academical. This compilation of the CD releases the ensemble has issued until 1995, is a special listening experience: entertaining, because the pieces are selected and arranged so that the maximum is achieved in variety.

In the early days of the CD age, Motown released an astonishing number of CDs, including a whole line of single-disc sets that contained two original records on one CD. Motown's initial CD two-fers were criticized in many quarters for shoddy, unattractive packaging and indifferent remastering, but less discriminating consumers found them perfectly acceptable, since they offered a lot of music at a reasonable price. By the mid-'90s, Motown eventually phased these discs out of print, replacing them with remastered individual discs, but some of the records never were re-released on CD, which made this series valuable for Motown collectors. This particular disc contained two of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' albums from the mid-'60s: "Doin' Mickey's Monkey" and "Away We A-Go-Go". Like many Motown albums of the '60s, they're uneven, containing a couple of great singles, a few solid album tracks and some filler, but they're worth exploring by hardcore fans, especially in this context, since the highlights on both records tend to balance out the weaknesses.

Through a long and prolific period, the Miracles released 24 albums from 1961 to 1976 on the Motown record label, 11 of which were billed as "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles". When Motown packed their bags and left Detroit, Smokey Robinson left to work with the label, and a few years later when their contract was up, the band ended up on Columbia Records. It was at this point in 1977 when Love Crazy and their 1978 self-titled were released. Vocallion Records has now returned to the CBS vaults and remastered the quad and stereo masters from their original analog mixes and spun them out on a new hybrid multi-channel SACD. The first album Love Crazy is available in both Quadrophonic and Stereo DSD, while the second album The Miracles is only available as Stereo DSD.

Through a long and prolific period, the Miracles released 24 albums from 1961 to 1976 on the Motown record label, 11 of which were billed as "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles". When Motown packed their bags and left Detroit, Smokey Robinson left to work with the label, and a few years later when their contract was up, the band ended up on Columbia Records. It was at this point in 1977 when Love Crazy and their 1978 self-titled were released. Vocallion Records has now returned to the CBS vaults and remastered the quad and stereo masters from their original analog mixes and spun them out on a new hybrid multi-channel SACD. The first album Love Crazy is available in both Quadrophonic and Stereo DSD, while the second album The Miracles is only available as Stereo DSD.

This 1970 holiday release is the second Christmas album from The Miracles, following a successful, highly acclaimed 1963 outing. "The Season For Miracles" features traditional numbers, classic favourites and several originals, including two songs by Stevie Wonder. The Temptations join The Miracles on Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song".