Sky & Telescope 2016

A history of the telescope and a look at the James Webb telescope. A fascinating look at the universe through the eyes of scientists and telescopes since the beginning.

"Touch the Sky" is a 1983 album by American singer Smokey Robinson. It was produced and arranged by Robinson with Reginald "Sonny" Burke, and recorded and mixed at Golden Sound Studios in Hollywood, California. The album was released on the Motown sub-label Tamla. Fellow Miracles members Claudette Robinson, then Smokey's wife, joins for background vocals on the title track, Marv Tarplin is featured on rhythm guitar and songwriting. Also featured are Robinson regulars Fred Smith and Michael Jacobsen, and Sonny Burke. Called one of his "underrated" releases by Rolling Stone, the album contains the top 10 R&B hit "I've Made Love To You A Thousand Times" and the title track, also issued as a single.

Smokey Robinson took back the production reins from George Tobin and reinstated his producing/arranging partnership with Sonny Burke for Touch The Sky. The two took a more rhythmic approach, with Burke contributing drums and synthesizers. R&B listeners responded, notably on the title track (#68 R&B) and "I've Made Love To You A Thousand Times" (#8 R&B), but Robinson was shut out of the Hot 100, and as a result Touch The Sky continued his slide in LP sales, peaking at only #50 on the Pop chart, although it hit #8 R&B.

Neil Diamond, in the opinion of many critics and fans, went into an artistic decline in the mid- to late- '70s. It turns out that he still had a number of good songs left in him, though, and the inconsistency of his later efforts should be viewed in context.

Return Henri Texier, legend of the transalpine jazz, with the last mutation of the group started with Francois Corneloup to the baritone and the son Sébastien to the contralto. The two saxophonists were in the organic of the Strada Sextet ((V) ivre, Label Bleu 2005), they animated the most recent Hope Quartet (with the drummer Louis Moutin) and we find them together here, next to the guitarist Nguyen Le and the pianist Armel Dupas.