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This might read like minor heresy, but Smokey Robinson is the quintessential Motown artist—more than Stevie, Marvin, the Supremes or the Temptations. For one thing, he wrote songs for almost all the rest of them. And whereas those other legends' greatest achievements came in defiance of Berry Gordy's well-oiled machine, Robinson's trove of hits defined the sound of the label, if not the entire classic-soul era. (That's to mention he was once the label's vice president, too.)
At the Schnitz on Feb. 14, the 74-year-old, backed by a relatively small touring band and, for half the show, the Oregon Symphony, touched on the major points of his songbook, from those epochal Miracles singles (âI Second That Emotion,â âYouâve Really Got a Hold on Me,â âOoo Baby Baby,â âThe Tracks of My Tearsâ) to a medley of Temptations tunes bearing his credit. Throughout, Robinson, dressed in a satin lavender-colored suit thatâs probably been hanging in his closet since the â70s, was charming and gregarious: bantering with the audience and his backing singers; cracking dad jokes about his two dancers (one of whom was totally Left-Sharking some of the routines); imitating Stevie Wonder while recalling the story of writing "Tears of a Clown" with him; dancing like your uncle at a wedding after too much Prosecco.
His famously crystalline voice had a few extra cracks in itâthe effects of a lingering flu, he confessed late in the nightâand once the symphony exited, the bandâs layers of casino-grade cheese started to show, with flanged-out guitar, slap bass and countless sax solos. But Robinson overcame it all with sheer force of personality. It was Valentineâs Day, but aside from septuagenarian couples slow-dancing in the aisles, the biggest love affair in the room was between Robinson and his music, still burning hot after all these years. âWriters ask me, âHow do you react when you hear your songs on the radio?ââ he said from the stage. âI say, âI turn it up.ââ
All photos by Cameron Browne.
WWeek 2015