Shop Around – The Smokey Robinson Songbook – Various Artists CD (Ace)

Ace and Kent’s popular Songwriter Series goes from strength to strength and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

This month a master craftsman of 20th century songwriting gets a long overdue overview of his catalogue, featuring two dozen of his very best songs from a treasure trove that numbers over 150 published copyrights.

As well as fronting one of its flagship groups for more than 15 years William Robinson Jr – forever known as ‘Smokey’ – was an integral part of the original backroom team at Berry Gordy’s fledgling Motown company, writing and producing not only the Miracles’ hits but also those of many of Motown’s other breakthrough singers. Smokey wrote and recorded Motown’s first million seller ‘Shop Around’ and it’s only right and proper that our compilation borrows that title.

Smokey’s songs were covered by all manner of artists in all genres of music, from Merseybeat to reggae. As with all of our Songwriter Series sets, we strive to include examples of his work that you wouldn’t expect, and from artists you might not necessarily expect either.

Smokey is still touring in his 80s, and it’s a pleasure to showcase his compositional skills in the Songwriter Series while he is still a living legend.- Ace Records