1. I am I am

2. Baby Come Close

3. Quiet Storm

4. Baby Thats Backatcha

5. The Agony and The Ecstasy

6. Open

7. Daylight & Darkness

8. There Will Come A Day (I'm gonna happen to you)

9. Cruisin

10. Let Me Be The Clock

11. Tell Me Tomorrow

12. Being With You

13. Ebony eyes

14. I've Made Love to You A Thousand Times

15. One Heartbeat

16. Just to See Her

17. Everything You Touch

Amazon.co.uk Review
After more than a decade with the Miracles, Smokey Robinson set off on a solo career, chronicled on this Ultimate Collection. Often focusing on seduction rather than the heartache that was his bread and butter with the group, Smokey proved so effective that he managed to have a sub-genre named after one of his albums, A Quiet Storm, here represented by a triptych including the title cut, "Baby That's Backatcha," and "The Agony and the Ecstasy". Sweet, occasionally sly and beautifully sung, this music doesn't have quite the unforgettable quality of the Miracles' best, but every moment of it is pure Smokey. --Rickey Wright

Description
Smokey Robinson's compositions blended pop and R&B conventions, infusing the combination with a highly literate lyricalsensibility that set his songs apart from the pack. With his group the Miracles, Detroit native Robinson got in on the ground floor of the Motown explosion, as his songs and his voice--a smooth, liquid marvel of soul--resonated not only with label head Berry Gordy, but with legions of '60s teens. Throughout the '60s, Robinson and the Miracles produced countless pop-soul hits, both effervescent ("Going to a Go-Go") and mournful ("The Tracks of my Tears"). Robinson's flexible,almost Cole Porter-ish way with a lyric made him an in-demand songwriter for many of his contemporaries, like Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye and the Marvelettes.
After splitting from the Miracles in 1972, Robinson began a solo career, exploring the more introspective, balladic side of his music. His 1975 album QUIET STORM set the bar for virtually every smooth,romantic R&B singer of the next two decades, virtually defining the style. After a fallow period, he made a comeback inthe early '80s, with commercial-but-irresistible hits like "Cruisin'" and "Being With You".

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   16 of 23 people found the following review helpful: After he left the Miracles to go solo, 11 Jan 2004 By  P D Harris "Pete the music and horse racing fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews       Smokey achieved considerable success as leader of the Miracles in the sixties and a separate Ultimate Collection (already reviewed by me) covers the best of his music with that group. This compilation contains the best of his solo music from 1973 to 1990 and the songs are mainly ballads.. Smokey never achieved consistent success as a solo singer but he scored top ten hits in the American pop charts with Cruisin' (1979), Being with you (1981), One heartbeat (1987) and Just to see her (1988). Many of the other songs here were lesser pop hits and were also major hits on the R+B charts. Particularly interesting among them are three tracks from his concept album, A quiet storm, these being the title track, Baby that's backatcha and The agony and the ecstasy. Let me be the clock finds Smokey using time as a metaphor – strange but it works well. Alone among all these fine songs, Being with you provided Smokey with a major UK hit, where it went all the way to number one. Good as this collection is, I still prefer his earlier music with the Miracles. Nevertheless, this is a fine collection that easily justifies its five stars. You might even prefer his solo music. In any case, if you are looking for a collection of Smokey's solo recordings, this is the best collection I've come across.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers:  ›