"Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Swept For You Baby" Mono/Stereo Mixes "Motown Deep Cuts"
"Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Swept For You Baby" Mono/Stereo Mixes "Motown Deep Cuts"
The Motown Machine was so well stoked that the young creative staff were practically burying A side material in their albums. Case in point: "Swept For You Baby."
Was Smokey coming up with these in his dreams? The man, along with his fellow Miracles co-writers, were writing and producing for practically everybody else at Motown as well as their own group - and all of it of high caliber. "Swept For You Baby" is fascinating and intricately-arranged wonder.
From the outset, you can hear you gonna be into something good. A special blend of cotton-candy vibes laid right on top of a thumping rhythm track - and I mean that in the most literal sense: if you listen closely, especially in the mono mix, you'll hear a repeating, thumping drum pattern (16th notes?) that runs throughout the record. And then the middle eight is introduced with a completely unexpected volley of drum rolls doing a very believable imitation of rolling thunder! Brilliant!
The song did make it into a single, the B side of "More Love," but there were ears elsewhere that heard A-side gold in this song. In Jamaica, the song was covered twice, first, I believe, in 1974 by Jamaican Reggae vocal group, The Tamlins. The song was also covered by another Jamaican group, The Heptones - both times titled "Sweat For You Baby." In fact, the song received several covers, including songwriter, producer, musician Al Kooper. Very impressive for an album track (you'll never catch me using the term "album filler"; that term seems to imply that a song was written on the cheap just to fill space.)
Recording Info from the site "Don't Forget The Motor City" http://www.dftmc.info/titles/ts-11.htm
Swept For You Baby (William Robinson) published Jobete 01-Jun-66
The Miracles; recorded Hitsville, completed 11-Jan-66 ; produced by Smokey Robinson ; [without strings]
25-Mar-66 [acetate]; 45 (M): RCA T4KM-5645
The Miracles; recorded Hitsville, completed 01-Mar-66 ; produced by Smokey Robinson ; [with strings]
16-Nov-66; LP (M): Tamla T271 Away We A Go-Go
Dec-66; LP (S): Tamla S271 Away We A Go-Go
26-May-67; 45 (M): Tamla T 54152 B
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