A Pocket Full of Miracles

A Pocket Full Of Miracles
Studio album by The Miracles
Released	September 30, 1970
Recorded	1970
Genre	Soul
Length	42:28
Label	Tamla TS-306
Producer	Smokey Robinson Ashford & Simpson
The Miracles chronology
What Love Has...Joined Together (1969) A Pocket Full Of Miracles (1970) A Season for Miracles (1970)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
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A Pocket Full Of Miracles (TS306) is a 1970 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles (AKA "Smokey Robinson & The Miracles"), issued on its Tamla subsidiary label, one of three albums the group released that year. This album charted at #56 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and reached the top ten of the magazine's R&B albums chart, peaking at #10. It was released on September 30 of that year. Hit singles on the album included "Point It Out" and the topical Ashford & Simpson written-and-produced song "Who's Gonna Take The Blame", a sad, dark song about a girl that is turned out as a prostitute (unusually serious lyric content for The Miracles). Also included is the charting flip side "Darling Dear", B-side of "Point It Out", which reached # 100 on the Billboard pop chart, and spawned a cover version by The Jackson Five.

The album's name takes its title from the 1961 Frank Capra comedy film Pocketful of Miracles. However, that is where the similarities end. Its cover depicts four of The Miracles, Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore,and Ronnie White, sitting inside a huge cartoon "pocket", (thus the name "Pocket Full Of Miracles"). Other original songs in the collection included "Flower Girl", the potential hit "Backfire" (that was not released as a single), and the melancholy "The Reel Of Time". Miracles members Marv Tarplin and Claudette Robinson are featured on the songs "You've Got The Love I Need" (a ballad with rock overtones) and "Don't Take It So Hard", respectively. However, they are not featured on the album's cover (apparently because the "pocket" would then have too many Miracles). Covers include versions of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water", Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown's "Something You Got", included in a medley with The Beatles' "Something", and Smokey's composition for The Temptations, "Get Ready", which features an arrangement borrowed from the Cream hit "Sunshine of Your Love". Motown staff songwriters contributing to this project included Ashford & Simpson, William "Mickey" Stevenson, H. Gordy, R Gordy, R. Jones, and Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin.

This album, like several of The Miracles' post-1969 albums, has never been released in the CD format. It was re-released in edited form a few years later, by the defunct independent label Pickwick International, under license from Motown, with a different cover, and the modified name Pocketful.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Flower Girl"
2. "Who's Gonna Take The Blame"
3. "Darling Dear"
4. "You've Got The Love I Need"
5. "Get Ready"
6. "Bridge Over Troubled Water"*

Side two

1. "Something/Something You Got"*
2. "Point It Out"
3. "Don't Take It So Hard"
4. "Backfire"
5. "The Reel Of Time"*
6. "Wishful Thinking"

• *(deleted from the Pickwick re-release).

Personnel

The Miracles

• Bill "Smokey" Robinson
• Claudette Rodgers Robinson
• Warren "Pete" Moore
• Robert "Bobby" Rodgers
• Ronald "Ronnie" White
• Marvin "Marv" Tarplin

Other Instruments: The Funk Brothers

References

External links

• A Pocket Full Of Miracles (Original Motown cover image)
• A review of Get Ready From The Miracles' album, A Pocketful Of Miracles
• From the "Rate Your Music" website,

• Tamla-Motown European Cover Image

v t e The Miracles Bobby Rogers Mark Scott Claudette Robinson Dave Finley Tee Turner Smokey Robinson Ronnie White Pete Moore Marv Tarplin Billy Griffin Donald Griffin Carl Cotton Sidney Justin Alphonse Franklin Pre-Miracles: Emerson "Sonny" Rogers James Grice Clarence Dawson Production Berry Gordy Smokey Robinson Pete Moore Studio albums Hi... We're The Miracles (1961) Cookin' with The Miracles (1961) I'll Try Something New (1962) The Fabulous Miracles (1963) The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey (1963) I Like It Like That (1964) Going To A Go-Go (1965) Away We A Go-Go (1966) Make It Happen/The Tears Of A Clown (1967) Special Occasion (1968) Time Out For Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1969) Four in Blue (1969) What Love Has Joined Together (1970) A Pocket Full Of Miracles (1970) One Dozen Roses (1971) Flying High Together (1972) Renaissance (1973) Do It Baby (1974) Don't Cha Love It (1975) City of Angels (1975) The Power of Music (1976) Love Crazy (1977) The Miracles (1978) Live albums The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage (1963) Smokey Robinson & The Miracles LIVE! (1969) Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: 1957-1972 (1972) Other albums Christmas with The Miracles (1963) The Season for Miracles (1970) Compilations Greatest Hits from the Beginning (1965) Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1968) Anthology (1974) Greatest Hits (1977) Anthology '86 (1986) The Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Collection (1994) Anthology: The Best of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1995) The Ultimate Collection (1998) Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology (2002) Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Gold (2006) Depend On Me: The Early Albums (2009) Singles (US/UK Top Twenty singles) "Shop Around" "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"/"(Have a) Happy Landing" "Mickey's Monkey" "Ooo Baby Baby" "The Tracks of My Tears" "My Girl Has Gone" "Going to a Go-Go" "(Come 'Round Here) I'm The One You Need" "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage" "I Second That Emotion" "If You Can Want" "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" "The Tears of a Clown" "I Don't Blame You At All" "Do It Baby" "Love Machine - Pt. I" Videography The Definitive Performances (1963–1987) (2006) Discography Albums Songs Related topics Berry Gordy See also Motown Records Book:The Miracles