Our Very Best Christmas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (Motown)

It would be enough if this group were simply the long-running hitmakers they were, from the 1950s right into the 80s. But Smokey Robinson was one of America's greatest singers, songwriters and producers, responsible not only for much of the Miracles' output but many other Motown records on which you needed a reading glass to find his name. This 1999 compilation pulls cuts from two holiday albums, 1963's Christmas With the Miracles (likely the first Motown Christmas album) and 1970's The Season For Miracles. The first six cuts on the compilation are almost proto-Motown, featuring the more ensemble-based sound of the earlier Miracles with just a few hints of what was to come. Star cut from this grouping is quite obviously "Christmas Everyday," widely covered by dozens of artists since then. The rest, from the later album, are produced by a rotating cast of personalities. Some, like Smokey's production of his own "I Believe in Christmas," are obviously mature Motown, while "I Can Tell When Christmas Is Near" and "It's Christmas Time," both written and produced by Stevie Wonder, push the Miracles in the direction his own music was then taking. Whether talking about the individual albums or the recent compilation, however, there is some inconsistency, with the group ranging widely between classic soul sounds and sugary pop confections -- but that's nothing new for Motown in general.