Smokey Robinson and The Miracles | A poster for a 1969 performance in Los Angeles

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Smokey, Stevie, Martha. Back from the Moon. ... At the Fabulous Forum Inglewood ... Sept. 5. Los Angeles: Green's Show Print, [1969]

Poster (558 x 355 mm) printed in black and yellow on cardstock, with portraits of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, and Martha and the Vandellas at center, with black and green printed strips with the band names laid down; browned, worn and rubbed at edges, some abrasions with loss to Smokey Robinson's portrait, green printed strip at head with long closed vertical tear, the members of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles written in red pen below their portraits in an unknown hand, some creasing.

Back from the Moon. An attractive poster advertising a performance at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles, featuring Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, and Martha and the Vandellas. John Mendelsohn—evidently not a Smokey fan—offered this review of the show in the Los Angeles Times:

"Smokey Robinson and Co. may be unabashedly schmaltzy, his songs maudlin beyond belief and his presentation annoyingly contrived, but, judging from his Friday night performance at the Forum in Inglewood, he sure knows how to thrill his audiences to the point of prolonged ecstatic screaming.

The redoubtable Robinson, who, in terms of influence and commercial genius may be thought of as the Beatles of soul music, sang almost inordinately mushy, inordinately gorgeous ballads of his own composition like, 'Ooo Baby Baby,' but scored most emphatically on the huge crowd with ... wonderful dance-oriented oldies ...

His voice was spiffily complemented, as usual, by those of the Miracles (a motley barbershop trio if ever there was one), who spent most of their time doing precise and rather laughable little dance steps that drew their own share of shrieks. The whole thing certainly wasn't my idea of soulfulness, but it seemed to be the crowd's. ..."

REFERENCE:

John Mendelsohn, "Smokey Robinson Crew Performs in Inglewood," Los Angeles Times, 9 September 1969, p.17