Smokey Robinson, Live from Cracker Barrel

January 11, 2011 By Joe Marchese — No Comments

Great music often turns up in the darnedest places.

In addition to eating a hearty meal and browsing a selection of rustic tchotchkes at your local Cracker Barrel, you now can pick up a new CD by none other than Motown legend and the man Bob Dylan once called “America’s greatest living poet,” Smokey Robinson. Cracker Barrel has long carried a selection of exclusive music; new CDs have been offered from artists like Dolly Parton (who provided Cracker Barrel with an expanded edition of her 2008 Backwoods Barbie album) while the catalogues of George Jones and Kenny Rogers have also been mined for new compilations. Cracker Barrel has diversified its selection beyond just the country genre, and the Robinson told Spinner.com that it was a “milestone” to be the first African-American artist to release a new disc via the Southern-style eating institution and “old country store.”

Now and Then (Cracker Barrel/Saguaro Road/Robso CD 26057-D) is a twelve-track compilation released in late 2010 on Robinson’s own label. It includes six tracks from the artist’s 2009 album Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, and six previously unreleased, recently-recorded live cuts of prime Motown material. The Time Flies portion of the album includes a cover of the Jesse Harris-penned “Don’t Know Why” (popularized by Norah Jones) and five Robinson originals. These tracks marked a largely successful return to the artist to the romantic “quiet storm” sound he pioneered in the 1970s.

Is the disc worth picking up? For the casual fans being targeted, it’s a fine sampler. Chances are a dedicated Robinson fan might already own Time Flies; and in any event, the album is strong enough to warrant a purchase in full. But if the six live songs aren’t particularly adventurous choices (“Going to a Go-Go,” “I Second That Emotion,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “The Tears of a Clown,” “Being with You” and “The Tracks of My Tears”), they represent how Robinson currently performs them in concert, and make a nice souvenir of his current live program. While full credits are included for the live tracks, there’s no indication of the specific recording dates or venues. (All live selections were recorded in 2010.) A brief note from Robinson is included in the digipak.

Smokey Robinson’s Now and Then can be ordered for $11.99 from Cracker Barrel here.

Smokey Robinson, Now and Then (Cracker Barrel/Saguaro Road/Robso CD 20657-D)

Time Flies
Don’t Know Why
Girlfriend
One Time
That Place
Love Bath
Going to a Go-Go (Live)
I Second That Emotion (Live)
Ooo Baby Baby (Live)
The Tears of a Clown (Live)
Being with You (Live)
The Tracks of My Tears (Live)

Tracks 1-6 from Time Flies When You’re Having Fun (Robso CD 40020, 2009)
Tracks 7-12 previously unreleased

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Smokey Robinson

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.