The Miracles - The Love In You Was Just A Mirage

[theboyfromxtown]

What a treat for us all. Thank you Venus Clare

[westgrandboulevard]

Never seen this before!

Many of Smokey's songs were, like this one, so floaty and ethereal, both lyrically and in arrangement/production, in direct contrast to the atypical 'full-on' productions from Hitsville.

I'm mesmerised by the 'slow, slow, quick-quick, slow' footwork shown here by Pete, Bobby and Ronnie

[theboyfromxtown]

And they are big fellas too but they dance like they were teenagers.

Very impressive.

[westgrandboulevard]

Well, in those days, I suppose they weren't soooo far off being teenagers.

These days, I need to be looking down the long distant end of a telescope if I want to get in touch with my own teenage years!

It's neat footwork, even if perhaps a slightly awkwardly executed routine when viewing their whole bodies [[compared to say, The Pips or The Temptations)...but extremely effective in a tight camera shot, or on a very small stage in a TV studio.

Try starting the clip, then pushing it up, so that only their feet are visible - with or without sound. Those really are neat feet.....

[marv2]

And they are big fellas too but they dance like they were teenagers.

Very impressive.

They were big to us kids. They use sometimes roller skate at the same rink we did. LOL! Love this clip. It's from Canada. As I've said, I am sure that there tons of video of Motown artists from foreign television out there.

[Sharpmoves]

From the glorious album Make it Happen, of course. A big favourite of mine, and for me the slower numbers work best.

[honest man]

What a treat for us all. Thank you Venus Clare

Also thank you John for making us aware .love this song and the clip,thank god for you tube so many gems us Brits would never have seen at all,cheers,

[BayouMotownMan]

Also thank you John for making us aware .love this song and the clip,thank god for you tube so many gems us Brits would never have seen at all,cheers,

Great find. I do however find this performance somewhat "wooden." I love me some Cholly Atkins and this looks like his kind of moves, but I find the Miracles unusually athletic here for what is a mid-tempo love song. One of Smokey's best songs.

[soulster]

From the glorious album Make it Happen, of course. A big favourite of mine, and for me the slower numbers work best.

This is the only Smokey Robinson & The Miracles album I own, and mine is on the older Tamla label stock. I wish it were in mono.

"The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage" is perhaps my most favorite song by the group...the 45 MONO mix, of course, which we also had.

I dig the flipside "Come Spy With Me", which was recorded in L.A..

[arr&bee]

Nice clip,the thing that perhaps set the miracles apart was indeed thier footwork.

[marv2]

Nice clip,the thing that perhaps set the miracles apart was indeed thier footwork.

They were actually really good dancers. This is clip is not representative of that fact. It was done at the Expo'67 in Montreal. There are clips that show that the Miracles could move with the best of them.

[BayouMotownMan]

Neither the Tops nor the Miracles could compete with the Tempts or the Pips insofar as choreography. The Tops started to get more athletic for their first couple years at Motown but soon went back to mostly just swaying. I prefer the Tops because they concentrated on their vocals and harmonies. They also had charismatic personalities. Levi could be absolutely hilarious. The J5 developed some slick moves but clearly they were inspired by the Tempts.

[johnjeb]

Smokey is standing on grass...who knows what The Miracles were dancing on...they appear to be moving carefully at times...probably not the best surface for their smoothest choreography...

[thommg]

From the glorious album Make it Happen, of course. A big favourite of mine, and for me the slower numbers work best.

Of course, if you bought this album after 1970 it was titled The Tears Of A Clown!

[copley]

A classic that simply gets better with age

[soulster]

Of course, if you bought this album after 1970 it was titled The Tears Of A Clown!

Heh! I bought mine in 1976, but it was an original shrink-wrapped album from 1967 that was a distributer cut-out, so I did indeed have an original pressing. I bought it at Thrifty Drug store who always sold cut-outs. They used to have big tables set up in the center aisle in the front of the store with rows of boxes. I have to confess, though, that at the age of 13, I wasn't as musically aware of the classics, and missed out on a LOT of things that are now collectibles.

[thommg]

Heh! I bought mine in 1976, but it was an original shrink-wrapped album from 1967 that was a distributer cut-out, so I did indeed have an original pressing. I bought it at Thrifty Drug store who always sold cut-outs. They used to have big tables set up in the center aisle in the front of the store with rows of boxes. I have to confess, though, that at the age of 13, I wasn't as musically aware of the classics, and missed out on a LOT of things that are now collectibles.

Soulster, I worked at a Dart Drug store in Maryland, outside of Washington DC. I was in charge of the end cap that housed all the cutout LPs. You know whenever we got a new shipment of LP's, I went through them before they went in the bins! I had quite a few LP's with that cut off corner!

[arr&bee]

Another example of the miracles fine footwork is illustrated on the[ed sullivan show]from 1969-baby baby don't cry.