City of Angels (album)

City of Angels
Studio album by The Miracles
Released	September 1975
Recorded	1975
Genre	Soul, Disco
Length	51:47
Label	Tamla
Producer	Freddie Perren
The Miracles chronology
Don't Cha Love It (1975) City of Angels (1975) The Power Of Music (1976)

City of Angels is an album by the Motown soul group The Miracles, released on Motown Records' Tamla label in September 1975. The group's fourth album recorded after replacing lead singer Smokey Robinson with Billy Griffin in 1972, City of Angels is a concept album, depicting of a man from "Anytown, U.S.A." who follows his estranged girlfriend Charlotte to Los Angeles, where she has gone in hopes of becoming a star. All of the tracks on the album were written by Billy Griffin and Miracles bass singer Pete Moore. Freddie Perren and Moore served as the album's producers.

The album's first single, "Love Machine", peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 6, 1976, and was a multi-million-selling Platinum single,[1] becoming the most successful single of The Miracles' career. Its success conicided with the rise of the disco craze of the late 1970s. Another song on City of Angels, "Ain't Nobody Straight in L.A.", caused controversy due to addressing the subject of homosexuality: "Ain't nobody straight in L.A./It seems that everybody there is gay"^[1]

Life Imitates Art

Interestingly, although this album's cover depicted The Miracles'"star" on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the group didn't, at the time, have such a star back in 1976. However, life eventually did imitate art, as The Miracles were so honored with just such a star in Hollywood on March 20, 2009.^[2][3]

City of Angels reached 33 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States, and peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Black Albums chart.^[4] The Miracles' City Of Angels was also a Platinum album with over 1 million records sold.^[5]

The song "Overture" from that album, co-written by Moore and Billy Griffin, was used as the official theme on Radio Monte Carlo in France from 1978 to 1979.^[6] While never available on CD in the U.S.its original form,(until recently), the "City of Angels" album is available in its entirety on the Motown import release, "The Miracles - The Essential Collection".^[7]

In 2010, Motown finally released the Miracles' Platinum-selling City Of Angels album on CD in the U.S. for the first time-on Hip-O Select's "Motown Select" website . with the extended 12 inch version of "Love Machine" as a bonus track. along with a never-before released new essay by writer David Nathan and commentary by Miracles Pete Moore and Billy Griffin, the album's composers on the making of the now-classic album.^[8]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]

Track listing

All songs written by William Griffin and Warren Moore.

1. "Overture" - 3:10
2. "City Of Angels" - 4:50
3. "Free Press" - 3:15
4. "Ain't Nobody Straight In L.A." - 3:48
5. "Night Life" - 4:27
6. "Love Machine" - 6:52
7. "My Name is Michael" - 3:00
8. "Poor Charlotte" - 6:05
9. "Waldo Roderick DeHammersmith" - 3:06
10. "Smog" - 5:16

Personnel The Miracles

• Billy Griffin - Lead Vocals, Guitar
• Bobby Rogers - Backing Vocals
• Pete Moore-Backing Vocals, Producer
• Ronnie White-Backing Vocals

Other Credits

• Pete Moore and Freddie Perren- Producers

• Freddie Perren - Synthesizer (Arp & String Ensemble), Vibraphone
• Donald Griffin, Greg Poree, Jay Graydon - Guitar
• John Barnes - Keyboards, Synthesizer
• Ed Greene, James Gadson - Drums
• Scott Edwards - Bass
• Eddie "Bongo" Brown - Congas, Bongos
• Paulinho da Costa - Percussion
• Victor Feldman - Vibraphone
• Carolyn Willis, Julia Tillman - Female Vocals

Charts

Year	Album	Chart positions[10]
		US	US R&B
1975	City Of Angels	33 (1976)	29

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions[11]
		US	US R&B	US Dance
1976	"Love Machine"	1	5	1 (1975)

External links

• The Miracles-City Of Angels at Discogs
• Dusty Groove America album review
• The Miracles-City Of Angels: Original Album cover image
• Dick Clark interviews The Miracles on their "City Of Angels" album on ABC's American Bandstand (1975)

References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r67495 Allmusicguide.com Overview
2. ^ http://www.life.com/image/85535788
3. ^ http://www.varley.net/images%20-%202007/The%20Miracles%20Hollywood%20Star.jpg
4. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r67495 Allmusicguide.com Charts
5. ^ http://www.gbelv.com/pete_moore_awards.html
6. ^ http://www.gbelv.com/pete_moore.html
7. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005Q8UD
8. ^ http://www.hip-oselect.com/scr.public.product.asp?product_id=7C9A78F7-6406-4ABF-8501-5CF611A506F3&cat_id=9BE6C651-2C04-4F9B-A867-99626310086F
9. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1727860/review
10. ^ "The Miracles US albums chart history". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p24593/charts-awards/billboard-albums. Retrieved 2011-06-21. 
11. ^ "The Miracles US singles chart history". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p24593/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 2011-06-21.