Another strong LP from
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' late-'60s renaissance,
Special Occasion was driven by an opening trio of Top 40 hits ("If You Can Want," "Yester Love," the title song), the first of which was not only the biggest hit from the album, but one that illustrated
the Miracles could do funky material as well as they did pop. Another gritty composition, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was released between the hit versions by
Gladys Knight & the Pips and
Marvin Gaye and has the quick tempo of
Knight's original but more of an uptown feel -- a perfect fit for
Robinson's falsetto and the group's backing vocals.
Robinson's production of
the Beatles' "Yesterday" is a stirring cover, stretching out the song to allow for a set of unusually dark harmonies from
the Miracles. A few of the album additions are below the quality of most
Miracles' songs (
Norman Whitfield's throwaway love lyric on "Everybody Needs Love" is particularly embarrassing), but the group made the most of even mediocre songs like
Robinson's "Your Mother's Only Daughter" and "You Only Build Me up to Tear Me Down." ~ John Bush