Pop, Jazz Reviews : Robinson Does Justice to Motown Roots

Typically, ex-Motown stars toss off their best ‘60s hits or, worse yet, wedge them into unwieldy medleys. And it wasn’t an encouraging sign on Friday at the Greek Theatre when, for his second number, Smokey Robinson rushed through a bloodless, strained and severely abridged version of “Tears of a Clown”--which is, after all, only one of the two greatest pop songs ever written about denial.

Fortunately, that careless treatment proved to be the exception and not the rule for the evening. Near the 95-minute set’s end, as if to compensate, Robinson offered a deluxe rendition of the other greatest pop song ever written about denial, “The Tracks of My Tears”--starting off just with longtime co-writer Marv Tarplin strumming his instigative riff on guitar, waiting till midway through to let the band and 12-piece string section kick in, singing it as if those really were tear ducts and not just nostalgia canals about to flood.

Robinson did come armed with a medley--of seven numbers he co-wrote for the Temptations, climaxing with the inevitable sing-along of “My Girl”--but, aside from that and “Clown,” was gracious enough to do full run-throughs of those oldies he did trot out and wise enough not to bother with the rest. The newer material proved a mixed bag, replete with a lull or two. u

Though his chops sounded a tad breathy and not nearly full-bodied enough initially, Robinson actually seemed to gain vocal strength along the way, gliding much more comfortably into the famous falsetto range after the mid-point.