The Miracles - Recorded Live On Stage (1963)

Originally recorded in 1962 and released in 1963, this brief but explosive live document captures Smokey Robinson & the Miracles in an early, exuberant phase of performance. The album was part of Motown's Live on Stage series, and gathers together just seven scant tracks taken from live gigs at Chicago's Regal Theater and New York's legendary Apollo. Hot off the success of "Shop Around" but not yet skyrocketing into the nationwide superstardom that the Miracles and many other young Motown talents would soon reach, the feeling of Live on Stage is a kind of low-key party vibe, still ecstatic with the sound of screaming teenagers beside themselves with joy to hear Robinson and company perform future soul classics like "You've Really Got a Hold on Me."