It's Gonna Take a Miracle

It's Gonna Take a Miracle Artist: The Royalettes
Label: Celeste
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4540399061429
ASIN: B00005J96O


Release Date: 2001-03-03

It's Gonna Take a Miracle


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Categories | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. It's Gonna Take a Miracle
  2. Poor Boy
  3. Watch What Happens
  4. You Bring Me Down
  5. Yes, I'm Ready
  6. Don't You Cry
  7. I Want to Meet Him
  8. Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  9. How Can You Face Me
  10. Only When Your Lonely
  11. He's Gone
  12. Never Again
  13. (He Is) My Man [*]
  14. Take My Love (And Hide It Away from My Heart) [*]

Similar Items:

  1. The Elegant Sounds of the Royalettes
  2. The Very Best of Major Lance
  3. The Best of Dee Dee Sharp 1962-1966
  4. Gonna Take a Miracle (Exp)

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Royalettes still "royal" are all these years!.......2007-01-19

I had the record album back in the 60's, but I lost it somewhere along the way. I wanted to listen again to see if it was still enjoyable after all these years. The Royalettes' vocals are still highly enjoyable. However, I had forgotten that there are only three or four memorable songs in the entire album/CD. However, all-in-all, it was an enjoyable trip back into nostalgia!

5 out of 5 stars Amazing.............2004-09-07

I hadn't heard the Royalettes original of "It's Gonna Take A Miracle"(R&B#28 Pop#41,1965) in some time ( My late grandmother had the original LP) and when I got the CD I was astonished on how little the various cover versions have deviated from the original. In Comparison other hits from that era that would be turned into later hits like "Hey There Lonely Boy(Girl)" and "Don't Make Me Over," Nobody strayed too far with their reprises of "Miracle" and I think Sheila Ross' vocal style was Denice Williams' vocal inspiration not only for her top 10 cover (1982) but her entire singing career. The song's a standard..and everyone I play the original for agrees it's the best.

And that's just the first track. I'm suprised that the Royalettes did fizzle out with commercial sucess so soon, but then again Uptown Soul artists..as I believe the Royalettes to be , did not have long prosperous careers..unless you went the Dionne Warwick route and fully embraced the adult contemporary leanings in your older recordings. The only other substanial national hit was "I Want to Meet Him" (R&B#26 Pop#72, 1965). I think this song was a blueprint for The Temptations "It's Just My Imagination" with the full blooded symphonic arrangement. just my opinion....

Surely "How Can You Face Me" was possibly too sophisticated and to powerful a statement by female artists to really make headway as a single. "Only When Your Lonely" is gorgeous with call & response vocals over a delicous arrangement. It and "You Bring Me Down" a variation on Little Anthony & The Imperials back to back hits "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Hurt So Bad" must have fought for topside status and both lost out.

I recommend this CD..despite the steep costs...it's wonderful and influential music. I'm buying the next one on Cd "Elegant Sounds" to hear how their sound progressed. Shelia Ross' vocal seemed to mature a lot on "It's Better Not To Know" and " I Don't want to be the One"

5 out of 5 stars It's gonna take a miracle.......2004-01-04

I love the voices of the Royaletts.
I remember the summer of 1965 hearing,
It's gonna take a Miracle.A Great slow jam
song.When i hear this recording it brings
back so many memories of the good old days.
The Royaletts had it going on baby!

5 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Album!.......2003-08-16

I also have managed to hang on to the MGM vinyl LP from 1965 and still love it. A few years ago I did transfer it to CD along with four Royalettes 45s and still listen to this CD often. It is that good and well worth adding to your collection - I just don't know why the price is so high.

I've heard all but two of the tracks and all are excellent. The other review was right on the money except I believe the album deserves a full 5 star rating.

If you love the old girl groups and beautiful music and can justify the price, you're going to love this CD! I can't imagine a more desirable addition to your music collection.


Update: 9/28/2005

I finally bought both Import CDs of the Royalettes MGM LPs from 1965-66 - "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and "The Elegant Sound of the Royalettes". Expensive, but I'm very glad I did! Both CDs were made in Japan so the booklets are in Japanese but fortunately the lyrics are included in English. More importantly, the CD transfer is excellent - I doubt anyone has heard these gems sounding better!

Both CDs easily deserve 5 stars. They just are incredible with few weak tracks. Sheila Ross has a powerful and distinctive voice while the backing vocals are perfect. Teddy Randazzo's arrangements are as good as it gets and almost every song is topnotch. I have no idea why The Royalettes didn't have commercial success that rivaled The Supremes and Dionne Warwick. In his review, Larry Jones nailed it with his quote "Historic and criminally underrated music." I wish more people had been like me - I bought all of their singles and the first LP. (Went into the Army in 1966 and unfortunately missed the second LP.)

I've copied all 30 tracks to an 80 minute CD-R (they fit with 29 seconds to spare!) and now I can listen to my treasured "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and new friend "The Elegant Sound of the Royalettes" any time I want. Of course they're on my MP3 player, too. Life is good...

Now on to "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" - in my opinion the only weak track is "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" which is incredible considering that there are 14 tracks! (The original LP has the first 12 tracks while this CD adds the bonus tracks "(He Is) My Man" and "Take My Love (And Hide It From My Heart)" taken from a 1966 single. (Interestingly both bonus songs were written by Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers.) It's hard to think of many albums of any era that have so many great tracks!

Eight of the tracks are in mono, the rest are stereo. This has nothing to do with the CD transfer as my 1966 LP is in stereo yet the same tracks play mono no matter what it says on the record jacket. And most singles from the 60s were mono so it's no surprise the bonus tracks are mono. But what a pleasure to hear this terrific music with such fidelity and no pops and clicks!

Highly recommended. And if you like the girl groups, this CD is a must-have for your collection.

4 out of 5 stars

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