★★★★★
The 70s didn't quite go as planned for Smokey Robinson. He parted with the Miracles while they were still at their commercial peak to pursue both a solo career and an increased role behind the scenes at the Motown label. But while as a solo artist he had some early wins on the R&B charts, he never remotely approached his prior group success...
- www.soultracks.com
2011-12-19
★★★★★
This includes the most audacious and appropriate song Smokey has written in years, "Virgin Man," but otherwise it is better-than-average undistinguished, and like any other mortal he would be well-advised to get it together.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2011-03-14
★★★★★
I'd expect a little more from Smokey Robinson than a cliche like "Time Flies When You're Having Fun" for an album title but listeners would be lucky if, in this instance, that much was true. With moments of subdued exhilaration all too scarce, time inches forward on the album like a fly stuck in molasses. However, this is Smokey Robinson and there will always be a certain quality in his work to save situations like this from being a complete misfire...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
For his first non-Gospel studio album in 7 years, it was a bit of a gamble for Smokey Robinson to choose to release Timeless Love, an album of covers of pop standards. After all, he's not a traditional crooner of the type who would typically be expected be singing songs like "You Go To My Head" and "Our Love Is Here To Stay." But, to his credit, he generally pulls it off...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
At nearly 70 years old, Smokey Robinson is still one of the world's greatest writers of popular song. Take any one of this set's 12, beautifully-crafted vignettes that deal with just about every aspect of love - lost, found, enjoyed, unrequited and so on - telling stories in a way that will mean something to just about anybody...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2010-08-22
★★★★★
If Stevie Wonder was Motown's visionary and Marvin Gaye its troubled genius, then Smokey Robinson was its heart. He provided the label with over 40 hits -as a member of the Miracles, a solo artist and writer for others - and spent the best part of 30 years helping run the label. He even named his daughter Tamla...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2010-08-22
★★★★★
Given his possession of a sweet soul voice in the vein of great gospellers like Claude Jeter, Al Green and Sam Cooke, a Smokey gospel album ought to be cause for anticipation. But Food For The Spirit is stuffed with clichés rendered in the blandest '80s nu-soul settings—all evil-sounding synth-horn stabs and ugly keyboard textures. Slow and turgid for the most part, the closest the album comes to joy is "I Praise And Worship You Father"...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2010-06-19
★★★★★
Except for a set of pre-rock pop standards, Smokey Robinson has been largely absent this decade. He returns here with the smooth "quiet storm" vibe he invented on his 1975 album of the same name, duetting with Joss Stone and India.Arie on a pair of wind-chime-romantic ballads and turning in an inspired (if somewhat unnecessary) remake of the J5's "I Want You Back...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-08-29
★★★★★
He's lost purity on the high end, but the rich grain of his mature midrange more than compensates, and he's never sung with more care, intelligence, or yearning. Unfortunately, he hasn't settled for such ordinary material in years; his equation of love and "irresistible merchandise," for instance, dishonors his penchant for the prepossessing polysyllable, and that's on the title cut. Does he almost get away with it anyway? Yes, he almost gets away with it anyway.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-17