Smokey Robinson - Timeless Love

Add Smokey Robinson to the list of sophisticated crooners sidestepping the race to rack up songwriter credits in favor of revisiting standards. Don't add him to the list of well-loved pop statesmen willing to let a team of backing musicians do the heavy lifting, though. With Timeless Love, Smokey situates himself in a candle-lit lounge of the mind: these may be other artists' songs, but he sketches in the details with the very stuff of his soul. Which, as anybody who's ever sung along to "The Tracks of My Tears" knows, is leagues more potent than most. Heart-stabbingly so. In Frank Sinatra's quite capable hands, for example, "Fly Me to the Moon" is a bawdy, puff-chested romp; in Smokey's it's a tender celebration of blinding love (ditto for "I've Got You Under My Skin"). Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," meanwhile, becomes less brooding and more pleading as he ups the romantic balladeer quotient--there's something in the twists and turns of that gorgeous, trembling tenor. While Smokey, at 67, is still able to run vocal circles around many of the artists more closely associated with these numbers, it's with his own song, "I Love Your Face," that he threatens to do the most damage to the already weak-kneed. Couples in black tie might have been swirling around him as he recorded this disc: dim the lights and sway accordingly. --Tammy La Gorce Amazon.com

Some strengths and weaknesses...

Smokey still has the pipes, and this is an enjoyable listen. The arrangements are first-rate, a cut above some other attempts at this material. But his tempos are so slow, he reduces each song to a funereal pace. Smokey can still do it; too bad he can't do it faster! November 29, 2007

Not what I expected

Smokey has one of the best voices around but he adds a lot of different things to these songs. If they were song like they should have been it would be a great CD. Unfortunately when Smokey tries to add his style for me the songs lose listening appeal.

Smokey is still great but not the way he sung these songs. November 10, 2007

Sexy and Smooth

Sexy and sweet. Smokey's rendition of these beautiful songs are definitely worth having in your collection. I've listened to "More than you Know" over and over...MAN...can he ever sing! He makes you feel the music deep down into your soul. This is PERSONAL and INTIMATE. And I thought I'd heard these songs before. HA! Am so glad I bought the entire CD instead of just downloading a few songs. And you will be happy you did too! August 20, 2007

Sets it's own standard...

This does not play well as background music. You simply want to stop and listen to every note.

I have other versions of these classics, including recordings by Sinatra and Torme as well as others, and I appreciate their ability to evoke specific feelings of time and place with their versions of these durable standards. Smokey's own interpretations are personal, intimate and romantic. You can tell that he wants to sing these songs, that they have somehow touched him deeply and he wants to tell their stories in his own voice. His versions have the ability to fire your imagination with romantic notions.

I was initially reluctant to purchase this recording based on other reviews, but find that now that I have, I reach for it again and again.

Smokey's version of the classics really doesn't need comparison to anyone else's interpretations of these timeless jewels, his is unique and beautiful in its own right. June 11, 2007

Not even a good attempt.

When will artist realize you can't change the old classics. The only successfull R&B group to sing the classic "Night and day" to their own beat was the Temptations CD "What women want" the best rendition I have ever heard. Smokey does have the voice for these kinds of songs. Another good CD with classics is Willie Nelson's Stardust. April 10, 2007

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