Intimate (Smokey Robinson album)

Untitled

Intimate is a 1999 album by Smokey Robinson. It was his first release in over seven years and marked his return to Motown Records. A recurring theme in the album, as with many of Robinson's songs, is love. Robinson explains, "If you write about dances, cars or political situations, sooner or later, you material sounds passé, dated...[Love] never goes out of style."

Robinson earned a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance on the album.

Reception

Alan Light for Vibe feels the album relies "too heavily on dated synthesizer washes and 'romantic' tinkly percussion", but Robinson's voice is "just as lovely, just as pure and clean, as ever." Andrew Hamilton of AllMusic doesn't think Intimate rates with his albums from the 1970s, calling the results "merely adequate" but says it "is a fine comeback by Mr. Motown."

Track listing

1. "Sleepin' In" – 4:07
2. "Easy to Love" – 4:30
3. "Love Love Again" – 4:12
4. "Intimate" – 4:36
5. "I'm the One" – 4:02
6. "Just Let Me Love You" – 4:04
7. "All of Mine" – 3:50
8. "The Bottom Line" – 3:54
9. "Feelings Flowing" – 4:13
10. "Ready to Roll" – 3:48
11. "Tu Me Besas Muy Rico" – 5:13
12. "Intimate" (Reprise) – 1:22

Chart performance

The album reached number 134 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States and number 28 on the R&B albums chart. The track, "Easy to Love", topped out at number 67 on the R&B singles chart.