I've slept on Smokey's solo albums forever, not realizing how great his albums were from the 70's. Of course, I have plenty of early compilations and albums with Smokey & The Miracles from the 1960's, but I never realized how introspective, sensual, and funky his 70's albums were until recently. Over the past few months, I've picked up Pure Smokey, A Quiet Storm, and Smokey's Family Robinson. All are great, but my favorite has to be Pure Smokey. Released in 1974, Pure Smokey feels like Robinson's response to the introspective albums Motown was now releasing, like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Smokey was tackling some heavy subjects like male virginity, as well as babies (young women) having babies, among other subjects. Among it all, the music is great while maintaining the funkiness that soul music veered into in the 70's. And of course, Smokey's voice and songwriting was top notch, as always. Here are a few of my favorite tracks off of Pure Smokey, "Asleep on My Love", and "Virgin Man".
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