Gasms is exactly what you’d expect from a Smokey Robinson album. Smooth, sensual, soft. The patron saint of the Quiet Storm delivers exactly what you’d think. He is the prime example of how age ain’t nothin’ but a number. At the tender age of 83, he’s still seducing with his feather-light vocals and suggestive lyricism.
Musically it’s nothing revolutionary, but it doesn’t have to be. He doesn’t step too far outside of himself, but, I reiterate, he doesn’t have to. Legends don’t have anything to prove, and Berry Gordy’s second-in-command has all the lyrical dynamism and simple yet elegant storytelling of his younger self.
Tracks like “I Wanna Know Your Body” and “You Fill Me Up” are the perfect microcosm of what this trailblazer is capable of as a sensitive storyteller and how some of the music truly does support the lyrical and vocal execution. Gasms is a downright lovely album that highlights Robinson’s mastery of his craft.