Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Tariqh Akoni, David T. Walker, Dean DeLeo, Phil Upchurch, Ray Parker, Jr., David E. Williams (guitar); Gary Gold (piano, keyboards, drums, drum programming); David Garfield (piano, keyboards); Ricky Lawson (drums); Luis Conte (percussion); Serena Henry, Karrie Benoit-Morales, Darryl Phinessy, Dorian Holley, Damon Bourne (background vocals). | | Audio Mixers: Gary Gold; Smokey Robinson. | | The time that has flown is Smokey's 50 years in the business, but it could just as well refer to the number of years since Robinson has released a smooth soul album: almost 20 full years! Smokey, of course, has stayed active during the interim, both on-stage and on record, but TIME FLIES WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN marks a return to the coolly simmering quiet storm that was his stock in trade during the '70s and '80s. Apart from production techniques, not much has changed in Smokey's music during the time off, either: this is still smooth, unhurried soul that vacillates between elegance and supper-club classiness. Of course, since these are two sides of the same coin, they fit together seamlessly, with the only question being whether the immaculately polished music veers toward the corny, but whenever it does, Smokey's impeccably tailored vocals steer it back to toward the sweetly romantic. After all these years, Smokey still makes it all seem easy--so easy that it's puzzling why he hasn't made a record like this in so long, because as this comforting, velvety album proves, nobody does it better than he. |
Producer: Brian French; Gary Gold; Smokey Robinson |
Engineer: Jeffrey Freeman; Anthony Bynum; Gary Gold |
Musical Guests | | Joss Stone | | Carlos Santana | | India.Arie |
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