Being With You is marked with the rapturous possibilities and elegance of expression that characterized the finest 60's work of the Miracles. Three of the four Robinson originals—the title song, "You Are Forever," and "If You Wanna Make Love (Come 'Round Here)"—are temperamentally and lyrically akin to such indestructible songs as "I'll Try Something New," "More Love," and "If You Can Want."…

[In the past] Smokey Robinson's songs were built on clever metaphorical conceits….

What they're up to now is an extension. Even when they're saying almost the same thing, the difference is in the approach….

Robinson produced only one song on Being With You … and wrote but half of the eight (one, a cautionary calypso, "Food For Thought," is negligible). "Who's Sad," composed in emulation of the Smokey school of smiles-masking-heartbreak (and lifting its opening line straight from Bacharach and David's "Walk On By"), is...