The album featured the single "Sweet Harmony", which was his tribute to his former singing partners in the Miracles: Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore and Ronnie White.

[3] In a contemporary review of Smokey for Rolling Stone, Vince Aletti said Robinson overcame questionable lyrics on songs such as "Holly" and "Just My Soul Responding" with determined singing and snappy production from Willie Hutch.

He highlighted "Sweet Harmony", "Just My Soul Responding", and "The Family Song", but regarded Smokey as "a good bad record" that revealed Robinson had "somewhere in his heart ... wanted to be Isaac Hayes—and yet somehow he's beyond all his own bullshit".

[6] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine deemed the record "a transitional album, and a fascinating one at that", showcasing Hutch's lavish production and Robinson's ability to incorporate changing trends in music.

In Erlewine's opinion, the singer was "naturally favoring smooth soul to gritty funk, letting it escalate to an almost cinematic scale and, more importantly, not shying away from subjects he’d never tackle during the '60s whether it's his family or the saga of a teenage runaway".