Double Good Everything;The Force Behind the Power

SMOKEY ROBINSON Double Good Everything (SBK) DIANA ROSS The Force Behind the Power (Motown) Smokey Robinson has always been something of an oddity in the wide pantheon of soul artists-he's one of the few who write their own songs. From the Miracles to this first non-Motown solo recording, Smokey's subject, as he sails smoothly through the years untroubled by trends, has been that timeless theme of soul balladry: the honeyed rush of first love. Double Good Everything is more of the pleasant same-no watershed, just sweet, warm Smokey doing his bit for romantic drive-time inspiration, more courtly than salacious, and slightly teenage in his depictions of love. Diana Ross, meanwhile, keeps herself in the game by posing as a product of the times, repeatedly finding success by hitching a ride on a current trend, whether musical (disco on 1980's brilliant ''Upside Down'') or cultural (1982's steamy ode to fitness, ''Muscles''). This time, Ross has hired a roster of songwriters, including Stevie Wonder, Diane Warren, and Paul Carrack, whose weepy love songs, while dull, pack plenty of hit potential. Unfortunately, Ross' thin, girlish voice withers under the unchanging groove, and her singing here is without her famous panache, or even her more famous diva-size emotionalism. What's a Diana Ross record for if it can't get all worked up over nothing? Double Good Everything: B The Force Behind the Power: C -Arion Berger