Stevie Wonder

1963: The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie * 12 Year Old Genius * Tribute to Uncle Ray * With a Song in My Heart. 1964: Stevie at the Beach. 1965: Fingertips. 1966: Uptight * Down to Earth. 1967: I Was Made to Love Her * Somewhere at Christmas. 1968: Greatest Hits * Alfie * For Once in My Life. 1969: My Cherie Amour * Eivets Rednow. 1970: Stevie Wonder Live * Signed, Sealed, Delivered. 1971: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 * Where I'm Coming From. 1972: Music of My Mind * Talking Book. 1973: Innervisions. 1974: Fulfillingness’ First Finale. 1976: Songs in the Key of Life. 1978: Looking Back. 1979: Journey through the Secret Life of Plants. 1980: Hotter Than July. 1982: Stevie Wonders’ Original Musiquarium (greatest hits plus four new songs). 1984: The Woman in Red. 1985: In Square Circle. 1987: Characters. 11991: Jungle Fever. 1995: Wonder Land (live album).

Fighting his way out of the cul-de-sac he had been stuck in since 1963 when he was signed to Motown at the early age of 12 years old, Stevie Wonder emerged in 1970 with a musical mind of his own. The clattering, brassy punctuation and heavily orchestrated high-end arrangements of Detroit’s hit factory gave way to Wonder’s own brand of soft balladry and earthier funk. Virtually a one-man band, Wonder himself played many of the musical instruments on his 70’s records. This suggests show-stopping performances, but Wonder’s musical modesty and lack of thematic scope weren’t that great a substitution for Motown’s crass liveliness. As good as he was, Wonder was still no James Jamerson or Benny Benjamin, and his musical ability to transcend his self-written clichés is questionable.

After all, Wonder covered Motown’s own territory – on "Love Having You Around," "I Love Every Little Thing About You," "Sweet Little Girl," "You and I," "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Tuesday Heartbreak," "I Believe When I Fall in Love," "Too Shy to Say," "It Ain’t No Use," "Please Don’t Go," "Love’s in Need of Love Today," "Isn’t She Lovely," "Joy Inside My Tears," "If It’s Magic," "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me," etc. Very few of these boast irresistible melodies, though Wonder is often able to give them a veneer of respectability through sheer melismatic vocal prowess. Even some of his better songs show a lock of focus in their uncomfortable digressions, needlessly long endings, cluttered funkiness and shallow autobiographical detail.

Given the number of Wonder’s love songs, compared to the other two subjects her writes about – religion (in a chiding, born-again sense of "you’re goin’ to hell, but I ain’t") and social politics (earnest, but at least up tempo) - he has to be reckoned a romantic of some sort. His musings were always pretty narrow given the general sophistication of the rock Zeitgeist. As a rhythm and blues stylist he was never as sonically seductive as later-day Marvin Gaye, as ground-breaking a funk-popster as Sly Stone, as energetic as Otis Redding, as powerful as Wilson Pickett or Aretha Franklin, as original a Janis Joplin, as single-mindedly forceful as George Clinton or James Brown. In his heyday (1970 – 1976), Wonder was adept at mellow grooves with low end synthesizers taking the place of bass guitar, and mid-range, piano/organ/string synthesizers supplying color. Supported by these keyboard harmonics, his vocal was laid over the top. During this era, Wonder was considered some kind of synthesizer/keyboard prophet. But his multi-tracked expertise was murky and lacked a firm funk aesthetic. In fact, the writer Stevie Wonder seems closest to is Carole King with her own narrow romantic focus and melodic flair; and like King, Wonder eventually became cloying. Innervisions is Wonder’s toughest, most durable, album; Songs in the Key of Life is pretty spotty and long-winded given its reputation as a classic.

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