Love having you around (Stevie Wonder) (LP 4975 - 4979)

Stevie Wonder  Music of My Mind (CD, Tamla Motown/ Universal Records, 1972) ***  

Stevie Wonder  Innervisions (CD, Tamla Motown/ Universal Records, 1973) *****

Stevie Wonder  Fulfillingness' First Finale (CD, Tamla Motown/ Universal Records, 1974) ****

Stevie Wonder  Songs in the Key of Life (CD, Tamla Motown/ Universal Records, 1976) ***

Stevie Wonder  Original Musiquarium I (Vinyl, Tamla Motown Records, 1982) ****

Genre: Pop, soul

Places I remember: FOPP, Fives, HMV, Real Groovy Records.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Heaven is 10 Zillion Years Away (FFF)

Gear costume: Higher Ground (Innervisions)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Stevie Wonder - boy genius, is one of music's seminal figures. I certainly admire a lot of what Stevie Wonder is about, and I love many of his singles, but I've never been that big a fan. Therefore, my Stevie Wonder collection is very spotty.

 

Somehow, I've managed to collect these albums over the years - sometimes because I figure I should try harder to get Stevie, but each time I'm left a bit nonplussed.

Music of my Mind is the first album in my collection - it was his 14th! He plays pretty much everything on it which is an impressive feat. Among the instruments he plays, he employs synths, but they become just another part of the soundscape. It also betrays his singular approach to music. As the liner notes state - 'The sounds themselves come from inside his mind. The man is his own instrument. The instrument is an orchestra'.

All very impressive, but apart from Superwoman, it's just that I don't really like the songs that much. I don't have a copy of his next album - Talking Book (I've never liked You Are the Sunshine of My Life), so Innervisions is next.

Innervisions was an album that I've always thought was the start of my interest in his music. It's chocka with hits and great songs: Higher Ground; Living For the City; Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing; He's Misat Know-it-All; Too High; Golden Lady. That's six out of nine songs!!

My favourite song of Stevie's was on Fulfillingness' First Finale. That would be Heaven is 10 Zillion Years Away. The other big songs on this album were You Haven't Done Nothin' and Boogie On Reggae Woman.

It may be heresy to say this, but outside of the big hits, I don't really get Songs in the Key of Life. There are too many funk workouts that go on and on for my money. Compared to Innervisions, there aren't even that many peak moments like I Wish, Sir Duke and Isn't She Lovely.  It's a sprawling album, a rush of creativity but it's not really my cup of tea.

Way better is the compilation Original Musiquarium 1 from the early eighties. It has material from Music of My Mind to Hotter Than July. It's also a sprawling double album, but this time it's mostly tightly focused, with eleven top 40 hits. 

The NY Times critic saw four themes - "the songs flow into one another and are grouped loosely into four categories - protest funk on Side One, sophisticated ballads and lightly swinging rhythm tunes on Side Two, tributes to various influences and inspirations on Side Three, and dance tunes with jazz-like chord structures on Side Four".

Where do they all belong? That's it for SW. The W's continue next with World Party.