
Issued in 1967,On Tamla,this Lp,on a Rare Rare CD,is Stevies earliest recordings,a couple made when He was only 12 Years Old Id heard about the Horrible.This Classic Albums episode reunion of Stevie Wonder and the musicians who contributed to his 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life feels overlong and somewhat self-indulgent, which isn't a surprise since Wonder co-produced.Stevie Wonder discography. American musician Stevie Wonder has released 23 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, four live albums, 11 compilations, one box set, and 101 singles. His first album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, was released in 1962 when he was 12 years old, and his most recent, A Time to Love, was released in 2005.Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life: Directed by David Heffernan. With Dorothy Ashby, Shirley Brewer.
Stevie Wonder is a beloved American icon and an indisputable genius not only with R&B but popular music in general. We also see period photographs, live performancs of "Sir Duke" and "I Wish", and as well as deconstruction of other songs like "Isn't She Lovely", "If It's Magic", "Pastime Paradise", "Saturn", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Black Man". "I Wish" is actually deconstructed so much that you may not want to hear it again for a while, particularly as Wonder's music doesn't have the depth of great art. However the borrowing of "Pastime Paradise" as template for Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise" is probably the most interesting subject, complete with footage from the video clip featuring Michelle Pfeiffer. The album is placed in the perspective of Wonder's career, being a concept album that took 3 years to produce and delivered 1 year later than expected to Motown, and it's success led to Wonder's renewal of contract with the label. We get to see Wonder performing on drums, which is unusual, but unfortunately his to-camera interviews are undermined by the bumps on his forehead.
To mark 60 years of Motown, a new greatest hits album by the label has.Who wants to hear a 12-year-old singing Great American Songbook standards? Apparently Berry Gordy, whose big – and baffling – idea seemed to be that Wonder should go into cabaret, as evidenced by these syrupy orchestral selections. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson all found fame through. Nearly everything he recorded bore the stamp of his sunny, joyous.
Characters (1987)The harmonica years … Stevie Wonder in the early 60s. Someday at Christmas (1967)There is a generous helping of schmaltz here – not least his version of Silver Bells, which sounds like pre-second world war pop – but there is also the troubled title track, which seems to have as much to do with the Vietnam war as Christmas, and the great closer, What Christmas Means to Me, which offers seasonal good cheer without an accompanying sugar overdose. He was particularly irked by a perky novelty track here called Hey Mr Harmonica Man, which is indeed pretty excruciating: the rest isn’t as bad as that, although its appeal is definitely kitschy. Stevie on the Beach (1964)Wonder was later mortified by this stage of his early career, when he acquiesced to some deeply naff ideas. It came out on Motown’s Mo Jazz subsidiary, but its contents are closer to easy listening.
He was 11 when he cut these dancefloor jazz instrumentals, audibly designed to show off his prowess on keyboards, harmonica and percussion: moreover, he co-wrote one of its best tracks, Wondering. The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie (1962)On one level, Stevie Wonder’s debut album is extraordinary. You can tell – there are a lot of hastily knocked-off covers – although Wonder’s version of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Baby Don’t You Do It is fantastic. I Was Made to Love Her (1967)The superb title track was Wonder’s biggest hit of the 60s, but the subsequent album was hurriedly thrown together to capitalise on it.

Stevie Wonder Songs By Year Movie Jungle Fever
Conversation Peace (1995)Odd as it is to hear someone who was once an agenda-setter playing catch-up, Conversation Peace’s lunge for contemporaneity – hip-hop-inspired beats, a hint of dancehall on Tomorrow Robins Will Sing – works quite well. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 13. Be Cool, Be Calm (And Keep Yourself Together) is a bit too close to Uptight for comfort, but Sylvia is a great show-stopping ballad, his version of Mr Tambourine Man is great, and his voice was getting richer and tougher with each album.Wonder playing live, early 70s. Down To Earth (1966)A relative flop, Wonder’s second album of 1966 still shows him maturing at a startling rate. Music From the Movie Jungle Fever (1992)A commission to score Spike Lee’s film seemed to shake Wonder out of his 80s doldrums, at least partially: Lighting Up the Candles and These Three Words suggested that his ballads now came with syrup as standard, but Each Other’s Throats was harder-hitting funk than he had recorded in a decade, and came with the distinct intimation that he had been listening to Prince. Certainly, the best non-single tracks here – Somebody Knows, Somebody Cares and Angie Girl – have his signature on them.
Stevie Wonder Songs By Year Full Of Lyrical
It is not all great, but when it is – A Seed’s a Star/Tree Medley, Race Babbling’s avant-disco/proto-techno – it is really great. Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants (1979)Met with bafflement on release, time has been kind to Wonder’s oft-reviled film soundtrack, where exploratory synth instrumentals met songs packed full of lyrical mysticism/mumbo-jumbo. But there are fewer than before here and some of Wonder’s co-authored album tracks are as good as his singles: Do I Love Her is coolly sophisticated I Don’t Know Why builds thrillingly and You Met Your Match is a tough funk strut, its keyboard playing a signpost towards Superstition. For Once In My Life (1968)Wonder’s late 60s albums were still clearly something of an afterthought, padded out with filler covers.
Please Don’t Hurt My Baby, meanwhile, reworks What’s That You’re Doing?, a fantastic 1982 collaboration with Paul McCartney bafflingly overshadowed by the ghastly Ebony and Ivory. A Time to Love (2005)A late-period return to form, or something close: the more organic sound suits him and there is a real fire about So What the Fuss and If Your Love Cannot Be Moved. Heaven Help Us All was troubled and gospel-influenced You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover could have fitted on any of his subsequent albums and his distorted version of We Can Work It Out transforms it from a love song into something more socially concerned. Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1970)By now, Wonder was clearly straining at the confines of the standard Motown album. But it yielded immediate results: he started producing himself, co-wrote the brilliant title track and made a bold attempt to cover Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In the Wind in gospel-soul style.
Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974)Between 19, Wonder released nothing but unequivocal masterpieces: arranging them into a Top 4 isn’t really about quality, just personal preference. He wrote every song, played virtually every instrument, experimented wildly – not least with electronics – and for the first time, made an album, rather than a collection of tracks: one of the all-time great hot streaks in pop history begins here. Music of My Mind (1972)Aged 21, relocated to New York and with a renegotiated Motown contract in hand, on Music of My Mind, Wonder was off the leash. Happy Birthday saw him indulging in tinny, rounded-edged synthpop, but its heights – I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It, All I Do, Lately – are still pretty skyscraping.

