Pop & Miscellaneous

Stevie Wonder - Abbey Road Studios, London 2005

2010-02-04T13:06:49Z

Stevie Wonder - Abbey Road Studios, London 2005

CD1: 
01 ...in house intro by Paul Gambuccini 
02 Love’s In Need Of Love Today 
03 Master Blaster 
04 Higher Ground 
05 Living For The City 
06 Golden Lady 
07 Superwoman-> 
08 Where Were You When I Needed You? 
09 Ribbon In The Sky 
10 You And I ** 
11.Joy Inside My Tears 
12 My Love Is On Fire 
13 Sir Duke 
14 I Wish 
15 Positivity 
16 Isn’t She Lovely 
17 All I Do 

CD 2: 
01 Tuesday Heartbreak 
02 Maybe Your Baby 
03 You Are the Sunshine of My Love 
04 I Just Called To Say I Love You 
05 So What the Fuss 
06 Superstition 
07 You Haven't Done Nothin' 
08 long talk 
09 Shelter In the Rain 
10 As 
11 in house outro by Paul Gambuccini 

** only station ID over applause at end

Stevie Wonder 11-9-05 
Abbey Road Studios, London, UK 
BBC Radio 2

Playing live in the UK for the first time in 11 years to an audience of Radio 2 competition winners and assorted media and celebrities, the man who was born Steveland Judkins 55 years ago makes everything seem effortless. In a formidable 150-minute, 26-song set majoring on his Seventies heyday but also taking in tracks from his current release, ‘A Time To Love’, Stevie Wonder revives a career that has been on the slide since the mighty ‘Hotter Than July’ album in 1980. Backed by a seven-piece band and three vocalists, Wonder eases his way in to the performance with “Love’s In Need of Love Today”, the opening track from his ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’ 1976 opus. The message remains more pertinent than ever but, for now, Stevie wants to “get the party started” and launches into “Master Blaster (Jammin’)”, his Bob Marley-inspired track, and then plays one of his trademark keyboard riffs into the gospel-infused “Higher Ground” (apparently one of the 2 missing songs performed). “Living For The City” and “You And I” follow, Wonder digging deep at the grand piano. He switches to smoochie quiet storm mode with “Ribbon In The Sky”, a slow song dedicated to “all the lovers in the house”. At last, he touches on the new album with the mid-tempo “My Love Is On Fire”, which suffers from the odd lyrical cliché and would have been recorded with Luther Vandross if the soul balladeer hadn’t died earlier this year. A musical genius who took on Ray Charles’s legacy and reinvented soul in the Seventies, Wonder is an emotional performer who runs the gamut of human emotions, from deep, heartfelt sorrow to exuberance and childish impishness. He produces a harmonica and teases us with the intro to “Fingertips Pt 2”, his 1963 US chart-topper, but instead opts to play the infectious “Sir Duke”, his tribute to Duke Ellington. Daughter Aisha Morris joins him for the staccato funk of “Positivity”, which has so many lyrics that her father briefly loses his way and laughs out loud. “Isn’t She Lovely” predictably follows, along with a gushing appearance by the current Motown president, Sylvia Rhone. Earlier in the day, Wonder had been adlibbing Beatles lyrics while recording an interview with Steve Wright, but the man who covered the Fab Four’s “We Can Work It Out” doesn’t play any Beatles songs. After all, he’s occasionally recorded at Abbey Road, and Paul McCartney plays guitar on the title track to ‘A Time To Love’. Thankfully, Wonder avoids the ghastly “Ebony And Ivory”, though he can’t help playing “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, which marked the nadir of his career in 1984, and “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, just to prove that the ingredients in his Motown melting pot include easy listening as well as jazz, rhythm ‘n’ blues and funk. “What The Fuss”, the dancefloor filler that heralded the arrival of ‘A Time to Love’, proves irresistible, as does “Superstition”, which segues into “You Haven’t Done Nothin” and an extended “Do I Do” (apparently one of the 2 missing songs performed). Trumpeter Nolan Smith Jr beautifully covers the parts Dizzy Gillespie played on the original recording, and Wonder is truly in his element, scat-singing and adlibbing. He forgets all about curfews and the poor BBC engineers who will have to edit this supreme performance for broadcast, and finishes with “Shelter In The Rain” and “As”, another track from ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’. On this showing, the tour that is rumoured for next year can’t come soon enough. The genius is back. The headline concert in the new BBC Radio 2 In Concert series, Stevie Wonder, recorded exclusively for BBC Radio 2 at the Abbey Road studios in London on November 9, 2005. On the 2010-04-22 rebroadcast, the programme is introduced by Jo Whiley. ---Pierre Perrone, panicstream.net

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Stevie Wonder - Ballad Collection (1999)

2010-07-08T19:32:16Z

Stevie Wonder - Ballad Collection (1999)


1. You Are the Sunshine of My Love
2. My Cherie Amour
3. Golden Lady
4. You & I
5. If Ever
6. Too Shy to Say
7. All in Love Is Fair
8. For Your Love $0.99
9. Never Dreamed You'd Leave
10. If It's Magic
11. Overjoyed
12. Send One Your Love
13. Kiss Lonely Goodbye
14. Love's in Need of Love To
15. Ribbon in the Sky
16. Stay Gold
17. Lately

The U.K. disc Ballad Collection contains 17 ballads, largely from Stevie Wonder's '70s peak, but also containing a fair amount of songs cut in the '80s, including such soundtrack-only oddities as "Kiss Lonely Good-Bye" (from Pinnochio) and "Stay Gold" (from The Outsiders). Wonder, of course, had a lot of hits with ballads, but this shouldn't be taken as a hits collection, and while many of these songs are excellent, there are so many album tracks that it's hard not to look at the collection and wonder why personal favorite ballads are missing. Nevertheless, as a sampler it's enjoyable and it does unearth a couple of fairly hard-to-find cuts, so it's worthwhile for the casual fan while providing some nice bait for collectors. ---Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic Review

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Stevie Wonder – Definitive Collection (2002)

2009-10-13T21:40:00Z

Stevie Wonder – Definitive Collection (2002)

Disc 1:

01. For Once in My Life
02. Love's In Need Of Love Today
03. You Will Know
04. Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You).
05. It's You
06. I Love Everylittle Thing About You
07. Rocket Love
08. Moon Blue
09. Taboo To Love.
10. Whereabouts
11. Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am.
12. I Just Called To Say I Love You.
13. With Each Beat Of My Heart.
14. Girl Blue.
15. My Girl.
16. Send One Your Love

Disc 2:

01  As.
02. Master Blaster (Jammin').
03. Isn't She Lovely.
04. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.
05. All In Love Is Fair.
06. Knocks Me Off My Feet.
07. Power Flower.
08. Ribbon In The Sky.
09. Pastime Paradise.
10. Lookin' For Another Pure Love.
11. Overjoyed.
12. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever).
13. Ordinary Pain.
14. For Your Love.
15. Hey Love.
16. How Will I Know (Ft. Aisha Morris)

Stevie Wonder 	Harmonica, Keyboards, Piano, Vocals 
Gloria Barley 	Vocals (Background)
Malcolm Cecil 	Moog Synthesizer, Programming
Jim Gilstrap 	Vocals (Background)
Berry Gordy, Jr. 	Producer
Lani Groves 	Vocals (Background)
The Jackson 5 	Guest Artist
Robert Margouleff 	Moog Synthesizer, Programming
Paul Riser 	String Arrangements

When you're putting together a 21-song collection of a major artist who's had more than 40 Top 40 hits, inevitably there's going to be a lot of good stuff left out. Stevie Wonder's long and varied career (not over when this anthology appeared) really needs more than one disc to even adequately summarize the highlights. But this single-disc comp does squeeze in most of his best-known songs, from 1963's "Fingertips, Pt. 2" to the mid-'80s number one hits "Part-Time Lover" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Along the way there's "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," "I Was Made to Love Her," "For Once in My Life," "My Cherie Amour," "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Superstition," "Higher Ground," "Living for the City," "You Haven't Done Nothin'," "Boogie on Reggae Woman," "I Wish," "Sir Duke," and more. There is a sharp decline in quality following "Masterblaster (Jammin')," but at least that only lasts five songs. Of course, there's a lot missing too: "A Place in the Sun," "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day," "If You Really Love Me," and "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," to pick only some obvious candidates. Why exactly the 1967 single "Hey Love" (a Top Ten R&B single that barely made the pop charts) is included is a mystery, though at least it breaks up the predictability. For casual fans it's a decent career-spanning overview, though, and even the most casual fan will sense the musical genius and enormous artistic growth that shines through most of the selections. ---Richie Unterberger, AllMusic Review

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Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness First Finale (1974)

2009-10-13T21:41:17Z

Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness First Finale (1974)


1. Smile Please 
2. Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away 
3. Too Shy To Say
4. Boogie On Reggae Woman
5. Creepin'	
6. You Haven't Done Nothin'
7. It Ain't No Use	 
8. They Won't Go When I Go
9. Bird Of Beauty	 
10. Please Don't Go	

Stevie Wonder 	Audio Production, Various Instruments, Vocals
Paul Anka 	Vocals (Background)
Shirley Brewer 	Vocals (Background)
Jim Gilstrap 	Vocals (Background)
Lani Groves 	Vocals (Background)
The Jackson 5 	Vocals (Background)
James Jamerson 	Bass Instrument
Sneaky Pete Kleinow 	Pedal Steel Guitar
Larry Latimer 	Vocals (Background)
Reggie McBride 	Bass Instrument
The Persuasions 	Vocals (Background)
Bobbye Porter 	Bongos, Congas
Minnie Riperton 	Vocals (Background)
Michael Sembello 	Guitar
Deniece Williams 	Vocals (Background)
Syreeta Wright 	Vocals (Background)

After the righteous anger and occasional despair of the socially motivated Innervisions, Stevie Wonder returned with a relationship record: Fulfillingness' First Finale. The cover pictures his life as an enormous wheel, part of which he's looking ahead to and part of which he's already completed (the latter with accompanying images of Little Stevie, JFK and MLK, the Motor Town Revue bus, a child with balloons, his familiar Taurus logo, and multiple Grammy awards). The songs and arrangements are the warmest since Talking Book, and Stevie positively caresses his vocals on this set, encompassing the vagaries of love, from dreaming of it ("Creepin'") to being bashful of it ("Too Shy to Say") to knowing when it's over ("It Ain't No Use"). The two big singles are "Boogie on Reggae Woman," with a deep electronic groove balancing organic congas and gospel piano, and "You Haven't Done Nothin'," an acidic dismissal of President Nixon and the Watergate controversy (he'd already written "He's Misstra Know-It-All" on the same topic). As before, Fulfillingness' First Finale is mostly the work of a single man; Stevie invited over just a bare few musicians, and most of those were background vocalists (though of the finest caliber: Minnie Riperton, Paul Anka, Deniece Williams, and the Jackson 5). Also as before, the appearances are perfectly chosen; "Too Shy to Say" can only benefit from the acoustic bass of Motown institution James Jamerson and the heavenly steel guitar of Sneaky Pete Kleinow, while the Jackson 5 provide some righteous amens to Stevie's preaching on "You Haven't Done Nothin'." It's also very refreshing to hear more songs devoted to the many and varied stages of romance, among them "It Ain't No Use," "Too Shy to Say," "Please Don't Go." The only element lacking here, in comparison to the rest of his string of brilliant early-'70s records, is a clear focus; Fulfillingness' First Finale is more a collection of excellent songs than an excellent album. ---John Bush, AllMusic Review

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