Stevie Wonder
Essential

THE REVIEW

A huge album. 39 songs contained in a double record that represent the best of the very early Stevie Wonder from the period 1962-71.

A very prolific period for 'Little-Genius', as he was called at the time, with clear references to his predecessor and fellow countryman Ray Charles ('The Genius'), who, with the young Wonder, was strongly united in a great passion for Jazz and Soul, a remarkable ability at the piano, and an unfortunate physical handicap.

The first records of the then 12-year-old, the flagship of the Detroit label 'Motown', emphasized too much the artistic and personal bond that linked the two artists: "The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie" (paraphrasing Charles' famous album "Genius + Soul= Jazz"), "Tribute To Uncle Ray" and "12-year Old Genius". They were very experimental albums, extremely improvised, which saw the 12-year-old Stevie performing with immense talent on piano, harmonica, and percussion. These are the albums that allowed Berry Gordy (founder of 'Motown') to definitively snatch Stevland Judkins Morris (his real name) from the streets and transform him into the musical wonder kid: Stevie Wonder. The son of a prostitute and a criminal, blind from shortly after birth (due to excessive oxygen administered in the incubator), he certainly wouldn't have had many chances for salvation in America's still very racist 1950s if he hadn't clung with all his might to music.

Listening again to all the early records of this artist's career in full is undoubtedly very heavy: there were many pointless tracks that represented a mere display of the multi-instrumentalist musical skill that Wonder had in abundance. This album is an excellent compromise for those curious to approach this part of the artist's production, as it contains the best of this period, removing the fillers and leaving the tracks that truly had value. The two "Essential" records also contain more mature songs from his albums of the late '60s and early '70s: "For Once In My Life" '68, "My Cherie Amour" '69 and "Where I'm Coming From" '71. In this collection, we find a Stevie Wonder not everyone knows, much more Soul-Jazz, much less pop, than what his future and more famous recent works would be.

The memorable songs are many: from the spectacular reflection of "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday", to the raw and bursting soul energy of "Workout Stevie, Workout", passing through the funky notes of "Do Yourself A Favor". And how can one not mention the slower and sweeter notes of the wonderful "Something Out Of The Blue" and the equally successful "Angie Girl". The 2 records also include the most famous ones: "For Once In My Life", "My Cherie Amour", "Uptight (Everything's Allright)", and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". Covers are also present: "We Can Work It Out" by the Beatles (in fact more beautiful than the original version) and the less successful tribute to Bob Dylan in the reinterpretation of the renowned "Blowin' In The Wind".

As the album title suggests 'Essential' to summarize the first decade of the Saginaw soul-man's career.