Stevie Wonder
Where I'm Coming From

LA RECENSIONE

If we were to divide Stevie Wonder's career into two approximate periods of maturation, an 'adolescent' period starting from "Tribute to Uncle Ray" '62, and a 'mature' period extending to the present day, we could consider this album as the watershed between the two.

1971: Stevie Wonder, fresh from his marriage to Syreeta Wright (former secretary of the record company he works for, Motown), writes all nine songs of the album in collaboration with his wife. The album although still featuring some 'unripe' traits, already showcases the artist's great creative and musical inventiveness, which stands out in several tracks. In the second song "Do Yourself a Favor", we find the same bright and psychedelic sound (of the bass keyboard) that Stevie would later revisit in the more mature "Superstition" ("Talking Book" '72). The closing track, the splendid "Sunshine in Their Eyes", perhaps the most engaging and musically interesting piece of the record, is composed of two different songs that merge and follow one another: first, we have a piano and vocal ballad introduction, followed by a more rhythmic second part with plenty of brass, choirs, and percussion. The same compositional mechanism can be found in "Superwoman", the leading song of the next album, "Music of My Mind" '72.

The driving bluesy sound of "I Wanna Talk to You" is both curious and fun, with vocals featuring a call-and-response between Stevie and an older interlocutor with a sharp voice. Also noteworthy are: "Look Around", "Think Of Me As Your Soldier" (with a truly remarkable chorus), the sweetness of "Something Out Of The Blue", and finally the classic soul rich in powerful and rhythmic brass of "If You Really Want".

The latter should indeed be considered, in terms of composition and arrangement, a precursor to the future and splendid: "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" '76. None of the nine pieces disappoints, none is already a masterpiece, but the overall result is really good!