New Stevie Wonder!!!

[cookie]

Got my copy at Target today and immediately put it in the box. Damn! I think I'm going to like it alot. Track 3 alone is worth the ten bucks I paid.

Will be back upon a thorough listening. In the meantime---


YAY!!! AT LAST!!!!

[jazzy mary]

Glad it was Target, cookie!

[cookie]

JM: I just by chance caught an ad on teevee last night that said "$9.98 at Target Tuesday." I got my butt right up there. I think I would have even bought this at ValdeMart (walmart) if that was the only place to get it.

Folks: I already think this is a must-have. Not only some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard from Stevie, but some of the most beautiful songs I've heard, period.

This is a very satisfying disc for anybody who loves harmony as much as I do.

I'm blown away.

[cookie]

Please please somebody buy this so we can share the joy!

Stevie needs no shills, but man, I think this disc has some particularly beautiful ballads. They really are more like jazz ballads than pop ballads. I love the way Stevie uses such fat chords. He also uses them in creative ways. I love the way his progressions move out of the sort of ordinary ii-V patterns most standard songs use. They have the effect of making the songs bloom in a very Wonder-ful way. I also like the words which are full of longing and deep love. Stevie's always had a great knack for this (I think of songs like "Ribbon in the Sky" and "Overjoyed") but I think these songs are some of his most beautiful. "Moon Blue" (the third track) really jumped at me, but throughout the album, sprinkled between some other good to excellent groovier tunes (including "What the Fuss" that hooked me last summer) there are these simply gorgeous ballads. I'd love to burn myself a disc of just the ballad material from the disc for times when I need a beautiful chill pill.

Can't wait until some others of you hear it. I don't know if you'll be as enthusiastic as I am, but I'd say the odds are good.

[Gentle Giant]

I'm not sure I'm ready to pull the trigger on this, though I hope it's as good as early reports indicate. Any funk to be had? To note two tunes you mentioned, the romantic in me likes Ribbon in the Sky and Overjoyed but that's not the kind of material I look for from Stevie Wonder. I like high energy booty-shakers like Higher Ground, Another Star, Superstition, etc. But with a message, of course.

[cookie]

GG--
There's some good funk. I wouldn't necessarily place it up there with the very best of the best like "Superstition", but there are some nice ones. I like the kinda sneaky sounding "My Love is On Fire" featuring Hubert Laws on flute. The first cut ("If Your Love Cannot Be Moved" has grown on me. Has a kind of Spanish-influenced beat and just grows and grows. Has some nice harmonic and melodic hooks. Definitely good lyrics about not being a hypocrite.

"Please Don't Hurt My Baby" is good and funky in old school Stevie style. Nice (synth) horns and a really cool bass hook.

"Tell Your Heart I Love You" is a nice loose, funky groove. Nothing particularly special, but certainly not bad.

You probably have already heard "So What the Fuss" on the radio. I was ready to buy the disc on the strength of that tune alone. I like it, but apparently it didn't catch others so easily. My friend said that Stevie was on Howard Stern this week. Howard asked Stevie if there was a tune that he thought would be a huge hit that in the end turned out to fizzle. Stevie said it was "What the Fuss?" What the fuss??????

"Positivity" is positively positive funk. Mmm--hmm. That'll make you shake a booty---and feel empowered, too.

That's what I hear in a quick review of the funkier tunes. The *real* attraction of this disc for me, I'll admit, are the exceptional mature ballads and light bossa/latin compositions.

Special mention should go to the gospel-style "Shelter in the Storm". Not a funk tune at all, but a great song about being there in time of need. I think that Stevie and Norah Jones made a special recording of this for hurricane relief. This version is just Stevie.

Many socially conscious lyrics. I think Stevie, like many of us, is fed up.

BTW: the vocals throughout the album are excellent in my opinion. Stevie sounds great, the guests sound great, the choirs are great. Dig it.

Only 10 bucks right now. I say it's worth it. Go for it GG!

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by cookie

I think I would have even bought this at ValdeMart (walmart) if that was the only place to get it.

"ValdeMart"--I like it!

[cookie]

Originally Posted by Rob C

"ValdeMart"--I like it!

I wish I could claim it as my own but I learned it from my husband who frequents more political boards. That's where he picked it up. It *is* funny, though.

[Chazro]

Wazzup All!
My birthday was Fri. I'm 52 yrs old! One of my gifts to myself was Stevie's new record. Being the old-timer I am you'll have to understand that me & Stevie go WAY back! To hear him in such fine form at this point in life is amazing. Think of the Stevie's colleagues; Marvin, Otis, Aretha, Al Green, Sly, the list is long and distinguished. Also kind of sad when you think that most of them are gone in one way or another. Stevie the Wonder Man is still doin' it to it! His biggest problem is that his genius is such and his voice so instantly recognizable that the tendency is to dismiss his work as "just another Stevie record", he tosses off tunes and makes it sound so easy. The fact is if a newcomer were to release this album the critics would be creaming themselves! His voice is amazingly strong, sounds like an old friend actually, his internal groove is so deep in the pocket, ......I could go on and on but what the fuss!!

Prediction: Jazz players will start playing tunes off this one real quick, Moon Blue could become a new standard. Not to mention how many rappers are gonna be stealing...I mean, sampling shit like crazy off this record.

Stevie's music-making abilities are on a par with craftsmen who create Rolexes and Maserati's, athletes like Jordan and Ali. His music should be recieved as a gift, I can only hope he doesn't wait as long to grace us with another, I ain't getting any younger!

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Chazro

Think of the Stevie's colleagues; Marvin, Otis, Aretha, Al Green, Sly, the list is long and distinguished. Also kind of sad when you think that most of them are gone in one way or another. Stevie the Wonder Man is still doin' it to it!

Check out Al Green's last two releases. He's totally on top of his game.

[cookie]

Originally Posted by Chazro

His biggest problem is that his genius is such and his voice so instantly recognizable that the tendency is to dismiss his work as "just another Stevie record", he tosses off tunes and makes it sound so easy. The fact is if a newcomer were to release this album the critics would be creaming themselves! His voice is amazingly strong, sounds like an old friend actually, his internal groove is so deep in the pocket, ......I could go on and on but what the fuss!!

Prediction: Jazz players will start playing tunes off this one real quick, Moon Blue could become a new standard. Not to mention how many rappers are gonna be stealing...I mean, sampling shit like crazy off this record.

First of all: Happy birthday!

Second of all: well said. I think both of the above are true. I played "Moon Blue" for my mentor on the way home from a gig and he loved it immediately."Let's lift it," he said. I'd also love to do some of those tunes with my college jazz choir because the background vocals are phat and interesting.

[RainyDay]

Cookie: Haven't had a chance to check it out yet. Is this the one that has "Shame on Me/You" or whatever? I heard else something from it on Friday on the "View" (which I normally hate but I saw Stevie was going to be on it).

I'll have to sample it at Virgin or Borders and get back to you.

[cookie]

Rainy: yes, this is the one with the "Shame on you, shame on me" song ("What the Fuss"). I still like that song, but I'm lovin' even harder on some of the other material. Been playing a lot of "Moon Blue" for people. I just want everyone to hear that tune. Hell of a composition. Exquisite.

[RainyDay]

It was on sale but it wasn't anybody's $10. But the thing is, it's really GOOD! I like it, it sounds so grown up. It's Stevie but it's fresh, not a rehash of his old material. I don't understand why this record didn't get more airplay and just more attention in general. I'm only on track 7 but I'm really digging this a lot.

Thanks for the tip, Cookie. This one's a keeper.

[cookie]

Rainy: that's it! I'm just so glad someone else hears it that way. It's grownup Stevie Wonder. The chord progression alone on "Moon Blue" is a work of sophisticated genius. I've been playing it over and over again at the piano and am amazed every time at the beauty and logic of it (It has also gotten me in touch with the key of G#minor/B major).

But it isn't just that one song. There's alot of wonderful, smart, lovely music on this disc. I've just been obsessed with "Moon Blue" from the beginning.

I also don't understand the lack of attention for this disc.

[Gentle Giant]

Stevie was in town last night. Unfortunately, I couldn't go. But reading the review, I'm strongly bummed I wasn't there, ad I would strongly encourage anyone to get on board if the Stevie Express comes into your locale. Good for him for doing it up right.

MUSIC REVIEW
From Wonder, a night of pure joy
By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | September 21, 2007

Stevie Wonder's penchant for stringing together snippets of songs during brief appearances at benefits over the past couple of decades seemed to be turning into a permanent MO. With a catalog as deep and revered as his, Wonder is free to share his incomparable voice and iconic craft in flashes if he chooses, and folks still feel more anointed than annoyed. He could have touched down in Boston, trotted out a fistful of medleys covering all the blockbuster bases, and called it a concert tour.

Instead, Wonder delivered one of the finest nights of music this writer has ever had the pleasure to attend. It lacked the drama of a rock show, the spectacle of pop, or the swagger required of a lesser soul man, and was built on the sheer brilliance of Wonder's songwriting and singing. Neither has dimmed with time.

Touring for the first time in more than 12 years, Wonder brought surprising warmth and intimacy to the concert stage. He walked out on the arm of his daughter Aisha, one of his backup singers, explained that his mother's death last year inspired him to return to the stage, and thanked the audience at the Bank of America Pavilion for allowing him to give her a better life than she would have otherwise had. Then Aisha, seated next to her father at the piano, took the opening notes to "Love's in Need of Love Today," a song whose pointed message would echo again and again throughout the night.

In an era of talent-show technicians trained to mimic recycled licks, Wonder's performance was like water from the source - organic and inimitable. Classic tunes piled up in an embarrassment of high points: He played "Too High," "Visions," "Living for the City," "Master Blaster (Jammin')," and "Higher Ground" in an uninterrupted stretch, and one could only marvel at the unfettered fusion of politics and jubilation.

A mini-set of ballads followed, a window on Wonder's keen emotional intelligence and gift for transposing feeling to sound. If "Overjoyed" swelled like a heart in flight, "All in Love is Fair" was the sound of that heart in free fall. Wonder's band soared and burrowed as needed with all the depth and agility Wonder's music demands. And yet with the exception of a killer conga intro to "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," there was little grandstanding. When you're playing songs like "For Once in My Life" and "I Was Made To Love Her," the thrills are built-in.

For all the definitive songcraft, Wonder isn't immune to the cheesy allure of an audience sing-along. It's hard to imagine who else could have goaded a bunch of guys to chant "I want it! I need it!" in harmony with their dates, who cooed their own racy part on "Ribbon in the Sky," or join him in a drawling (and surprisingly persuasive) country remake of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."

Deadline demands meant missing the final run of songs, which included "Sir Duke," "I Wish," "Superstition," "Boogie On Reggae Woman," and "As," and brought the show (according to several fans fortunate enough to stay for the entire two-and-a-half hour set) to a euphoric finish.

[Tom Storer]

I got an audience recording of a show from this tour from the Dimeadozen bittorrent site. He sounds fantastic! If only he was going to take the tour to Europe, but no...

[hornplayer]

Originally Posted by cookie

Please please somebody buy this so we can share the joy!

.

I can't do anything about getting it until next week, but I'm already enthusiastic about it. I've always been a big Stevie fan.