Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants - Stevie Wonder > Reviews > The Curate's Eggplant

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Contains some classic Wonder and is quite varied in parts
Disadvantages:	Cannot justify being a double album

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Of all Stevie's 70's albums this is by far the most difficult to assess or describe to the extent that if you are looking to buy this as your first album by him look elsewhere unless you have found a copy for under a fiver and are feeling particularly adventurous.

The problems with this album are as follows;

1) Much of this album sounds like the soundtrack music it is and unless you are in exactly the right mood a lot of it can come across as ponderous and overlong.

2) Because it is a concept album in effect the tracks are in an order that helps to get the story across but that does not lend itself to an easy continuous listen.

3) Ther is nearly 90 minutes of music here and Stevie has to produce the inspiration for virtually all of it because he plays virtually all the instruments and with the best will in the world I can not help but feel he needed some input from others to add the necessary extra layers the songs and especially the instrumentals are crying out for.

4) Some of the songs and especially the instrumentals may have needed to be so long for the film but they wear out their welcome in this context.

The best way to approach this album is to start with CD 2 which opens with the best three tracks all in a row (Send Out Your Love, Outside My Window and Black Orchid) and then goes into two tracks which juxtapose quite blatant Bach and African influences (Ecclesiastes and Kesse Ye Lolo De Ye) which I think really work well together especially when followed by the lovely Come Back As A Flower) after that it peters out a bit for me but I would say that these six tracks alone make the album worth having if the price is right.

CD 1 is far too bloated for my liking even with the lovely Indian influence in Voyage to India and a few other nice touches and I cannot help but feel that this is an hour long album that failed to escape from its current hour and a half format.