Love Songs - 20 Classic Hits - Stevie Wonder

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money

Advantages:	Stevie Wonder
Disadvantages:	Most tracks poorly produced .

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

This was released by Motown as a compilation in 1985. The individual tracks on it were recorded between 1962 and 1970.

Why it was released, I don’t know. Some old tracks are sometimes re-released on CD with enhanced quality, compared to the original vinyl. This is not the case with this one. Most tracks were poorly produced originally and yet they have been re-released in the same condition.

One of the reasons they were poor in the first place was that Motown didn’t give Stevie much control over what he worked on during this period. Yet, after he had proved his musical capabilities, they re-released some of his worst work.

If this were someone’s first experience of Stevie Wonder’s music, I wouldn’t expect them to want any more.

The title of this album “Love Songs” may suggest to potential buyers that it would be a good romantic present to give to a Stevie Wonder fan. Please do not be fooled by this. Have you guessed why I own this yet? I can tell you that the person who bought it, in good faith, and I, have a good sense of humour, luckily!

The better tracks on here can also be found on the much better compilation album, A Song Review, which I reviewed on 24 August. They are “My Cherie Amour”, “Yester-me, Yester-You, Yesterday”, “I Was Made to Love Her”, and a tack written by Stevie, “Signed, Sealed Delivered I’m Yours”.

The track “Alfie”, which is an instrumental by Burt Bacharach, is a big band sound one, with the main instrument being the harmonica. I assume it is Stevie playing the harmonica, as it is one of the instruments he can play well, but it is not mentioned in the credits. This track is the only one of its type on the album, and has good quality musicians.

Well that’s the 5 best tracks out of 20, now for the rest.

When listening to this for the first time I kept thinking, this can’t get any worse, and it did until I burst out laughing at Motown’s version of the Lennon and McCartney song “We Can Work It Out”, originally recorded by the Beatles. It took some while for me to figure out that I had heard this song somewhere before, as it sounded so different, and that is not a compliment. I had to confirm that it was this song by looking at the track listing and credits. Stevie’s voice is audible over the poor backing singers, who sound like football supporters when they shout “Hey!” at too frequent intervals.

Bob Dylan’s classic song “Blowing in the Wind” is also given a bad interpretation, in my opinion. This serious song is given what sounds to me like a bad taste comical rendition. The upbeat backing music doesn’t suit the lyrics of the song. In the background is a singer who sounds like the blackened white singers that used to sing in the Black and White Minstrel Show. This show was banned many years ago, because it was thought to be in bad taste.

The other bad tracks aren’t by very well known song writers. The, what should be, backing singers and music are given too much prominence in most tracks, especially as they are of poor quality. It would be too depressing for me to review any more of the songs in detail. I think I have given enough information for you to know the general style of most of this album.

If asked to name the most embarrassing album in my collection, this would be it. Though whether it is more embarrassing to me, or the person who bought it, is another question. At least it gave us a laugh, even though I wouldn’t have thought that was Motown’s reason for releasing it, but it may have been.

I will give a comment on the inlay, as I think that is expected. There is a picture of a smiling Stevie, holding a microphone, on the front of this single fold inlay, which just contains the track listings and very basic credits inside. On the back there is the Motion logo and the reference number for the album, 530 037-2. Now you know exactly what to avoid.

This is a bad purchase at any price! But if you really want to upset a Stevie Wonder fan you can buy this for £4.99 at 101cd.com. This is the best site for good value back catalogue CDs I know, and I have used it a lot, so I recommend the site, if not this particular album. Amazon are selling it for £8.99.