Stevie Wonder’s best

Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones have all released new albums. This has prompted industry observers to comment that the pop music industry has taken on a nostalgic turn this year or even a geriatric one. It cannot be denied though that these hitmakers of the past four decades all came up with excellent new materials and superb recordings that are comparable and at times even better than their best works from the past. The music, the messages and the superb quality of their productions show what a difference, age, experience and of course, extraordinary talent can make.

Given these facts, I do not think that any of you will accuse me of living in the past if I add another name to the "geriatric" list. This is Stevie Wonder, another great pop artist whose music has been part of the sound-track of many lives for over 40 years. Think My Cherie Amour, Isn’t She Lovely, Too Shy to Say, Superstition, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, All in Love is Fair, Sir Duke, I Wish, I just Called to Say I Love You and so many others. And you can expect the list to get even longer thanks to the wonderful songs that make up his new album A Time to Love.

There is a very strong temptation for me to say that this is Stevie’s best to date but I will resist that and allow the future to decide. Let me just say that what we have in A Time to Love is everything that we have learned to expect from a star and artist of Stevie’s magnitude. It is a heady mix of love songs, fun rhythms and socially concerned anthems set against melodies that stay in your head, arranged and recorded the best possible way and sang by one of the finest voices we have ever heard. Best of all, with that happy lilt so uniquely his in each cut, Stevie sounds like he is enjoying himself immensely with every song and he certainly takes his listener along on his tuneful journey.

Now some surprises. Paul McCartney plays the guitar in A Time to Love. These two became friends after they recorded Ebony and Ivory in 1982 and this recording makes me wish that Stevie has also done something for Paul’s new album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Then there is Aisha Morris who performs How Will I Know and Positivity with Stevie. The girl has a full expressive voice that should do very well with soul ballads. We should not be surprised about this because Aisha is Stevie’s daughter, the very same one who inspired his hit Isn’t She Lovely. Add too the presence of two singers we should hear more from, gospel artist Kim Burrell in the hip-hop spiced opening cut If Your Heart Cannot Be and the long unheard of India.Arie, who joins Stevie in the title cut.

Sentimental Pinoys who have always loved Stevie ballads will find lots to like in this album. Moon Blue, From the Bottom of My Heart, Passionate Raindrops and How Will I Know top the list. Sweetest Somebody I Know echo his Latin inspired hits and Positivity really gets things kicking. Musically as far as structure and content are concerned, the best of the lot is the single release, So What the Fuss. It is here that every note blends and contradicts to create perfection.

Stevie is Steveland Morris in real life. Little Stevie Wonder was how they used to call him when he started performing as a kid. He lost the Little as he grew up but the Wonder remained and he has been known as Stevie Wonder since. And a wonder he has remained.

Billboard’s Top 10

A Time to Love is number five in The Billboard 200 album list. The top 10 are: I Am Me, by Ashlee Simpson; Thanks for the Memory The Great American Songbook Vol. IV by Rod Stewart; Timeless by Martina McBride; All The Right Reasons by Nickelback; A Time to Love by Stevie Wonder; Playing the Angel by Depeche Mode; Monkey Business by the Black Eyed Peas; Unplugged by Alicia Keys; and Late Registration by Kanye West.

The top 10 singles in Billboard’s Hot 100 are: Gold Digger by Kanye West featuring Jamie Fox; Run It by Chris Brown; My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas; Photograph by Nickelback; Soul Survivor by Young Jeezy featuring Akon; Like You by Bow Wow featuring Ciara; Shake It Off by Mariah Carey; Because of You by Kelly Clarkson; Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day; and We Be Burning by Sean Paul.