Stevie Wonder
Original Musiquarium
Album · R&B/Soul · 1982
Stevie Wonder emerged in the 1970s as one of the most significant album artists of the era. He sculpted his albums to play extraordinarily well in sequence. This collection serves as a brief summary of his 1970s work, with slightly altered mixes and four "new" songs added to the line-up. "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" is presented in its single version, with horns added. The bonus tracks — "Front Line," "Ribbon In The Sky," "That Girl" and the ten-minute "Do I Do," with jazz great Dizzy Gillespie contributing a solo — are satisfying if not quite as iconic as "Superstition," "Living For The City," "Higher Ground," "Sir Duke" or "Master Blaster (Jammin'), which appeared on Wonder's 1980 LP, Hotter Than July. Surely, anyone with a casual interest in Wonder's work will appreciate this release; fans looking for a more in-depth experience would be best served picking up Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs In The Key of Life, for starters.