Second for Innervisions. From "Too High", to "Living for the City", to "Higher Ground" and "All in Love is Fair" this is one of the strongest releases by any artist. Not a false step or weak song throughout. And my favorite by Stevie.
The best from in terms of volume of creativity would be the double album "Songs in the Key of Life." My favorite album is "Fulfillingness First Finale." "Creepin" from that album is probably my favorite of all his recordings.
Not necessarily the best one but the best memory for me personally. I was 11 years old and had just returned home after 2 months away at camp- I walk into my room and my parents sit me down and put on 'Music of My Mind" for me.
A 3rd for Innervisions. "Golden Lady" has one of the hottest intro's to any R/B song ever written. Very sly intro transforming from a rubato ballad to a dance rhythm. Nicely done album all around and easily competes with EWF's "the way of the world" LP!
A few of the tracks on Songs in the Key of Life are amazing performances Isn't she lovely, and Sir Duke have an unmatched performance. These sound especially good when played very loud. The recordings are slightly compressed in the dynamic range.
You also should Check out Hotter than July which also contains a few great tracks.
One of the best demo's I had in the 70's was Isn't She lovely played on Klipshorns at Harvey's in NYC
Other than the recent material his entire catolog is a must own for any music lover / audiophile
OMG...what choices have we!! I'm unacquainted with Stevie's full opus, but I was in junior high/h.s in the early/mid-70's -- and purchased both "Talking Book" and "Innervisions".
Innervisions was one of the first records I bought when I was young. People often describe their first listen to a favorite record as a form of liberation. For me, Innervisions was an explosion. I played my first copy of that record until I could practically see through it. I memorized every note, every vocal inflection, every bit of phrasing. It is the popular music recording that has most influenced my thinking about music. It took several years for me to encounter music in other genres that influenced me as much.
But the BEST EVER Stevie Wonder Album in MY opinion is:
(01). Songs In The Key Of Life (1976).
Strong Second is:
(01). Innervisions (1973).
Third Place is:
(01). Talking Book (1972).
And the Honorable Mentions (and in NO particular order) are:
(01). The Original Musicquarim (1982 -- a collaboration of his best work from the 1970's, plus an introduction to new classics -- namely "That Girl", "Ribbon In The Sky" and "Do I Do").
(02). Hotter Than July (1980).
(03). In Square Circle (1985).
(04). The Woman In Red (1984 -- this showed that Stevie Wonder can also sing a duet. He most of the songs on this soundtrack album to this 1984 movie with Dionne Warrick, which later led to a duet with Whitney Houston on her "I'm Your Baby Tonight" album).
That's pretty much it.....
I got most of these albums on CD (when I started assembling my first audio system in the early 1980's, now, I also have many of these on vinyl as well).
Eddie Murphy: "Stevie Wonder is a musical genius man. I got all his albums man. Music of my mind, Talking book, Fufinillily, fufinillily, fu, fu, fufinillily...aw f**kit, you know, the good one man. I got all that s**t man".
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