His debut, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, is an instrumental album featuring Wonder on piano, organ, harmonica, drums, and bongos, and while it’s impressive from a technical standpoint, musically it sounds too much like the work of an adolescent.  

 Wonder doesn’t get a proper Motown sound until Up-Tight, which even kicks off with the Motown tribute “Love a Go Go.” Still, his commitment to the style is far from absolute, as Up-Tight finds room for a version of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” while Down to Earth has him handling such seemi... 

 Wonder doesn’t get a proper Motown sound until Up-Tight, which even kicks off with the Motown tribute “Love a Go Go.” Still, his commitment to the style is far from absolute, as Up-Tight finds room for a version of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” while Down to Earth has him handling such seemi... 

 I Was Made to Love Her has much better taste in cover material, tending more toward classic soul tunes such as “My Girl” and “Can I Get a Witness” (although Wonder doesn’t quite know what to do with James Brown’s “Please Please Please”), but even so, it’s the title tune, with it... 

 And yet he continued to yo-yo stylistically, swinging from the innocuous instrumentals of Alfie to the jazz-tinged soul of For Once in My Life to the sentimental balladry of My Cherie Amour to the straight-up soul of Signed Sealed & Delivered.  

 And yet he continued to yo-yo stylistically, swinging from the innocuous instrumentals of Alfie to the jazz-tinged soul of For Once in My Life to the sentimental balladry of My Cherie Amour to the straight-up soul of Signed Sealed & Delivered.  

 Greatest Hits is a fizzy delight–and a good place for the uninitiated to start.  

 And yet he continued to yo-yo stylistically, swinging from the innocuous instrumentals of Alfie to the jazz-tinged soul of For Once in My Life to the sentimental balladry of My Cherie Amour to the straight-up soul of Signed Sealed & Delivered.  

 And yet he continued to yo-yo stylistically, swinging from the innocuous instrumentals of Alfie to the jazz-tinged soul of For Once in My Life to the sentimental balladry of My Cherie Amour to the straight-up soul of Signed Sealed & Delivered.  

 Wonder’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 covers most of his big singles since the last hits, but a far better overview (if you can find it) is the now-deleted Looking Back, which not only highlights his albums to this point but also includes a number of non-LP singles.  

 The last was the first album Wonder produced on his own, but he doesn’t truly begin to take control of his music until Where I’m Coming From, an album in which he uses his multi-instrumental virtuosity to provide nearly all the parts himself. It sounds dated today, but that’s more a functio... 

 With Music of My Mind, Wonder turned a corner. His work from this point finds him acting as a self-sufficient, completely independent recording entity, handling the writing, production, and most of the instrumental chores himself–an unprecedented move for a Motown artist at that time. Unlike Wh... 

 Talking Book, for instance, is a pop tour de force, with Wonder’s work running the gamut from the blissful romanticism of “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” to the melodic exuberance of “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” to the snaky funk of “Superstition.”  

 Innervisions continues in kind, thanks to songs as accessible and inspired as the jazzy “Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing” or the deliciously melancholy “All in Love Is Fair.” Innervisions also finds Wonder addressing deeper issues, as “Living for the City” dramatizes the injustice o... 

 Those topics crop up again on Fulfillingness’ First Finale, and, indeed, spark one of its highlights, the bitingly anti-Nixon “You Haven’t Done Nothin’.” Still, Wonder’s playful side dominates, and it’s a pleasure to hear his almost bashful profession of lust in “Boogie on Reggae ... 

 By Songs in the Key of Life, Wonder is clearly at his peak, effortlessly sustaining the focus required of a double album while demonstrating an almost frightening capacity for hit singles. Even better, he’s able to deal with an astonishing range of material, writing memorably about anything fro... 

 Wonder’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 covers most of his big singles since the last hits, but a far better overview (if you can find it) is the now-deleted Looking Back, which not only highlights his albums to this point but also includes a number of non-LP singles.  

 But rather than try to top that album, Wonder went off in an entirely different direction, spending three years on The Secret Life of Plants. Although ridiculed at the time for its lack of commercialism, the album doesn’t entirely deserve its reputation as a pop-star boondoggle, for not only do... 

 Even so, Wonder wasn’t forgiven until he delivered the buoyantly tuneful Hotter Than July, an album most fans considered a return to form. To the extent that it produced two Top Twenty singles (“I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It” and “Master Blaster [Jammin’]”) as well as the shoulda-been-... 

 Even so, Wonder wasn't forgiven until he delivered the buoyantly tuneful Hotter Than July, an album most fans considered a return to form. To the extent that it produced two Top Twenty singles ("I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" and "Master Blaster [Jammin"]") as well as the shoulda-been-a-hi... 

 >, a concert recording that became Wonder’s first chart-topping single. But it’s the only real bright point on Wonder’s first four albums; Tribute to Uncle Ray finds the young singer reprising some of Ray Charles’s better-known hits, while With a Song in My Heart is an earnest attempt at ... 

 Fortunately, one track from that album, a bongo number called "Fingertips," is transformed into an absolutely incandescent harmonica showcase on The 12 Year Old Genius, a concert recording that became Wonder's first chart-topping single. But it's the only real bright point on Wonder... 

 >, a concert recording that became Wonder’s first chart-topping single. But it’s the only real bright point on Wonder’s first four albums; Tribute to Uncle Ray finds the young singer reprising some of Ray Charles’s better-known hits, while With a Song in My Heart is an earnest attempt at ... 

 From there, Wonder's output became maddeningly unpredictable. His soundtrack album from The Woman in Red has some astonishingly lovely melodies, including "Love Light in Flight" and a charming collaboration with Dionne Warwick entitled "Moments Aren't Moments," but it also presents Wond... 

 In Square Circle is even more uneven, as Wonder backs lusciously melodic songs such as “Part-Time Lover” and “Stranger on the Shore of Love” with gratingly mechanical rhythm programs, while Characters undercuts its obvious ambition with a near-complete lack of musical edge.  

 In Square Circle is even more uneven, as Wonder backs lusciously melodic songs such as “Part-Time Lover” and “Stranger on the Shore of Love” with gratingly mechanical rhythm programs, while Characters undercuts its obvious ambition with a near-complete lack of musical edge.  

 The dearth of great material guaranteed the lightweight-but-likeable soundtrack to Jungle Fever a lukewarm reception, and left the earnest-but-unsuccessful attempts at relevance on Conversation Peace almost completely ignored.  

 The dearth of great material guaranteed the lightweight-but-likeable soundtrack to Jungle Fever a lukewarm reception, and left the earnest-but-unsuccessful attempts at relevance on Conversation Peace almost completely ignored.  

 The rich, funky hit-packed At the Close of a Century is a stellar box set, placing Wonder in a continuum with Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles as one of American popular music’s most gifted and innovative performers. But avoid the distinctly middle-of-the-road pitch of Song Review, which seems ... 

 If you’re looking for a greatest hits compilation, make it the one-disc Definitive Collection.  

 The live-in-Japan Natural Wonder showed that his chops, at least, hadn’t suffered, and in 2005 Wonder delivered his first studio album in ten years with A Time To Love, which balanced out cheesy stuff (“Passionate Raindrops”) with funkier cuts (“Positivity”) and some great melodies.