Innervisions

Stevie Wonder was getting his fusion of soul, rock, and various other styles together when Music of My Mind appeared in early 1972. A bit shapeless compared with Talking Book, the masterpiece he'd release by the end of the year, this disc nonetheless finds the then-21-year-old self-assuredly deploying an array of synthesized textures and natural voices: check out the drawl lurking around the edges of "Sweet Little Girl." Not an essential album, but an entertaining one–and one that, in retrospect, carried enormous implications for the future of American music…

Stevie Wonder is a much-beloved American icon and an indisputable genius not only of R&B but popular music in general. Blind virtually since birth, Wonder's heightened awareness of sound helped him create vibrant, colorful music teeming with life and ambition. Nearly everything he recorded bore the stamp of his sunny, joyous positivity; even when he addressed serious racial, social, and spiritual issues (which he did quite often in his prime), or sang about heartbreak and romantic uncertainty, an underlying sense of optimism and hope always seemed to emerge. Much like his inspiration, Ray Charles, Wonder had a voracious appetite for many different kinds of music…

With the success of her previous hit single, "Wish I Didn't Miss You," Angie Stone went from being trapped in a pack of neo-soul divas going straight to the bargain bin to being one of the first singers off the tip of the tongue when the word "neo-soul" was uttered. After nearly a two-year absence, Stone Love pleasantly picks up where Mahogany Soul left off, presenting a wiser, more even-keel Stone putting her best foot forward right from the album's onset.

In a career spanning four decades Steveland Judkins Morris has been many things: child star, funk hero, political chronicler, the saviour of Motown Records and depressingly, the instigator of the painfully schmaltzy R&B ballad. Thankfully, this exhaustive "Best Of…", timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his first appearance as Little Stevie Wonder, focuses mainly on the 1966-1980 glory years and his transition from incendiary soul man to voice of the 70s.