Stevie Wonder started the year with the release of a “Greatest Hits” Tamla compilation album in March. It made the charts, reaching number thirty-seven on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and number six on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart.
That was followed in April by the single “Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day”, on which Wonder plays the clavinet.
Stevie Wonder playing the Hohner Clavinet
Photo: John Athayde (boboroshi) (Wikimedia Commons)
The song was written and produced by Wonder with his two mentors Hank Cosby and Sylvia Moy. It is light and funky, with the Andantes providing the backing that helped the song to chart at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number one on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart.
The follow-up in July, “You Met Your Match”, was co-written by Wonder, his mother Lula Mae Hardaway and Don Hunter, with Wonder again playing the clavinet. It sold less well than the first single of the year, only reaching numbers thirty-five and two on the two charts.
The third single released by Gordy in August seems an unusual choice. It is an instrumental version of “Alfie”, the movie theme tune from Bacharach and David. It showcases Stevie Wonder the musician enjoying himself, and it made it to number sixty-six on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
Three singles and a compilation was a scant return for a year’s work, but there was more to come. November and December both saw the release of Stevie Wonder albums. The first was “Eivets Rednow”, Stevie Wonder’s name spelt backwards, which contains “Alfie” and eight more instrumental versions of an eclectic mix of songs from Motown and beyond. Three of the tracks are Wonder’s own compositions, the first solo credits he received. Hank Cosby produced, as usual, and Wonder plays harmonica, piano, clavinet and drums. What a talent!
The December album saw Wonder back on familiar Motown territory. “For Once In My Life” contains eight songs, including the first two singles of the year. Wonder was involved in writing eight of the songs, but not the title track. That song was written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden back in 1965. It had been recorded by several Motown artists since then, mainly as a slow ballad. Stevie Wonder gave the song a new twist when he recorded it in 1967 at the age of seventeen, upping the tempo and adding an extended harmonica solo. This arrangement has supplanted all the previous efforts by Barbara McNair, Diana Ross, the Four Tops and the Temptations to become the definitive version. The single reached number two on both the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, also charting well in the UK, where it rose to number three on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart, earning a gold disc from the BPI. That was Stevie Wonder’s best yet in the UK.
Stevie Wonder
Photo: Jack de Nijs for Anefo (Wikimedia Commons)
The album is an excellent collection, featuring some Jazz-inflected bass playing that suggests Jamerson was at work. The songs are all musically interesting, with the Funk Brothers clearly enjoying themselves.
