I love Stevie Wonder. "Maybe Your Baby," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Living for the City"...these, and many others, have long since guaranteed a place in the pantheon for the formerly 12-Year-Old Genius. But I confess: this reviewer would be hard-pressed to describe Stevie's latter-day output as "good," much less "great," "classic" or (I shudder at the thought) "genius."
What makes worthy artists - legendary artists, even - go bad? It's a question that's been asked countless times, of Wonder and of others, and frankly the "answers" are too myriad and subjective to go into here. But it's important to note that, if one considers Stevie Wonder's "classic period" to have begun with "Uptight" and ended sometime after Songs in the Key of Life (with Paul McCartney duet "Ebony and Ivory" serving as the final nail in the coffin), 2005 marks at least the 25th year since the soul innovator and auteur began his disappearance into the depths of the MOR gutter.
In this context, then, A Time to Love must surely be the most important Stevie Wonder album since 1980's Hotter Than July. Not only was the record long in gestation and much-awaited - it's been ten years since Stevie's last, Conversation Peace, a significant chunk of which decade was spent recording (and delaying) Time to Love - but if Wonder's people are to be believed, it also marks a massive return to form: the album that will finally reconcile the brilliant artist of the late '60s and '70s with the cornrowed, sweet-natured caricature of the last 20 years; a virtual pillar of inconsequence who hasn't changed so much as an Afrocentric parka since he was immortalized by Eddie Murphy's spot-on SNL parodies. Of course, that's one tall order, and it needn't even be said that A Time to Love is no Innervisions. But if we can allow ourselves to put our impossible expectations aside and give this album the listen it deserves, Mr. Wonder has a bit of a pleasant surprise for us all: this "return to form" may have its flaws, but it remains a remarkably solid effort.
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
I have to imagine that Wonder can never top Songs in the Key of Life, a strong contender for Best Album of the 1970s, but maybe what Stevie needed to do was come to terms with that as his best work. And it sounds like he has. I'm dying to hear Time to Love!
Great review!
2 - Mister.D
Hello...
Can you help me please ?,
I want sending to Stevie Wonder a new song i have arranged for him, but i don't have his e-mail box address...
Thank you for your help...
Didier Willkomm____________.
3 - Zach
Mister D, if only I had Stevie Wonder's e-mail address, you know I would be sending him letters every day. As it is, I can only direct you to his official website
Hope that helps.
4 - reggie von woic
Ahhhhh Stevie...i wonder where to start.
If i say Stevie ever left my heart and needed a comeback - shame on me,
If you ever said that he came up with "half-assed, mediocre records" - shame on you,
If you they ever ask you "who sang that song in that Levis jeans ad that goes 'very superstitious' " - shame on them,
and if we all don't go out there and get ourselves 'a time to love' - shame on us.
A shiny nickel for the person who guesses my fav song in Stevies new album ;-)
-goes to watch video again-
5 - Evan
Elton John and Cat Stevens are better then Stevie Wonder
6 - Patricia
I'm not sure where to begin. My daughter-in-law (Elise)is 27 years old. Five years ago, right after the birth of her son, she was diagnosed with MS. She is now blind. She likes listening to Stevie Wonder songs. I know that my son and her have a hard time with the medical bills and that they could not afford to see Stevie Wonder in concert but I was wondering if it would be possible to have a signed picture sent to her. Even if she can't see it, she would know that she has it. She is very special person and she means the world to us. Thank you, Patricia Williamson