Characters

by

Stevie Wonder

Edit

Hey Wonder fans!Come back to 1987 and take a revisit to Wonder's most underrated album I can think of!"Characters" thankfully came before Wonder's sad daliance with dull New Jack

swing arrangements on some of his 1990's albums and makes a much

improved follow up to the unfocused "In Square Circle".Similar sound,MUCH better songwriting.From the sad but memorable "You Will Know",the stomping funk of "Dark And Lovely"the Micahel

Jackson duet "Get It","My Eyes Don't Cry" and the classic

"Skeletons",this album is packed with corkers!And no filler-the latinish "Crying Through The Night",the Supreme's-like "In Your Corner" and the roadhouse R&B of "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down" are ticklish highlites while the fabulous

"Galaxy Paradise","Free" and the pulsing ballad "Each Beat Of My Heart" are quintessencial Wonder tunes that (as usual) seem to defy catagorization.And he even has time to throw in a classic pop/R&B tune in "One Of A Kind".This is also one of Stevie's few albums seemingly aimed primarily at the 1980's urban Afro Amercian audience-perhapes a sad reminder of the album's seeming lack of universal success.But that doesn't make ANY of it's 12 cuts any less potent so "Characters" is STILL an all-time Wonder classic!

in this era of protools, perfect pitch, programmed pop, it's easy to forget the stevie wonder championed the one man band concept in black music as early as 1972. he absolutely can be credited with helping usher in a new era of technology with the use of synthesizers, drum machines and programming to flesh out his sound. the ingredient that was not lost was the human touch. a musician first, stevie always included the musical elements of chord structure, rhythm, and melody in his work. By the 80's black pop was less melody and story driven and more beat driven and stevie's music was no exception. in service to the beat, it seems most of the musicianship was getting lost in the mix. his 80's output "in square circle", and to a lesser extent "characters" seem like contractual obligation projects. there are some gems here. "free" and "skeletons" are the socially conscious stevie we expect. "free" especially, with it's crescendo building chorus, is a joy to listen to. the ballads are also good but nothing we haven't heard from stevie before. i suppose after innovating for 20+ years, stevie can't be faulting for coasting a bit. not my favorite stevie cd but fun to listen to.