1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear #3

December 21, 2021

MATT KELLY continues his epic new series with his review of Stevie Wonder’s sinister, saccharine With A Song In My Heart.

1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear
#3: Stevie Wonder – With A Song In My Heart (1963)
Motown couldn’t figure it out. Little Stevie was a huge hit live with his energetic, hand-clapping shows that had everyone out of their seats, but his first two records hadn’t sold.
Clearly, what they needed to do was to take that energy and stamp out every trace of it with a saccharine sappy set of songs that would have even Michael Buble reaching for the sick bucket.
After the precocious mini-Ray Charles thing had stiffed, Stevie’s handlers did a hard 180, instead now presenting him as a wholesome, slow and sentimental crooner for old ladies to coo over.
And Stevie’s singing is fine – he does lose it in a few places but he’s 13 – but these arrangements. It’s not the songs, there’s nothing inherently bad about say ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’, but these arrangements. Lifeless and plodding and every track sounding the same, the 32-minute runtime begins to stretch into eternity making this a real endurance test.

 

Would you like to support our mission to bring intelligence, insight and great writing to entertainment journalism? Help to pay for the coffee that keeps our brains working and fingers typing just for you. Witchdoctor, entertainment for grownups. Your one-off (or monthly) $5 or $10 donation will support Witchdoctor.co.nz. and help us keep producing quality content. It’s really easy to donate, just click the ‘Become a supporter’ button below.

 

Everything is so sweet and pure and pleasant it becomes oppressive and the lyrical theme of repressing your emotions and being fake happy becomes sinister after a while. (I’m not joking – this really is a theme – ‘Smile’, ‘Put On A Happy Face’, ‘Get Happy’, etc.) And it’s just so SLOW. Terrible.
This bullshit is why The Beatles happened. If you want to experience having golden syrup poured into your ears until it smothers your brain, this is the record for you.

Avatar photo

Matthew Kelly is the most important person in the music industry – the type of obsessive nerd without whom it would have no reason to produce box sets and nine-hour long documentaries.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Give a little to support Witchdoctor's quest to save high quality independent journalism. It's easy and painless! Just donate $5 or $10 to our PressPatron account by clicking on the button below.

Authors

WIn a Wiim Ultra Network Music Streamer with Witchdoctor.co.nz
Panasonic Fire TV Be Mesmerised with next gen AI TV
Advance Paris - Designed with French flair. Amplifiers, Streamers, CD players and more www.pqimports.co.nz
Previous Story

Cool Summer Tech – Buyers Guide

Next Story

Happy new year, drinkers!

Latest from Albums

Let there be drums!

Six diverse percussion compositions performed by virtuosic musician Justin DeHart challenge common notions about the most primal of instruments.

The format wars suck

GARY STEEL has been thinking about vinyl vs. streaming vs. compact discs (etc) and just wants it all to stop.
Go toTop