STEVIE WONDER — A Time to Love (review)

STEVIE WONDER — A Time to Love album cover

Album · 2005 · RnB

3.5/5 · 2011-06-04
innervisions

The time it took Stevie Wonder to release Time to Love after Conversations Peace was reminiscent of Chinese Democracy. Thankfully, it was worth the wait - somewhat. I was fortunate to get into Stevie Wonder's music after the event but the wait must have been painful for his longtime fans and it probably was not good enough to justify the wait in their eyes. Nothing save another Talking Book or Innervisions would have been.

But at several moments in the album, Stevie Wonder recalls that glorious phase of his career. In retrospect, the midas touch never completely deserted him. At heart, songs like Never in Your Sun were not so far removed from quintessential Wonder but his attempt to blend it with 80s sonic values was not particularly successful, to put it politely.

He doesn't seem to be trying nearly so hard to fit in anymore because he's a has-been making albums for his pleasure and no more the superstar trying to match past commercial success. The flow is thus more natural and uninhibited and that already makes listening to the album an easier process compared to In Square Circle.

The shift of mainstream music culture towards hip hop also seems to have played into his hands because it favours his playful use of syncopation and his penchant for laying one after another irresistible groove.

Another enduring gift of his has become more valued in the contemporary pop climate - of writing great melodies. The man just never seems to run out of good tunes. Or is it that his singing always makes them regardless? For his voice too is evergreen and not much changed after all these years. And, refreshingly, he doesn't appear to feel obliged to play 'old man'. He's just the same, good ol' Stevie Wonder - disarming, charming and very, very entertaining.

An area of weakness, strangely, is in the ballads. Especially the jazz-crooning affairs like How Will I Know or True Love. It's not that they are bad, they are actually pretty good in their own right, well put together and well sung. It's just that Wonder has written such fantastic ballads over the years that the bar has been set too high and what he has on offer here struggles to distinguish itself in such elite company. Moon Blue, simply for how luxuriant it is, makes a mark. You'll enjoy the rest while they last but may not find yourself humming them over and over like a Too Shy to Say or Too Late. A particularly great singing performance lifts Shelter in the Rain above the other ballads.

The more uptempo cuts fare better, thanks to the playful syncopation and catchy grooves alluded to earlier. Some great basslines too, especially on My Love Is On Fire, a cut that would storm into his 70s masterpieces. It is very charming to hear him play the good old harmonica on Sweetest Somebody I Know. As if nothing's changed about the world in all these years, even as the production values make it clear that we are in the noughties now (speaking of which, the production is very good, polished and clear but warm and organic.

Rather than being turn offs, his copious moments of sentimentality and silliness are endearing because they represent the gaze of a man who looks at the world very differently, literally, from the rest of us and is effortlessly emotional in a way that mainstream artists struggle to capture of late. They say a thing of beauty is forever and that seems to hold true for Wonder, at least whenever he's on.

This is not a consistent album and there are some less than stellar cuts like, unfortunately, the overlong title track. But he's on much more of the time than he's been in a long time. By the exacting standards of his best output, it is difficult to give this any more than 3.5 stars but make no mistake, this is the best Wonder album to come out in a very long time. If you are a fan, get it. I was fortunate to pick it as a free disc with other purchases (!) and I doubt I will get similar bang for the buck any time soon from other purchases.