Customer Reviews

Characters

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

Characters comes across right the first time you listen to it whether it is the the soothing melody of social awareness that is found in "You will know"or the roaring umph that pulls the "Skeletons" out of your closet. Each beat of my heart is another one of those beautiful love songs that Stevie will make you sing and cry to. This song will definitley be played or sang at my wedding. The collaboration with B.B.King on "Come let me make your love come down" is slammin and rocking. AS so the hook-up with Michael Jackson on "Get it". Check out "Free" 1000 words can not describe this album it is a "Galaxy Paradise"

This album is the last of Stevie Wonder's 80's projects. This album was preceded by hit albums such as HOTTER THAN JULY,THE WOMAN IN RED movie soundtrack and IN SQUARE CIRCLE. YOU WILL KNOW would later appear on the 1996 compilation SONG REVIEW. GET IT,a duet with Michael Jackson is a reciprocation for Wonder collaborating with Jackson on JUST GOOD FRIENDS from Jackson's BAD album,released in 1987 as this album. All the other songs are good.

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.

This CD was one of my favorites. I had the cassette and was glad to find it still on CD.

After many years as a fan, this 1987 release grew to be one of my favorite Stevie Wonder albums. Amazon puts it's release date at 1991 but I've owned Characters since 1987. The most outstanding tracks are "Dark 'n' Lovely", "One of a Kind", "Get It (with Michael Jackson)", "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down" with guitar solos by both Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King. and the infectious "My Eyes Don't Cry". Yes, this collection will not disappoint !

He is an amazing artist his music is great :) I love this cd it is the king of music I enjoy so Much my favorite song is Get it featuring Michael Jackson:) it is a hit also this whole album is amazing! Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder dueting wow ! great combination of amazing music buy it you won't be disappointed!:)

The last of Stevie's 80s albums, this one isn't as solid and robust as 1985's "In Square Circle," but, like any Stevie album, still has its share of redeeming moments. Features one of his best 80s ballads "You Will Know," and the funky "Dark 'N' Lovely" which sounds more like some of his late 70s/early 80s funk numbers rather than something from 1987. Also spawned a hit with "Skeletons" which is really not one of his better songs (very melodically bland). Still worth hearing if you're unfamiliar with it, as there is no such thing as a completely disposable Stevie Wonder album.

Characters is one of the lesser known albums in the Stevie Wonder catalog. It would be a great album by most artist's standards, but it is a notch below what we've come to expect from Mr. Wonder. There some great songs including "Skeletons", "Dark 'n' Lovely" and "You Will Know". "Get Up" is a duet with Michael Jackson and the beat of "With Every Beat Of My Heart" is built around a sample of an actual heartbeat. Stevie Ray Vaughan also guests on the album. The album didn't sell well and became his first since 1972's Music Of My Mind to not hit the top ten and not contain a top ten single. That streak included nine top ten albums (two number ones) and fourteen top ten singles (seven number ones).

Stevie Wonder is a musical genius. I've said that many times and will continue to say it. But even geniuses have a bad day sometimes. After 15 years of changing the world of music, Stevie becomes a concerned citizen of the world. As he dove himself head first, heart, soul, mind and body into his music through the 70's and half of the 80's, he now began to dive into more worldly things like injustices and the like. Using his fame and fortune to make people aware of the many wrongs taking place in this world. As usual, let's look at the album song by song.
You Will Know: A nice song sprinkled with a beautiful melody, a nice starlight sound effect and a great message of knowing God and your place in this great world of his. It does unfortunately lose something by the end of the song though because it becomes too repetitive. Overall though, a pretty good album opener and a pretty good song. Dark And Lovely: Even though he took the title from a hair product, this is a pretty jammin' song. It's another anti-apartheid song but it can't even touch the great It's Wrong from In Square Circle, just one album before it. It features some good keyboard work. In Your Corner: Hands down the worse song Stevie's ever done. What is it about anyway? And why do we need to know about whatever it is? The song is supposed to be fun in the same mold as Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing or I Ain't Gonna Stand For It, but it's not even on the same planet as these great songs. Skip it. With Each Beat OF My Heart: An overlooked classic. Stevie mixes a beautiful melody, great background vocal arrangments, a great harmonica solo and a sample of his heartbeat (filling in for the kick drum part) together to create this beautiful peice of music. His creative juices were really flowing in this one. It took the world 20 years to catch up and fall in love with Overjoyed and it took us 23 years to fall in love with and really understand Lately. So I guess we need at least 4 more years before we start hearing covers of With Each Beat from Hip Hop artist and the like. Maybe then we will appreciate this great song which shines as one of the beacons on this album. One Of A Kind: An ok song wherein Stevie is professing his love to his woman. Nothing special, especially not for Stevie, just ok. Skeletons: A very good political song about the skeletons that can sometimes fall out of a politicians closet. The song was written and released around the time of the Contra-Gate scandal with Oliver North and Reagan. And it worked perfectly in that atmosphere. A funky beat matched with a scratchy keybaord line, Skeletons is very dancable and yet thinkable at the same time. Get It: From 1982 to about 1988 Michael Jackson was the artist to perform with. Stevie jumped on that bandwagon with this so-so song. Again, nothing special going on here just an ok song. The only thing remotely interesting is the fact that Stevie and Michael were on oppisite sides of the world when they recorded their parts. Michael was in Asia on tour and Stevie here in the States. But that's more of a wonder of modern technology more than of songwriting. Galaxy Paradise: A very different song for Stevie. Something completely out of his style. it's not terrible but it's not great either. Let's say it's good, and for sure interesting. He uses a lot of synth sounds here and the starlight again too. Check it out and see what you think. Cryin' Through The Night: Another ok song ala One Of A Kind from earlier in this album. Free: Another overlooked classic from The Man. On the original album, this was the last song and it is one of the best album finales he's ever had. Albeit for a mediocre album. In it you can hear traces of Songs In The Key Of Life. With it's Hari Krishna rhythm and sound, and the lyrics harking back to Pasttime Paradise, it's a joyous sound. Unfortunately, on the CD, it's not the finale, it gets jumbled into the rest of the album and even worse, gets followed by two more just so-so songs. But please don't be blinded by that fact. It is, with With Each Beat Of My Heart, another highlight of not only the album, but of Stevie's great career. A must hear. Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down: Stevie and B.B. King doing a song together? It's got to be hot right? Eh, wrong. It's just another song. Not a very good one at that. There's no inspiration here. Their both just kind of there. My Eyes Don't Cry: This is Stevie as the "cheap" one man band. On this one, it's all done on the synthesizer. Drums, horns, bass, everything. And it sounds like it too. The only redeeming part of this song is where Stevie pulls out a kazoo (Yes! A kazoo!!) and plays it along with the rest of the song. As silly as it may sound, that kazoo to me represents the creative chances that not only Stevie has taken in the past but all of our greatest artists have and will take in the future. It's a form of irreverence but yet love for an art that only those of us who love and enjoy it can really appreciate. It's like a mothers hard love. She loves you so much she'll whoop your butt and ground you for a week to protect you from harm.
Characters is not an essential Stevie album to have so I can't say BUY THIS CD as I usually say about his stuff. You can skip it, BUT..... you'd miss the message of You Will Know, the shear beauty and creativity of With Each Beat Of My Heart (which I know is just waiting to be recognized for the classic that it is) and the joy and enlightment of Free. So, with all things said and done, I hate to do this to you but.....you make the call!