Customer Reviews

Original Musiquarium I

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It says much for how consistent Stevie Wonder's 1970s music was that "Original Musiquarium," joining his best-known songs from his most successful era with four then-new recordings, fits together lyrically, musically, emotionally as a concept album.

Wonder's innovation during this remarkable period never seemed to cease; this continued right up to "Musiquarium's impeccable pacing. "Ribbon In The Sky" slides beside classic Wonder ballads like "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life," and 1971's haunting "Superwoman." The war protest "Front Line" furthers a social protest timeline begun by "Superstition" and "You Haven't Done Nothin'." Wonder's Carribean-flavored "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and "Master Blaster," play nicely against each other while the curtain-closer "Do I Do" (with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet) pieces with "Songs In The Key Of Life"'s most jazz/R&B-flavored moments.

The four new songs not withstanding for completists, this is why "Musiquarium" is the only greatest hits collection essential even to those owning the original LPs. How many artists can you say that about?

If you love Stevie Wonder's music, you owe it to yourself to hunt-down a non-remastered version of these collections. I had the earlier versions, and lost one of the discs, so came back to Amazon to buy it again, and ordered this, thinking "hmm, remastered, and both discs in the same package" ...

Big disappointment. It sounds compressed and equalized excessively, it's harshly brighter, more distorted sounding and overall unpleasant to listen to. Also, the level of the analog tape hiss is notably hotter than on my "old" version! Certainly compressing and EQ'ing old masters can effectively raise the level of hiss, but this seems like more than what I would expect from that and I can't figure why. I almost wonder if this remastering was mistakenly done from an analog copy of the original master tapes (which is not unheard of). Regardless, it just plain sounds wrong.

Save yourself a minor heartache.. If the non-remastered versions are no longer available, buy used.

Between the strict hitmaking machinery of Motown between 1963-1971,and his MOR 80's and beyond,are these historical recordings from 1972's Music Of My Mind,through 1980's Hotter Than July.Musiquarium focuses strictly on the hits(Superstition,...Sunshine..,Sir Duke,etc)as well as include four new songs,three of which are now regarded as Wonder classics(That Girl,Ribbon In The Sky and Do I Do).Unfortunately,Stevie's gift for making music of this calibre has dissipated,but Misiquarium is a great intro for anyone who thinks his best songs includes I Just Called To Say I Love You,and other 80's songs.The newly Remastered CD is also an essential purchase,especially in light of the previous pressing which is sonically inferior considering that Stevie digitally remastered the old tracks when compiling Musiquarium in '82.

Original Musaquarium I is a greatest hits album that spans the most fruitful period of Stevie Wonder's career, 1972-1980. The album does not leave out any of the hits from that era. You get "Higher Ground", "Superstition", "Master Blaster", "Isn't She Lovely", "I Wish", "Sir Duke" among others. If you already own these songs on other releases, there is a bonus of four new songs. "Front Line" has a rock edge to it and is a stinging condemnation of the treatment of Vietnam vets, "Ribbon In The Sky" is a classic Wonder love song, "Do I Do" spans twelve minutes and shows off a jazzy side and "That Girl" shows off his vocal prowess and has some great harmonica playing. Many people are considered musical geniuses, but only a few actually are. Stevie Wonder is one of the few.

The Nathan Watts bassline in "Do I Do" has to be arguably the most fearless 16th-note finger-licking funk in the history of pop music. Enough said!!!!!!!! Peace!

This is better than any greatest hits album, all the pap has been removed and this is raw, honest music, from the heart. 'Living for the City', 'Higher ground', even more telling today than they were when they were written. Time is given to jammin and letting the music unravel and speak with its own voice. Maybe you have to have kids to love 'Isnt she lovely' - I danced around the kitchen to it last night with my 7 year old and the look on her face was a sight to behold, but then again maybe you just have to embrace life, the good and the bad, to love Stevie.

Stevie Wonder wrote an awful lot of really terrible sappy songs in the '80s and '90s. However, from 1970-1981-- the time covered by this excellent set-- he was the Beatles of black pop, covering a staggering amount of stylistic ground and redefining Motown production. This collection-- along with "Talking Book" and the astonishing "Songs in the Key of Life"-- is crucial.

This set opens with "Frontline," where WOnder blasts the American Viet Nam adventure, and continues throuh some of the finest music of the '70s. Indeed, on "Boogie On, Reggae WOman," Wonder wrote the greatest-- and funkiest-- song of his career, making the weird irony of a blind singer's "I wanna see you boogie right across the floor" perfectly match his sense that love is transformative in a pretty basic and yet mystical sense. "I Wish" shows us just how well this man can arrange horns, and even the disc's slower songs-- not my favorites-- are so good that Stevie would repeat pieces of them for the next 30 years or so.

Wonder negotiated into his 1970 contract a provision that would allow him to produce himself. And he took full advantage. Where so much early '70s Motown now sounds so dated-- the cardboard box drums, the chopped horns, the chunky arrangements-- this collection shows just how far Stevie was able to push his production ideas. "Frontline" rides a fluid electric guitar riff and actually jams out at the end, and on "Boogie On," the bongos and scratching rotate around a weirdly effective-- and synthetic!-- bassline.

This colleciton showcases some of the best funk ever written. Makes you want to shake, grab the drums and play along. WOnder can write love, politics and childhood memory perfectly, and does what black music does best-- build an imaginary community on the dancefloor. Chuck D of Public Enemy would capture it perfectly fifteen years later when he said of political music "If you can't swing this/learn the words/you might sing this." Stevie, however, lets you do all three.

This album is beyond GREAT! This is (well in my opinion)HIS
WONDER at his best!The very first time I ever heard him was
on the radio and it was the song LIVING FOR THE CITY...
I was just a child,but still could feel the beat and rythems
and although could not make out the lyrics,I can remember
driving my mom crazy at 4 yrs. old trying to sing/hum.....
DA,DA,DA=DUM,DA,DA,DUM-DUM,DUM,DUM,DUM,DUM,DA,DUM-DA-DA-DA=DUM
DUM-DUM-DUM=DUM....I think my mom thought I was dumb! A year
goes by and I am at the drive in it's a double feature the
movies were Black Sunday(Robert Shaw)and It's Alive(John Ryan)
While waiting for It's Alive to come on those crappy speakers
you had to mount on your window started playing another tune
my 5 yr.old mouth could'nt stop humming.Dun,dun,dun,dunt,dala,dala
dala,dunt,dala,dala,dala,dun,dunt.It was SIR DUKE, and I can still
smell the popcorn and picture the SUPERFRIENDS colorforms in my
hands in the backseat of the car.Not intil many years from than
did I really hear his WONDERful music again...The likes of HIGHER
GROUND,SUPERSTITION(one of JEFF BECK'S FAV.)MASTER BLASTER
and the immortal BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN! I have read other reviews
for this album("ALBUM? JEWEL!")and they are right if you love
great music and are comfortable with $$$ than buy HIS CATALOG!
But seriously if you can buy only one! It should be this and really
that is NOT debatable. You have 16 tracks of music that anyone I
mean anyone can enjoy!If you love country(you will love this album)
you love punk(you will love this album)classical,heavy metal and
yes I will go so far as too say POLKA!!!You will love this album!
So buy MUSIQARIUM it is truly WONDERful(sic)
JUST ENOUGH...JUST ENOUGH....FOR THE CITYYYYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Stevie Wonder's "Original Musiquarium I" goes beyond the traditional greatest hits package by offering 16 songs of rhythmic unity. A few tracks - notably "Isn't She Lovely" and "Do I Do" - are uncut versions that never reached the Top 40 airwaves. "Superstition," "Boogie On Reggae Woman," "Master Blaster (Jammin')" and "Sir Duke" remain essentials in this timeless collection.

I'm a huge Stevie fan, and I have the "At The Close Of A Century" boxed set, which is the best Stevie collection out there, but I still love "Original Musiquarium 1", his 1982 "best - of", it's nowhere as complete as "ATCOAC", but it does hold a sentimental value.

The reason why this two disc set is so special to me is because it was the cd that turned me on to Stevie. It was about 10 years ago and we were driving out to my grandparents' summer home in Pennsylvania, about an hour drive. It was late at night and we all wanted to listen to something relaxing, so my dad put on "Original Musiqurium 1". The song that got me hooked was "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life". I was only four at the time, but I remember how enthalled I was by his music.

Looking back on it 10 years later, I still love every minute of this cd, from the plodding intro of "Higher Ground" to the blaring horns of "Do I Do" to the simple romaticism of "Ribbon In The Sky" (a song featured in my parents' wedding video) to the funky "I Wish" to those timeless opening chords of "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" and everything in between.

My only wish is that since this collection was originally released 23 years ago, they could have added more songs to make it an anniversary edition. I would have been nice to have "As" (currently my all time favorite Stevie song), "Another Star", "All I Do", "Rocket Love", "If It's Magic", "If You Really Love Me", "I Believe", "Knocks Me Off My Feet", "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" and "Lately".

But still, this is such a great collection. I think everyone should own this classic album of classic music by a musical genius.