Customer Reviews

A Time To Love

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Stevie Wonder's A Time To Love has been slated to be released several times in the past year or so. But it kept being pushed back and one wondered if it would ever be taken off the shelf. Usually that doesn't bode well for albums, but that is not the case here. This album is the best he's done since maybe Hotter Than July. The album finds him mixing the best of his musical traits, his social awareness and his sweet love songs. Mr. Wonder is a notorious perfectionist, but his attention to detail in the production real shines. The songs are magnificently arranged and crafted, especially the love songs. Mr. Wonder sings them with an all-knowing confidence of someone who isn't new to the game. The opening song, "If Your Love Cannot Be Moved", is a dramatic opening that is a duet with Kim Burrell and features some rhymes from old-school legend Doug E. Fresh. "Sweetest Somebody I Know" is a great mid-tempo number while "Moon Blue" & "From The Bottom Of My Heart" are more syrupy. "How Will I Know" is a jazzy number that he duets with his daughter Aisha Morris (who made her recording debut as the baby crying on the song she inspired 1976's "Isn't She Lovely). The song is especially appealing because there a sense of joy and fun that Mr. Wonder lets out while singing with his daughter (who sounds a bit like Alicia Keys). "My Love Is On Fire" (which features great flute work by Hubert Laws) & "Passionate Raindrops" have tremendous orchestration and "So What The Fuss" is as funky as anything he's done since the 70's. Mr. Wonder saves the best for last in the sprawling nine-minute title track. It is a duet with India.Arie (and features old fried Sir Paul McCartney on guitar) that has a sweeping string arrangement and the message of peace and love is as sincere and convincing as any social lyric Mr. Wonder has recorded. This album has it all and don't be surprised if the year-end accolades pile up high for this first-rate effort. Let's hope it is less than a decade before Mr. Wonder graces us with another album.

Without question, this new album by Stevie Wonder is one of the best albums that Stevie has ever done. And that's saying a lot, because all of Stevie's albums are good, and most of his albums are better than good. His songwriting skills are still top notch, as well as his production skills. And of course, Stevie still has that vocal magic, and his vocals are as good as ever. All of the songs on this album are strong, but the ones that I like the most are tracks no. 2,3,4,5,7,9,14, and 15.

You know, I'm getting kind of tired of hearing people who have critiqued this album to say that it's not as strong as his albums of the seventies and early eighties. Let me tell you something: if this album was released in the seventies, then we'd place this album on the same pedelstal of his great albums of the seventies. It's really unfair to compare the albums of today to the albums of the seventies, because the taste for music was different then it is today. The listeners of today don't have the depth and musical intellect that the listener had in the seventies. Today, all you got to do is have a bass line with a drum machine with the lyrics talkin about sex and you'll sell a million records. The music of today is pitiful, and these so called R&B artist of today can learn a lot from Mr. Wonder. One listen to this album and they'll know what true musical genius is all about!!!!!

Stevie Wonder is just about the best artist ever in the field of modern popular song, with his fantastic messages, uplifting lyrics, joyous singing, great musicality and wonderful talent on so many instruments. So for this new album, I was very keen to hear what his latest songs were like.

I was very happy with the album A Time To Love, for two main reasons. Firstly, Stevie sounds terrific on vocals - every bit as good as previously. I love his singing style, and the way he adds life and energy into every melody he sings by sliding around the notes and adding his unique vocal flourishes.
Secondly, he has some very fine songs here. I really like the title tune A Time To Love. This is a message song with guest vocals from the talented Acoustic Soul lady India.Arie (who herself paid tribute to Stevie's immense musical contributions on her last CD), and it ends with beautiful percussion from a group of international rhythm specialists from all types of various cultures. I LOVE this idea - it's not enough to just wish for love and peace - you have to get out there and build those bridges with people from different traditions and cultures or else war and hate really do start to win. Stevie is one of those special people who have the talent and the heart to try to make the world better, and I can only hope that heaps of people will listen to this song and learn that now really is A Time To Love.

Of the other songs, my favourites are Positivity, which is a feel-good track which is filled with joy. Stevie refers to his past and his heritage here, and shares the vocals with his daughter Aisha Morris on the choruses. She has a lovely voice , and I agree with the reviewer who said she sounded like Alicia Keys. Sweetest Somebody I Know is lovely, Moon Blue has a sedate pace with a cool vocal and some delightful piano instrumentals . It is a stand out track. I also really like Passionate Raindrops. This is just a beautiful song that conjures up warm feelings of companionate love. Shelter In The Rain is a beacon of hope for those left devastated by disaster - I believe it was dedicated to those made homeless by the catastrophic hurricane Katrina that flooded Louisiana and Mississippi last year. Stevie's sincere compassion and emotive voice bring this sentiment to life. The other one I really liked was From The Bottom Of My Heart, which also creates a feeling of joy and love, and brings back the classic Stevie Wonder harmonica sound on its terrific leaping intro melody.

There are some slower ballads too (True Love, How Will I Know), and some funky arrangements to remind us that Stevie can still kick a mean groove if he feels like it. So What The Fuss was a CD single and is a pretty good funk track.

At 15 tracks and 75+ minutes, this CD is loaded with good music, and shines as a record of a genuinely good person who is also a master musician and somebody for we music fans to treasure.

I can only give this 5 stars !!

As a musician I naturally focus on the musical elements of music. (The last thing I listen to is the lyric!) I heard Stevie Wonder play "Alfie" (of all things!) on his chromatica harmonica in concert at Madison Square Garden. Let me tell you...it moved me. Has anyone else noticed that his piano playing, his harmonica work, his moog bass and lead work, and even his rudimentary drumming is germane to his music? His harmonic inventiveness is amazing. Someone else mentioned Stevie's use of transposition to heighten the musical drama. His chord work is frankly amazing, especially relative to what else is out there. Is he really a self-taught musician? That voice! How he does those melissmas is incredible. Did you notice that virtuosic melissmatic duet passage in the opener? The fact is: 28 years into our marriage that song, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" still gets it going for us!
He's the best.

How dare one reviewer suggest that Stevie do remakes and sing other writer's songs? Part of his charm is the fact that he writes and produces all of his own music.

And what's this continuing theme of calling his ballads "syrupy". So, what do you guys want? You want this writer of some our greatest love songs to start writing songs that appeal to the Little Kim (in jail) and Dr Dre (slapped a woman) generation? Give me a break.

And enough with the references to The Beatles being the greatest of all time ... Yes they were good, but the greatest? I love Paul on his own more and its debatable whether or not the underappreciated Monkees had better songs than the Beatles, considering that they managed to stay together much longer and release albums in the 60s, 80s and 90s.

But back to Stevie ... So many acts rely on other writers for their words and music. But Stevie, Elton and Billy Joel are in a class all their own. That's why we wait 10 or more years for their next releases. And stop comparing his current product to his 70s work. Each album should stand on its own merit. Besides, while HOTTER THAN JULY was a nice album, it definitely wasn't his best. Check out CHARACTERS for imaginative lyrics, IN SQUARE CIRCLE for absolutely pretty melodies, CONVERSATION PEACE for non stop variety and NATURAL WONDER, a live concert celebrating the span of Wonder's career. And if that's still not good enough, go out and make your own CD.

TruSoulDJ

As much as I love Stevie Wonder, I don't think this record is the return to greatness that it is hyped to be.
Perhaps it is not fair to compare any records after "Hotter Than July" (the one most people say that any new record is the "best one since") to those before, because those include some of the greatest albums ever made. "Talking Book", "Innervisions", "Fulfillingness First Finale", "Songs In The Key of Life"...all within a few years. The only other artist to put out that much amazing music, of such high quality, over such a short period of time, is probably The Beatles. Now that's a legacy.
I think Stevie Wonder has gone from being a genius-like musician who hit new career heights with every consecutive album, to simply a master craftsman. That explosive creativity and daring, the confidence, the scope...they're gone.
Now he simply creates safe, sweet-sounding, conventional songs with very little passion behind them.
If you're in the mood for treacly ballads, he's got four or five here. Midtempo R&B/soul...three or four. They all sound perfectly produced, but they are so generic, it's a little disappointing. A solid three-star effort.
Almost a dozen songs into the album, I came across "So What The Fuss", and he leapt from my speakers.There was life, an energy, a spirit that hadn't shown itself yet on the album. I see Prince contributed to the track, but not so much to overshadow Mr. Wonder.
Soon, "Positivity" exploded out, and for the first time in decades, I thought..."HERE he is! He's BACK!" Here was energy, crackling. Spirit, by the bucketloads. Melody. Rhythm. And then this sweet female voice sweeps in to elevate the track to new levels, and it's none other than Aisha. Yes THAT "Aisha" we first met way back on "Songs In The Key Of Life". His daughter. And while she made an appearance earlier on this album, it was on a non-descript ballad. Here, the two voices prod each other to exquisite heights. Wow.
The album ends with a powerful "A Time To Love". THIS is what I mean by "passion". You can't tell me you cannot hear the difference between the first ten or so songs on the record, and THIS one. It's a duet with India.Aire, and all of Wonder's prowess is on display.
He's not a elder statesman, he's not a "craftsman", he's still Stevie Wonder...one of the greatest living musical artists. Put together an album of songs like these three, THEN we're talking "Hotter Than July".

I'm taking this as hope that he isn't done with us yet.

It took ten years and a few months in between new releases but finally Stevland Morris, a/k/a Stevie Wonder has come back with a new album and it's stellar. Probably ten miles ahead of his 1995 effort, "Conversation Peace", which was a decent album considering the time it took. While "Peace" took seven years to complete, "A Time 2 Love" took longer and seems very personal for Stevie considering the stuff he had to go through professionally as well as personally.

For starters, the Kirk Franklin and Kim Burrell-assisted "If Your Love Cannot Be Moved" is as moving a spiritual song as it is also a social kind of statement. I love how Stevie & Kim went back and forth all in all hearing rap legend Doug E. Fresh beatboxing added a nice touch to the song. "The Sweetest Somebody I Know" has nice strings and beautiful vocals from the Wonder Man himself and ends beautifully...until Stevie's little son comes and yells "that's ENOUGH!!!" and then it ends hilariously. A beautiful tribute to his new family perhaps. "Moon Blue" contains some of the best vocals of Wonder's career. It's one of the few times he's used his falsetto to hit perfect notes. Not a bad song either with its jazzy interplay. Those who've heard it know how "From the Bottom of My Heart" goes. Almost similar to "I Just Called to Say I Love You" but I prefer this song over that one anyways. "Please Don't Hurt My Baby" brings out some of the funkiest music that Stevie ever recorded since the mid-'70s. A song about infidelity, it has a nice funk-rock-soul touch with female and male background interplays. "How Will I Know", a jazzy duet with his now 30-year-old daughter Aisha is touching and beautiful. Aisha was the same baby who was playing around with her daddy and mommy on the audio dialogue during "Isn't She Lovely?" "My Love Is On Fire" is a funky string and horn-filled jam that you can keep on repeat if you're into funky soul like this. "Passionate Raindrops", like the previous reviewer said, is just like "Rocket Love" was by the way the chorus goes. "Tell Your Heart I Love You" echoes early-'70s Stevie with its funk-meets-electric-blues fusion and includes a nice slide guitar by the legendary Bonnie Raitt. "True Love" is a nice saxophone-filled jazzy ballad. "Shelter in the Rain", Stevie's tribute to victims of Hurricane Katrina is a nice gospel-like song filled with a good message in an era where few good messages are even sent. The song is uplifting for those who feel down. Everybody who listened to it knows "So What's the Fuss" and the star combo included like Prince on guitar and in background vocals, the one and only En Vogue. All I gotta say is good thing Stevie put the lyrics in the booklet to the CD because I almost had no idea what he was saying. Now I know this song is a social statement and it's straightforward. Features a nice funk jam between Stevie & Prince at the end. "Can't Imagine Love Without You" was first played at the BET Walk of Fame honoring Stevie as he introduced it as a new song. The finished project is very nice compared to the one he played live. "Positivity" is the track many would confirm is the best track on the album. With a melody that echoes the Jackson 5 and bringing back the talk box and again featuring daughter Aisha, Stevie sends his message of positivity through. "A Time 2 Love", featuring India.Arie and guitar by Paul McCartney and instrumentation from several musicians from overseas is a worldwide social message of peace and love.

Few artists have been able to make new chapters into storied careers and again, that artist ain't like Stevie Wonder. Five years into his fifth decade as a music legend and pioneer, Stevie convinces us that he can still make captivating music no matter how long it takes to be released.

Cheers, Stevie!

The only reason why I'm bothering to write this (I never do) is the sheer genius of Stevie Wonder. In more ways than I care to remember, Stevie has had the most profound influence on my life. His best music, as so many agree, is simply art.
With this release, I was nervous as I didn't know what to expect from him after so long - I needn't have worried, as it turns out. A Time to Love is peerless!

Yes I've read all the previous reviews, as well as those of various newspaper journalists, many of whom have striven to say what they think sounds coolest. Yes, ATTL is not like Stevie's classic 70s albums nor, in my view, should they be. We live in another time, yet Stevie addresses this disparity with one constant: his music.

Why should he sound like R. Kelly or Dr. Dre or Usher et al? They sound as they do because of Stevie! And fortunately for us all, Stevie sounds on this album like Stevie - not 60s 'Little', not 70s 'Prolific Genius', not 80s-90s 'Boring Synthesist' - just Stevie, for all the reasons we love and loathe him.

The funky anger is there: (So What the Fuss, Please Don't Hurt My Baby); the message songs are there (If Your Love Cannot Be Moved, Positivity, A Time to Love); the poetic, whimsical tunes are there (Moon Blue, Passionate Raindrops, My Love Is On Fire); and the love songs are there (Sweetest Somebody I know, How Will I Know, Can't Imagine Love Without You). But above all of this, there's the vocal prowess, the unrivalled multi-instrument playing, and the most suitable arrangement for each song.

However long we've waited for this, and whatever the perceived weaknesses of Stevie's 80s/90s output, the legend rediscovers his stride in this work. Someone earlier classified this album as derivative - of what, I'm forced to ask? If Stevie is derivative of anyone, it must be himself, for there was nobody on his level before him and honestly, in the 30+ years that all the naysayers constantly refer to as his halcyon days, someone has yet to step forward. If Stevie nowadays seems unduly sappy and sentimental, perhaps it's because the world's become more cynical - we forget that we loved 'You are the Sunshine of my Life' and 'All is Fair in Love' right in the midst of the tempestuous 70s.

It remains for me to say that the man, the artist, the musician has in no way diminished. If his music has appeared to mellow, that's because it's been tempered by experience and burnished with living. Indeed, with this latest offering, Stevie's voice (in all ways) has never been more relevant or accomplished!

If you have ever studied Stevie Wonder's career, you will readily identify three distinct eras of his career:

Silver Era: 1962-1970
Gold Era: 1971-1980
Bronze Era: 1981-now

The Silver Era spans his beginnings under the tight control of Motown with "Fingertips (Part 2)" until his SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED album. He exhibited the Motown sound and Motown polish producing excellent, but calculated, R&B/Pop. The Gold Era (beginning with WHERE I'M COMING FROM) represents the standard by which all other Wonder music compete against. All of his albums (from MUSIC OF MY MIND until HOTTER THAN JULY) display the experimentation, rhythm, social pulse, and melody that netted him tons of grammys and the legacy he now represents. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", "Superstition", and "Sir Duke" to name a few will forever inspire all musicians/singers of all genres and burn countless hours of discussion (and Disc player batteries) in college music classes. The Bronze Era told the story of Wonder moving from trailblazing music to fine radio/album music. Cool songs like "Part-Time Lover", "Skeletons", "I Just Called...", "Love Light In Flight" and "Gotta Have You" showed he could still do outsanding, but uninventive, pop. CONVERSATION PEACE and JUNGLE FEVER showed he could still produce a socially aware album to pop in the CD player while driving to the mall although he has given way to more rhythms and drum machines than melodies or live instruments (not even a whole lot of his unparalled harmonica playing).

Now comes A TIME 2 LOVE which does an excellent job of spanning all three eras. Some inspired Silver stuff ("Passionate Raindrops" and "Moon Blue"), some eclectic, catchy, funky Gold Stuff ("Please Don't Hurt My Baby", "Tell Your Heart I Love You") and some rhythmic, standard, contemporary-radio Bronze Stuff ("So What the Fuss", "If Your Love Cannot Be Moved", "Sweetest Somebody I Know").

Many people my age mostly remember Stevie from his 1980s, 1990s stuff while just hearing from our parents about how great his 1970s stuff is. Now, we Generation X people can get a sample of how Stevie Wonder's music from the 1970s sounds albeit updated for the 21st Century.

If you've heard his immediate preceding album (CONVERSATION PEACE), then please get ready for a change of pace from that very danceable album. This album tips a bit to the mid-tempo category than that one or any of his other three preceding records. It also follows the same devotion those other albums have made to keeping the music originally made (with some live instruments and horns) rather than relying on overdone sampling and other staples of the watered down hip/hop music of today.

I predict that this one should net at least two nominations (Best R&B Album and Best R&B Male Vocalist), but--with so many legends piling on the major awards in the past 7-8 years--he could carry home much more prestigious hardware that night.

Welcome Back, Stevie!

I purchased the CD upon hearing Moon Blue, to my surprise the entire CD is a winner.