Where I'm Coming From

Stevie Wonder | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Motown
• ASIN: B000001AET
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,024 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stevie Wonder's Emancipation, October 15, 2007

By 

Josephll "Reformed Music Addict" (CET) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where I'm Coming From - MotownSelect.com (MP3 Download)

Stevland Hardaway Judkins had been under contract with Motown since the age of 12 in 1962. Motown's CEO Berry Gordy gave his the name Little Stevie Wonder, later shortned to just Stevie Wonder. One year later at 13 he experienced his first big hit with "Fingertips PT2" that reached the top of the billboard charts. Throughout the 16 the wonderboy would have many hits like "Uptight", "I Was Made To Love Her", "For Once in My Life" and and "My Cherie Amour" to mention a few. But he still wasn't happy with not having more to say on his music and he had confronted Gordy several times to have more imopact on his music, but with no luck. Many of the 60's albums had been based on singles sales and they contaied the typical motown sound of the time. When Marvin Gaye broke free to release What's Going on he opened the doors to Stevie Wonder aswell. Wonder's current contract with Motown expired when he became an adult at 21. "Where I'm Coming From" would be the last album to be released. Gordy rejected it cause it was too futuristic and diverse in his oppinion. But with an contract about to expire and many arguments he had no choise to release it. For the first time in his life at only 21 in 1971 Wonder did not only sing and write all of the songs (With the assistence of his then wife Syreeta Wright) but he also produced and played most instrumnets on the album. Quite impressive for a 21 year old who was also blind since birth?.

"Where I'm Coming From" is not considered to be part of Wonder's classic 1972-1976 where his creativity came out to it's full capacity, even if it was his first album to be produced entirely by himself. This album is defenitely the blueprint for what was coming and Wonder show hints of his genius time after time, but what differs from latter 70's albums is the production. He doesn't use the trademark synthesizer til his following album Music of My Mind and the overall effort isn't very coherant either, with many diffrent sounds in the mix. A third reason would be that Wonder does not get as socially consious on this album for most of the time. It's just a mix of very good songs, so perhaps Gordy did have a point? but compared to previous albums "Where I'm Coming From" is a mamoth release with a sound that was so diffrent from anything else at the time that it could be hard to market it.

"Look Around" kicks of the album in the best of ways. It's a somewhat psychedelic midtempo song that features Wonder playing the clavinet, very unusual instrument in Popular music so you will not miss it. Wonder sings lyrics that sounds philosopical "Look around and you'll see/Ruins of the human history/ Look around and you'll see/ Time is only floating in your mind". "Do Yourself a Favour" does really stick out, it got a funky Hammond organ sound that would make you think of latter songs and the lyrics are about the black youth, "Do yourself a favour/ Educate your mind/ Get yourself together/ Hey there ain't much time" This was one of the first times Wonder was getting socially consious and it worked perfectly fine. A sweet soul ballad "Think of Me as Your Soldier" almost sound like it's classical music with it's sensual aproach. "Something Out of the Blue" got a very simular sound, once again the clavinet is used and it sounds classical. "If You Really Love Me" sounds like a personal take of the Motown sound, it's a very uplifting uptempo and became the biggest hit of this album reaching #8 on the Pop Charts. On the odd "I Wanna Talk With You", Wonder portait a racially charged conversation between a black and a old white man. Apparently Gordy is suppost to be the white man, while he wasn't white per se, he didn't want to lose his grip over his empire and controlled motown in every detail. "Take Up a Course in Happiness" is a very meliodic midtempo with strange arrangements while "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" a slow piano song show Wonder at his best with lots of vulnerability and emotion. The last "Sunshine in Their Eyes" is dedicated to poor children and you can hear children choirs in this one too. It's also a slow-paced song full of emotion.

Overall, A wonderful collective of songs, but like aformentioned they don't make up a real concept cause many songs are as diffrent as night and day. That's why I'm only giving it 4 stars. However, "Where I'm Coming From" is full of great songs, the only one I didn't like was the conversation song "I Wanna Talk With You". And it does work as a blueprint for what was coming during his classical period starting the year after. Even if this one is vastly overlooked, it's a great and enjoyable album fullpacked with memorable songs. Recommended incase you want to start your collection with Wonder's emancipation.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Forgotten Masterpiece, January 5, 2005

By 

Scott D. Gribble (Baltimore MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where I'm Coming From (Audio CD)

In the 70's Stevie released an unprecedented series of masterpieces. This is the beginning of Stevie's creative control on his music and the start of his incredible run. Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life are all well-known for the masterpieces that they are by both fans and critics, yet Where I'm Coming From seems to be lost in the shuffle.

Where I'm Coming From, starts surprisingly different than the others, with the haunting "Look Around". It's clear to see Wonder wanted to set the creative tone and conscious lyrics early on. "Do Yourself a Favor" is a funky social commentary that repeatedly tells us "educate your mind". "Think of Me as Your Soldier" & "Something Out of the Blue" are both musically dense ballads. The first is one of his best ballads and the second is pretty deep lyrically with his metaphors.
"If You Really Love Me" is an excellent song, as it somehow handles both being a ballad and fast paced song back and forth. "I Wanna Talk to You" is really the only song I could do without, really only because of the voice repeating the title annoyingly (but then again that's probably the point of the song). "Take Up..." is a feel-good track, that is good enough to somehow avoid sounding cheesy.
"Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer" is a forgotten classic and perhaps my favorite song of all time... for any artist. Wonder's music and his metaphorical lyrics are so emotional the song is literally heartbreaking. "Sunshine in Their Eyes" was Stevie's first attempt at two part songs, and here the second half "Everything is Happening" is the best conclusion to any of his albums (excluding Talking Book with "I Believe").

After done listening to it for the first time two things came to mind: there's no way that was only 37 min long, and I simply cannot believe that I've never heard anyone talk about this album. I never thought this album was going to be as good as the rest, but thankfully I was wrong. As with the rest of his series, Where I'm Coming From is stunning musically and lyrically. As with the entire Stevie Wonder masterpiece series, it really just depends on your opinion which of his albums is the best (and just like the others this could be to some the best). But if you neglect this one you're ignoring another spectacular piece of music. While all of Wonder's other masterpieces have been re-released and remastered, for some reason this one remains only available as an import. But, don't let that deter you from getting this album it's worth the Import price, so don't waste your time waiting for the re-release. Please don't let another masterpiece to his collection slip away like it has for so long.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WICF is truely the new direction for Wonder, July 10, 2003

By 

DEAN M. Dent (SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where I'm Coming From (Audio CD)

Music Of My Mind has always been praised as the turning point in Stevie Wonder's musical direction.But if anyone was truly listening,Where I'm Coming From signals the real beginnings to the string of albums that redefined R&B music in the 70's.
Whereas Signed Sealed & Delivered shows Wonder's abilities with production,WICF showed a musical vision that belies his Little Stevie Wonder past.
Aside from the BST/Chicago-esque hit If You Really Love Me,and the classic ballad Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer,Do Yourself A Favor lays the groundwork for Superstition,Look Around is stirring,Take Up A Course In Happiness is fun in a Fifth Dimension style of genre.Think Of Me As Your Soldier and Something Out Of The Blue are underrated gems.The closing track,Sunshine In Their Eyes is his most ambitious piece with not only dealing with social issues,but an open ending Hey Jude-esque ending.
Released so close to Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On,the album only made #62 on the Billboard Charts,probably due to Motown's lack of promoting another social conscience album from an artist who also craves control over his music.Maybe one day,Motown will remaster,re-package and re-release this under-rated gem and give it the same respect his other 70's album were granted.