Greatest Hits, yes, but things were only beginning

In its original vinyl incarnation (as Tamla LP 282) this appeared in April 1968. It carried a good overview of Wonder's singles output from "Contract On Love" (12/26/62) through "I'm Wondering" (9/14/67). Everything that's here is great, and shows Stevie's child voice maturing into the assured masculine adult one we've come to know since. And the hits are solid, a heaping helping of the kind Motown turned out on all its' artists in the production line days. By the time of "Uptight" and especially "I Was Made To Love Her" Wonder was another full-fledged confident star, the same one he is today.

Not everything, however, from this maturation period was included in these 12 tracks. There were some commercially failed but interesting singles that didn't make the cut: "I Call It Pretty Music But The Old People Call It The Blues," a two-part single (Tamla 54061) from May 1962, "Happy Street" (Tamla 54103, September 1964), "Kiss Me Baby" (Tamla 54114, May 1965) and "High Heel Sneakers" (Tamla 54119, 7/23/65). Hard-core Wonder fans have their work cut out for them seeking these even on vinyl, let alone CD. One could carp too, that "Fingertips" isn't in its full seven-minute length here; after all, Part 1 was no slouch, either. ("Someday At Christmas" was a 45 too, Tamla 54142, in time for the '66 season.) And by the by, the last Wonder single to feature "Little" in front of his name was "Castles In The Sand" (Tamla 54090, 1/16/64); "Hey Harmonica Man" (Tamla 54096, 5/21/64) was the first without it.

What's to be hoped for is that Stevie and Motown would consider re-issuing, in CD form, his 3-LP set from 1977, "Looking Back." It was essentially Stevie's entry in Motown's superb (and first) Anthology series on all the company's major artists. Ideally, a CD version would carry all 40 tracks that the three records did plus the missing nuggets mentioned above. (And, please, don't forget "Purple Rains Drops" this time around, either.) I'm glad I grabbed the vinyl version when I did; I've read elsewhere that Wonder had it quickly withdrawn. We'll see.

stevie's first compilation album from 1962-1967

released in 1968,this collection focuses on stevie's pre-teen

material and material recorded in his late teens.this first volume of hits spans 4rom the period 4rom 1962-1967.this was during the period when motown's hits ran nonstop-a conveyor belt production assembly line and wonder was within the fast hit system during that time.the songs on this collection are from his sixties albums such as "recorded live:little stevie wonder

the 12 year old genius"(1963)/"stevie at the beach"(1964)/"uptight"(1966)/"down to earth"(1966)/"i was made to love her"(1967).this collection also includes wonder's early

less than succesful single from 1962 'contract on love'alongside that of the fantastic 'i'm wondering'(1967)which is not avaliable on no album-but it is avaliable on this collection and some of his various compilation albums.it should have been on the "i was made to love her"album.wonder's first major

hit"fingertips"is in edited form on this collection than from the original seven minute version.the songs on this collection are not in chronological order but this collection is a preview

of more things 2 come 4 his next collection of hits for volume 2 from 1967-1971.

WOW!

Motown was still "The Sound of Young America" and Wonder was only just stepping out from under the "Little Stevie Wonder" nickname when his first Greatest Hits package was released in 1968, but he had already demonstrated enough of the multi-talent genius that would make him one of the true giants of popular music to fill the album with great, great records.

There are some of the classic Motown singles from his early days---"Contract on Love" and the incindiary "Fingertips" (has there ever been a more electric live recording? I love hearing the piano player trying to figure out what key Wonder's harmonica solo is being played in)---and a whole mess of songs from his incredible mid-60s stretch: "Uptight," "I Was Made To Love Her," and my favorite, "A Place In The Sun."

Buy this CD, GREATEST HITS VOL. 2, and both volumes of ORIGINAL MUSIQUARIUM to build an overview of one of America's true musical geniuses.