This Motown Legend Stevie Wonder cd is a good, inexpensive sampler of his mid 60's work. You get the superb "A Place In The Sun" and "Uptight" as well a very interesting cover of "Respect". This is great for those who are not familiar with his work from the era and it is easy on the wallet. Plus it is worth it for ardent fans as it contains some songs that are not available elsewhere on cd.

The title tune was legendary after the first dee-jay layed down the stylus for its' initial audition for civilization: something which fits any genre you want; gets even better as tome goes on and artists lay on their own interpretations - completely contemporary, and while it uses Motown formula, musically, it stands and dances on its' own.
Track two is a very enjoyable "cover" of Little Richard's famous B-side, that triplet-laden beat ballad, another perennial which crosses format lines. A very good programming choice.
Then we get into many non-reemarkable cuts, sounding to me as if they were arranged in the wrong key, and unaccountably eschewing a natural attention-getter: that unmistakeable harmonica. What were they not thinking?
The Ray Charles ("A Fool For You") and James Brown ("Please, Please, PLease") covers are okay, but, again, without that afore-mentioned instrument, or his own drumwork [presuming he doesn't play on these and others - session notes? Forget it].s Yes, and we see
On four numbers we note that Stevie is co-writer, and the second best is "Everytime I See You I Go Wild", something groovy from the 17 year old for other 17 year olds, maybe the artist looks back and smiles when the title skims across the memory banks (but doesn't provoke a carousel ride to the turntable or chamber). It's got alot going musically and perhaps could have used a touch of Phil Spector.
Reissue engineers appear to have deferred to original compressed commercial sound (if my aging sound system is a witness). By this time, maybe a little more punch and pop would help.

It's true. Not all the tracks are original songs, but enough of them are and I'd say about six are really, really good. I've known them all my life and I love them. Just great mid-'sixties Stevie that you haven't heard anywhere else before, not even on compilation albums.

I also love his renditions of 'Respect' and 'Can I Get A Witness', they both have a grooviness and originality of their own.

If you really like Stevie's mid-'60s sound, don't hesitate tracking this album down.

It's a real finger clicker.

'Everytime I See You I Go Wild' is wild and fabulous!

'I'd Cry' is divine. There's a wonderful irony to the way he sang sad songs in a fast uptempo way.

'Everybody Needs Somebody' has a wonderful, melodic, understated soulfulness.

Actually, the only song I've grown tired of is the title track and yes, there are a few fillers/duds that you'll want to skip, but the good far outweighs the bad.

He was very proud of this compilation when it came out and he was right to be.

The title cut-AWSOME CLASSIC.The album closer "Every Time I
See You I Go Wild"-ANOTHER AWSOME CLASSIC!But in between Stevie
just covers other people's songs,and again the prominant Ray Charlesploitation is unforgivable.But add the pluses and minuses and you'll probably decide this album's place in your
collection is really a choice of want and need.Probably best for
the Wonder completist.

after 1966's "down to earth" album failed to capture the public's attention it did have more original tunes on it
featuring 'a place in the sun'/'down to earth'/'thank you love'/
'be cool,be calm(and keep yourself together)'/'sylvia'/'angel
baby'/'hey love'...but stevie's 1967 album "i was made to love
her"was a disapointment because it lacked original material.this
is strange considering the massive amount of original songs that was left in the can by motown chairman berry gordy.there is no doubt that stevie's smash hit single 'i was made to love her' was 2 minutes and 35 seconds of pure attack and it left no doubt that it would cement stevie 4 good within the motown hit factory.but the album itself is a hodgepodge of motown remakes
and remakes of other artists songs.the other three remaining
originals on this album are:'i'd cry' the funky 'everybody needs somebody (i need you)'and the dramatic 'every time i see you
i go wild'.../here's a list of original songs by stevie that was recorded in 1967 that should have been on this album instead of those remakes:'travelin' man'/'until you come back to me(that's what i'm gonna do)'and 'i'm wondering'...now had these songs been included in this album,the album would be more original and stronger than those filler remakes which is the reason why i would grant this album only 2 stars."i was made to love her" would be a by far better album had these original songs been included on it....