Timmy84 said:

thetimefan said:

Yep "Where I'm Coming From" is an underrated Stevie album. I think it's a more 'Motown' sound type album whilst 'Music of My Mind' is more of a Stevie production, where he experimented more by using Synth's, talkbox etc. and that is probably why 'Where I'm Coming From' is overlooked when discussing Stevie's music.

Technically I see Where I'm Coming From as his real breakthrough from Motown. Sure Music of My Mind was entirely separate from what would be consider the Motown sound but WICF was the real breakthrough to me and it should be allowed to be so. His last "Motown album" was Signed, Sealed & Delivered.

Exactly

CoolTarik1 said:

AlexdeParis said:

Count me in the group that prefers Where I'm Coming From over Music of My Mind. It's a crying shame WICF isn't widely available on CD.

Where I'm Coming From is a curious album- I like it, but I can see why people prefer "Music of My Mind". Where I'm Coming From sounds like Stevie is mimicing his influences, especially the more Beatlesque stuff on the album. Yeah, he's stretching himself here, but it wasn't the album that defined the style of music he would do for the rest of his career.

The songwriting's of a higher standard on WICF. It's a transitionary album and for the fact that it shows Stevie trying to find himself identity wise, it's much more interesting.

Timmy84 said:

thetimefan said:

Yep "Where I'm Coming From" is an underrated Stevie album. I think it's a more 'Motown' sound type album whilst 'Music of My Mind' is more of a Stevie production, where he experimented more by using Synth's, talkbox etc. and that is probably why 'Where I'm Coming From' is overlooked when discussing Stevie's music.

Technically I see Where I'm Coming From as his real breakthrough from Motown. Sure Music of My Mind was entirely separate from what would be consider the Motown sound but WICF was the real breakthrough to me and it should be allowed to be so. His last "Motown album" was Signed, Sealed & Delivered.

Couldn't agree more. Where I'm Coming From was totally written by Stevie and Syreeta, I think, and most definitely laid the groundwork for everything he'd do afterwards. Signed, Sealed, Delivered was a brilliant album, but was Motown through and through, whereas WICF was a Stevie Wonder album through and through, it just happened to be released on the Motown label.

Stevie, MJ and Marvin were the best three stars to break out of the Motown sound. Smokey, Diana Ross and a small handful of others had some good stuff here and there, but those three really ventured out and made definitive statements as solo stars. (Hope I'm not forgetting anyone).

As for Characters, I definitely don't consider it a masterpiece. It had good songs and some weak songs, and I agree with whoever said that the sound of the times dragged it down. It's a bit like a weaker version of MJ's bad - a bit dated because of the way synths sounded back then (like children's toy keyboards). I think all three of his subsequent albums were better overall than Characters.