Stevie Wonder Visual Album 2019 Wonderlove
Wonderlove was Stevie Wonder’s backing band throughout the 1970’s.
The formation of Wonderlove coincided with the beginning of what is known as Stevie’s “Genius Period”. Free from the prior artistic constriction of his previous Motown contract, and their assembly line mode of production, Stevie was able to exert full control over his music, imbuing his work with both a social message not possible at the famously apolitical label. He would recruit Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff, the masterminds behind synth group Tonto’s Exploding Head Band, to produce and engineer these albums alongside him. These albums would go a long way in helping to normalize synthesizers in the public consciousness, coming at a time when electronic instruments were largely thought of as cold and robotic, the stuff of science fiction. Kraftwerk and other early synth genres did little to dispel this notion. In Stevie’s hands however, imbued with the rich musical idioms of Jazz and American Gospel of which he was and is an unparallelled master, the synthesizer sounds warm.
In his televised appearances of this era, Stevie seems almost a proselyte for Robert Moog. His use of the Vocoder in his cover-medley of “Close to You” by the Carpenters and “Never Can Say Goodbye” by the Jackson 5 earns some initial laughter from the audience, but the tactic of familiarity proves too much to resist and by that final whirring note he has made his point: synthesizers can emote just as effectively as any human being.
Included also is the 1972 performance of Wonderlove on the pioneering American television series “Soul”, one of the first television shows created by and for African Americans, in which Wonderlove play their blockbuster rendition of the Temptation’s “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, with Stevie again on Vocoder.
It would be Wonderlove’s task to take Stevie’s studio works, much of which were performed by Stevie as a sort of one-man band virtuoso, and turn them into compelling live performances. They would take the DNA of the song and expand it into longform jam sessions, before always bringing it back to the basics. Stevie’s prowess as a band leader is exceptional. Often he will use a laugh or exclamation such as “Alright!” or “mm-hmm” to cue the band to start or stop a jam or change sections.
Several members of Wonderlove would go on to have successful solo careers, in particular Deniece Williams and Ray Parker, Jr., best known for performing the theme song to the 1984 film “Ghostbusters”.