Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness' First Finale (Original) CD Track Listing

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Stevie Wonder Fulfillingness' First Finale (Original) (1974)
Fulfillingness' First Finale (Original)\n1990 Motown Record Corporation\n\nOriginally Released July 22, 1974\nCD Edition Released ????\nRemastered Edition Released March 21, 2000\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: After the righteous anger and occasional despair of the socially motivated Innervisions, Stevie Wonder returned with a relationship record: Fulfillingness' First Finale. The cover pictures his life as an enormous wheel, part of which he's looking ahead to and part of which he's already completed (the latter with accompanying images of Little Stevie, JFK and MLK, the Motor Town Revue bus, a child with balloons, his familiar Taurus logo, and multiple Grammy awards). The songs and arrangements are the warmest since Talking Book, and Stevie positively caresses his vocals on this set, encompassing the vagaries of love, from dreaming of it ("Creepin'") to being bashful of it ("Too Shy to Say") to knowing when it's over ("It Ain't No Use"). The two big singles are "Boogie on Reggae Woman," with a deep electronic groove balancing organic congas and gospel piano, and "You Haven't Done Nothin'," an acidic dismissal of President Nixon and the Watergate controversy (he'd already written "He's Misstra Know-It-All" on the same topic). As before, Fulfillingness' First Finale is mostly the work of a single man; Stevie invited over just a bare few musicians, and most of those were background vocalists (though of the finest caliber: Minnie Riperton, Paul Anka, Deniece Williams, and the Jackson 5). Also as before, the appearances are perfectly chosen; "Too Shy to Say" can only benefit from the acoustic bass of Motown institution James Jamerson and the heavenly steel guitar of Sneaky Pete Kleinow, while the Jackson 5 provide some righteous amens to Stevie's preaching on "You Haven't Done Nothin'." It's also very refreshing to hear more songs devoted to the many and varied stages of romance, among them "It Ain't No Use," "Too Shy to Say," "Please Don't Go." The only element lacking here, in comparison to the rest of his string of brilliant early-'70s records, is a clear focus; Fulfillingness' First Finale is more a collection of excellent songs than an excellent album. -- John Bush\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: With Innervisions, Stevie Wonder eclipsed his peers not just as a musician, but as a social commentator, and it was a hard record to top. If Fulfillingness' First Finale doesn't top it, it's nevertheless a fascinating move forward, as Wonder starts to deepen his eclecticism. Despite the portrait of MLK on the back cover, he tempers his social criticism somewhat, though the scathing "You Haven't Done Nothin'" is perhaps his fiercest song. The rest of the record is a little sweet and trippy, a sentiment that infects even such groovers as "Boogie on Reggae Woman." This characteristic means that Fulfillingness is perhaps the most idiosyncratic record he released during his classic period, and it demands some serious attention from the listener, since it can drift off in an insular haze. Yet, it's a fascinating, intricate, albeit slightly stoned, record that does reward that bit of intense, concentrated listening. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\nAmazon.com essential recording \nStevie Wonder was in the middle of a multi-album roll when he put out this funk and soul collection, clunky title and all, in 1974. As usual, he adds depth and unexpected touches to even the most straightforward love song--the moving piano ballad "Too Shy to Say" has a spooky feeling, as if "I want to fly away with you, until there's nothing more to do" is the saddest line he ever sang. The harder songs, such as the fuzzy funk of "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and the angry "doo-de-wop" attack on Richard Nixon in "You Haven't Done Nothin'," add urgency without sacrificing the album's cohesiveness. --Steve Knopper \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAn Essential Pop CD, April 15, 2000 \nReviewer: Mark R. Devey from California \nStevie Wonder was second only to Elton John in terms of commercial popularity in the 1970s. Wonder seamlessly mixed funk, reggae, rock, and commercial pop in a brew that was substantial yet catchy and melodic. "Fulfillingness' First Finale" is part of a quintet of great LPs that Wonder released in the 1970s through the early 1980s ("Talking Book," "Innervisions," "Songs in the Key of Life," and "Hotter Than July" being the others). While not as strong as these other albums, this is only relatively speaking. There are some great ballads here-especially "Too Shy to Say" and "Creepin'". "Boogie on Reggae Woman" (Wonder's biggest hit from this album) is funky and sexy and "You Haven't Done Nothin'" is a trenchant criticism of President Richard Nixon. In "Fulfillingness'" Wonder is able to deliver social commentary without sounding strident or didactic. Equally well written, the love songs and ballads are tender and affectionate without being maudlin. While "Innervisions" is the CD to buy if you are a Wonder neophyte, "Fulfillingness' First Finale" is an essential Stevie Wonder album. [Note: be sure to purchase the "Originally Recording Remastered" version of this CD; it contains the fully reproduced album cover, lyrics, liner notes, and most importantly superior sound quality.]\n\nCD Now (May 22, 2001)\nReleased in 1974, Fulfillingness' First Finale was the fifth album in the second segment of the then-24- year-old Stevie Wonder's hall-of-fame career. Fulfillingness, along with 1972's Talking Book and 1973's Innervisions, reconfigured the template not only for R&B, but for pop music in general. \n\nIt is impossible to overstate the still-reverberating impact of this period in Wonder's career. Fulfillingness sounds like it aspired to be a concept record; one that wound up with five classic singles randomly sprinkled throughout its curious sequence. The opening tracks, "Smile Please," and "Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away," ease the listener in with warm, soft-sell, adult grooves that get spun into gospel-romp refrains. \n\n"Too Shy to Say," placed strangely early in the lineup, hints that the self-producing Wonder may have hoped for bigger things from this syrupy ballad. It's on the following track, "Boogie on Reggae Woman," that Wonder truly begins to change the rules: The track opens with a synth-clav funk riff premonitory of the scratchings of a hip-hop DJ (then still a few years away). \n\nSomehow, "Creepin'," a tinkly, textural ditty, pre-empts an immediate segue to the monstrous and politically charged "You Haven't Done Nothin'," another stirring display of Wonder's peerless mastery over the realm of clavinet funk. This song is a production and composition juggernaut that defies comparison to any predecessor. \n\nFrom there on in, it's all church. Reverend Stevie helps the congregation through a love affair's break-up in "It Ain't No Use," followed by the downright ecclesiastical "They Won't Go When I Go," which takes as much from Martin Luther as it does from the eerily chanted, way-back-yonder spirituals of Mississippi. "Bird of Beauty" slows things down only slightly before the closing deliverance of "Please Don't Go," another pastor-led, call-and-response epitome of what the Bible refers to as "a joyful noise." These are promised-land-quality songs that have provided Stevie Wonder's countless prot

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