Stevie Wonder continued the quality on this day 50 years ago with the underrated Fulfillingness’ First Finale. Here’s a handy track-by-track train of thought by me!
Smile Please
This should be my theme tune.
I have one of those faces which looks like a frozen-in-mid-scowl Victor Meldrew. All my life, I’ve had random wags come up to me while barking: “Cheer up mate, it may never happen.” I should have started singing the chorus in response, which hits plenty of bum-da-bum-dee-dee-bum notes.
Fulfillingness’ First Finale was the fourth album to be released in the space of two years and four months, which is an insane work ethic by today’s lazy standards. What’s even more crazy is that the quality kept on coming. While 1972’s Music Of My Mind is patchy, Wonder’s next three albums built on his strengths, serving up a trio of classics that still stand the test of time today.
The 1974 One With The Alliterative Title does tend to get shuffled to the back of the pack, though, which I always thought was a shame, as it has just as much to offer. Possibly, it’s too low key for some tastes, including this unobtrusive but perfectly pleasant opener. It takes a couple of spins to get used to the laidback chill-out of Smile Please, but like all the quiet ones, it subtly leaves an impression – especially with that hummable chorus.
Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
There’s a heretic in the house and his name is John Bensalhia. Burn him at the stake.
My cynical atheism tends to leave me ice cold when it comes to religious music. And as much as the tunesmithery on Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away is well up to scratch, for me, it’s the weak link on the album. The gospelly chorus always reminds me of one of those hand-in-the-air, eyes-closed, happy clappy church audiences – the only difference being that one of the backing vocalists is the left-field choice of Paul Anka. 1974 was a renaissance year of Anka, given that he enjoyed a comeback of sorts with You’re Having My Baby.
Still, some of the lyrics do provide food for thought, offering both sides of the argument. “’Where is your God?’ That’s what my friends ask me” as the non-believers pose the question to Wonder, who still has his faith intact in his heart.
Too Shy To Say
Us unassuming sorts have all been there when we were growing up. Too shy to ask a potential partner out on a date while Mouthy Muggins swoops in with all that swaggering, arrogant bravado to get there first.
Luckily, all of that is in the past, but for countless generations both today and in the future, Too Shy To Say is the ultimate hidden love song. A plaintive piano ballad that’s played and sung with heart.
Boogie On Reggae Woman
A rare moment of levity on what’s otherwise quite a downbeat album, Boogie On Reggae Woman was the second and final track to be selected as a single. Whereas Innervisions had nearly half its album available as 45rpms, Finale has less obviously commercial choices to pick from. It still did well though, racing to Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 12 in the UK charts.
While it may not be reggae, Boogie On Reggae Woman still has its own distinctive vibe. As ever, the bulk of the instrumentation was handled all by Wonder, with Rocky Dzidzornu on conga duties. The driving rhythm is unusual is that the bassline is played on a Moog synthesiser. It sounds a bit like a sample of a man that’s had one too many plates of baked beans and then looped.
Plus, in a nod to his earlier days, All-Grown-Up-Stevie lets rip in a top-notch harmonica solo that’s also reprised for the extensive fade-out.
Creepin’
If I had to pick a favourite out of this very strong collection, I actually think I’d plump for the brilliantly understated Side One closer, Creepin’.
Like many of the other tracks on Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Wonder uses a rich musical palette to create a unique atmosphere all of its own. Creepin’ benefits from the extensive use of what was known as TONTO – also known as The Original New Timbral Orchestra, except it’s a bit more of a mouthful. TONTO was a large-scale multi-timbral polyphonic analog synthesiser, which gives Creepin’ its strangely unnerving quality.
Wonder’s vocals are curiously muted – almost robotic, which isn’t a bad thing in this case, as it heightens the eerie stillness of the track. It’s left to his chum Minnie Riperton to provide more lively vocal harmonies. It all adds up to one of my Desert Island Stevie Wonder Discs, and one that I return to time and again.
You Haven’t Done Nothin’
It’s unfortunate that this follows on immediately after Superstition on Wonder’s excellent 1982 compilation, Original Musiquarium Volume 1. Cynics new to the World Of Wonder may sneer that every subsequent track will sound like Superstition.
Playing devil’s advocate, you’d need cotton wool in your ears to not hear the similarity between the two. There are, however, some notable differences. One is the presence of Wonder’s old muckers, the Jackson 5 doo doo wopping in the background. The other is a notable political stance, as Wonder rages against the Nixon presidency with furious urgency. “It’s not too cool to be ridiculed/But you brought this upon yourself” is a notable departure from Stevie’s usually easy-going persona. Lo and behold, two weeks and three days later after this album was released, Nixon resigned.
I guess that in today’s furious political climate, You Haven’t Done Nothin’s lyrics still hold water if you substitute Nixon for a certain orange loon with freakishly small hands…
It Ain’t No Use
Talk about prolonging breakup agony. In a none-too-subtle parting of the ways, Wonder does string out the goodbye bit for a wee bit too long.
If there’s a slight criticism of Wonder’s music – and it’s a small criticism at that – it’s that he does tend to forget the existence of the fader button on his mixing desk. While this is a rare case on an otherwise concise set-list, Wonder does have a tendency to repeat the same chords and phrases to the point of annoyance. It’s a problem that will hamper a fair chunk of Songs In The Key Of Life. What could have been superb four-minute tracks are bloated to double their length by just repeating the chorus or refrain over and over again.
Like I said, Wonder does repeat the “Bye Bye Ba-Ba-Bye” cooing a bit too much on It Ain’t No Use, which is a shame, as the actual tune is rather good. Not to mention that last mournful “Aaaaawwwww” from Minnie Riperton, Lani Groves and Deniece Williams, who sum up that final blubbing farewell with just one note.
They Won’t Go When I Go
One of the standout tracks on the album, They Won’t Go When I Go is also one of the most unusual that Wonder has ever penned.
This is a piano/synthesiser ballad that drips with atmosphere. Dim the lights on a cold Autumn or Winter evening and bask in the ambience. Defiantly sombre in its structure and lyrical content, They Won’t Go When I Go boasts a wonderfully weird arrangement that takes its cue more from classical and baroque music than your average pop tune. The “And I’ll go where I’ve longed to go so long” bit is especially haunting with Wonder’s overdubbed vocal harmonies, a spooky synthesiser and the equally unsettling downward spiral chord sequence.
Co-penned with Yvonne Wright, this is the only cut on the album that wasn’t solely written by Wonder. Which is interesting in that some critics have suggested that the lyrics allude to the aftermath of Wonder’s 1973 car accident that left him in a coma for four days and then with a temporary loss of taste and smell. It’s a sobering reaction to the experience which ultimately led to Wonder coming back to the recording studio with a vengeance and a renewed sense of purpose.
Bird Of Beauty
In contrast to the rest of the low-key feel of Finale, the last two tracks are oddly upbeat. Bird Of Beauty begins with a drumbeat and a strange slowed-down quacking kind of noise which could be a treated Moog bass. It bursts into a cooing female chorus (Riperton’s replaced by Shirley Brewer in the vocal harmonising trio who were on It Ain’t No Use) and a lyric that subtly warns to say no to drugs, kids: “There is so much in life for you to feel/Unfound in white, red or yellow pills”.
Bird Of Beauty has a Latin flavour, enhanced by Wonder singing one verse in Portuguese. It’s a danceable lot of fun, although as with all good happy time songs, there’s just a hint of melancholy bubbling under the surface – especially with that sly chord alternation in the fade-out.
Please Don’t Go
Exactly what it says on the tin. Steve – as he calls himself in the lyrics – begs his missus to not pack her bags and go.
For such downbeat lyricism though, Please Don’t Go is amusingly upbeat – even with the additional vocal backup from The Persuasions. It all comes to a head at the end fadeout, which on paper sounds like the saddest thing ever as Steve cries for his lover’s love “in the midnight hour”. On audio, it sounds like Stevie’s throwing a party with lots of whooping, clapping and the backing vocalists breaking out the party poppers. Huh! So much for all that crying in the midnight hour, eh?
(Sleeve illustration designed by Bob Gleason and co-ordinated by Ira Tucker Jr)
