little stevie

[Bright Moments]

Wonder Set to Release First Album in Decade

1 hour, 1 minute ago Entertainment - Reuters

By Gail Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - After several delays, Stevie Wonder's new studio album, "A Time 2 Love," his first in a decade, is expected to be out in April via Motown.

Reuters Photo

"As an artist, you get anxious and excited -- you want to show what you can do," Wonder told Billboard. "But for me, I had to make a real decision not to rush. I wasn't feeling that the timing is right. A lot of what I do when I do an album is based on whether the timing is right."

"A Time 2 Love" will be Wonder's first studio set since 1995's "Conversation Peace," which debuted at No. 16 on The Billboard 200.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," he said of the time that elapsed between projects. "On the other hand, it wasn't a panic-mode situation, either, where we've got to do this or we're going to have a problem up in here."

The set will be a single-disc affair, although Wonder said, "in these nine years I've done more than just the songs that will be on the album. And it's going good. In these nine years I've found the songs that feel most comfortable for me."

Among the tracks earmarked for the set are "If the Creek Don't Rise" ("something I wrote a while back that I recently revisited," Wonder said) and "If Your Love Cannot Be Moved," the latter of which features live instrumentation by Wonder and several guest spots.

"I have myself playing, some symphony musicians from (Los Angeles) and Doug E. Fresh doing a little beat-box thing," he revealed. "I also have a female talking-drum player from Nigeria. And we're going to have the West Los Angeles choir sing. I'm going to record the choir at the church."

After "Time" is released, Wonder said he has "three immediate goals": a "jazz album with harmonica," a gospel album and a musical.

Reuters/Billboard

[Harold_Z]

I haven't bought a Stevie album since the one after "Songs In The Key Of Life".. I guess that one( The one that I can't remember the title of) didn't knock me out.

Well....I know Stevie CAN knock me out, so here's hoping it's a good one.

[DrJ]

After "Time" is released, Wonder said he has "three immediate goals": a "jazz album with harmonica," a gospel album and a musical.

Wow, THAT could be really interesting (assuming the "old" Stevie shows up) or really hideous (assuming the "I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie is on the gig)!

Edited December 4, 2004 by DrJ