Honey suckle chocolate dripping kisses full of love for you

I was lucky enough, earlier this autumn, to achieve something of a musical dream. That dream was to witness Stevie Wonder live in concert, and like last year’s incredible concert run from Prince, it really was a dream that was better when you opened your eyes and realised it was real. And the man is just incredible. His voice may have weakened slightly over the years, but it really is only slight, and of course his musicianship is still of the highest order, and perhaps gets even better as the years pass. And his stamina is astonishing, not just for a man pushing 60, but for any performer.

Certainly a lot of performers half his age that I have seen live could do with taking a leaf out of his book, as he jammed and sang for close to three hours, with no breaks and no let-ups in quality. Mind you, few artists have his back catalogue to call on, and what a back catalogue it is. We have spoken numerous times about this already on these pages, but when you see some of the greatest hits, and killer album tracks, being laid out in one procession of brilliance it really is quite awe-inspiring.

One of the things that intrigued me most about the evening, however, was the audience reaction to the songs he had chosen to perform, and particularly the fact that the tunes I was holding out for, almost appeared to produce the most muted responses. “Golden Lady” got a smattering of appreciation, but nothing like other’s plucked from “Innervisions”. “All I Do”, surely one of his greatest tunes, was revealed early and seemed to pass most people’s radar through a real lack of recognition while I nearly choked on the greatness of it. “Knocks Me Off My Feet”, just a blinding offer from “Songs In The Key Of Life” was perhaps the least sung-along-to of the ballads he chose, a decision that baffled me (despite the fact that of course it was battling with the likes of the brilliant “Lately”, “Ribbon In The Sky” and “As”). And then there was perhaps the best of the lot, the incredibly understated “Do I Do”, a time when half the crowd seemed to think that the time was ripe to nip off for another drink or comfort break. Incredible.

But hey, music is of course subjective, and who am I to argue with 40,000 fans all of whom have turned up with their own desires to be sated from the musical feast. But this last song is a good reason, of course, to reinforce just why so many people revere the artistry of Stevie Wonder, taken as it is from 1982’s jaw-dropping compilation “Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium Vol 1”. Now this is probably one of the best greatest hits package of all time, let us be clear about that, grouping as it does the best of Wonder’s work throughout the 1970s when creative control was wrested from Motown and Wonder re-wrote key pages of the musical guidebook.

In fact, there are many omissions, but then if we were to include all of the best songs in a greatest hits package from this period it would just be a box-set of every album from 1972’s “Music Of My Mind” to 1980’s “Hotter Than July”, and then we are back where we started! Anyway, the point here is that “Do I Do” was included on the Musiquarium as a brand new recording, along with “Ribbon In The Sky”, “That Girl” and “Front Line”, and what is quite remarkable is how good these additions are, but also how they segue so well into the others in the collection. The key here is Wonder’s sheer consistency of quality throughout this period, but also his consistency of musical approach.

Despite being incredibly innovative and pushing the very boundaries of soul music, he retains a musical ebb and flow of excellent cohesion, lyrically, metaphysically, conceptually, socially, musically and any other ally you can think of. Just genius. That “Do I Do” is also impossibly funky, has Dizzy Gillespie’s horn solo and Wonder unleashing rapping on it simply adds to the sheer excellence. And even if the crowd I was with didn’t quite realise it, the moment was truly magical. Thanks Stevie. Oh, by the way, I was the guy up in the higher echelons in the venue singing off-key like a madman during the song.

Apologies for that, I hope it didn’t put you off!