stevie wonder / albums

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- Where I'm Coming From
- - 6,550 plays
  - 1 favs
  - 0 shares
Stevie Wonder
Released 1971

Look Around
02:45
613 plays

Do Yourself a Favor
06:10
600 plays

Sunshine in Their Eyes
06:58
549 plays

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songs

- 1
- Look Around
- 02:45
- 613 plays

- 2
- Do Yourself a Favor
- 06:10
- 600 plays

- 3
- Think of Me as Your Soldier
- 03:37
- 523 plays

- 4
- Something Out of the Blue
- 02:59
- 392 plays

- 5
- If You Really Love Me
- 03:00
- 1,532 plays

- 6
- I Wanna Talk to You
- 05:18
- 406 plays

- 7
- Take up a Course in Happiness
- 03:11
- 385 plays

- 8
- Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer
- 02:53
- 1,550 plays

- 9
- Sunshine in Their Eyes
- 06:58
- 549 plays

album review

One month before he turned 21, Stevie Wonder released Where I'm Coming From, the most distinctive record of his young career, and one that looked forward -- in its breadth of material as well as its futuristic production aesthetic -- to his many successes later in the '70s. There's a fabulous song here for nearly every type of fan; the soothing love ballad ("Think of Me as Your Soldier"), a gritty, apocalyptic funk extravanganza ("Do Yourself a Favor"), a kinetic, refreshing nod to the pop charts (the Top Ten hit "If You Really Love Me"), and an agonizing piece of heartache soul ("Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" (slightly reworked for "Superwoman" on his next album Music of My Mind). Still, there are a few echoes of his occasionally pedestrian '60s work, and a pair of songs on the flipside sound especially anachronistic. The first is a piece of inspirational fluff called "Take up a Course in Happiness" with an odd arrangement pitched halfway between Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sgt. Pepper's, the second a jokey pick-up number named "I Wanna Talk to You" (complete with leering old-man vocals). Those two however, are the exceptions; the rules are uniformly excellent. The set closers "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" and "Sunshine in Their Eyes" are bravura performances, Stevie summoning his purest register to convey heartbreak and hopefulness, respectively, in equal measure. For all the great material included, there was little chance of these songs hanging together as a proper album, and Berry Gordy's misgivings about releasing a record like this on a Motown label were, temporarily, well-placed. Still, Where I'm Coming From was a frequently astonishing album from Motown's new genius of the recording studio. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide