{"id":28262,"date":"2024-10-09T05:30:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28262"},"modified":"2024-10-09T08:01:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T12:01:26","slug":"five-notable-covers-of-songs-from-steve-wonders-fulfillingness-first-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/five-notable-covers-of-songs-from-steve-wonders-fulfillingness-first-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Notable Covers of Songs from Steve Wonder\u2019s \u2018Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Child prodigy Stevie Wonder scored many hits as a Motown artist. But it was only when he broke free of the label\u2019s machinery and began to work as a truly solo artist that he would make his most enduring work. Wonder\u2019s early- to mid-1970s output is arguably his best, and it features the amazingly talented Wonder doing most everything \u2013 writing, singing, arranging, producing and playing most of the instruments. Released in 1974, <em>Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale<\/em> would be the fourth album from his classic period. In celebration of that Grammy-winning album\u2019s 50th anniversary and as a testament to the enduring power and appeal of its music, here is an eclectic assortment of covers of songs from the record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cCreepin\u2019\u201d from Herbie Mann\u2019s <em>Surprises<\/em> (1976)<\/strong><br \/>\nJazz flautist and bandleader Herbie Mann was largely responsible for establishing the flute as a lead instrument in jazz. His approach to jazz itself was unique as well, both highly accessible and adventurous in its melding of genres. Mann\u2019s albums such as <em>Memphis Underground<\/em> displayed significant crossover appeal. His bands often included some surprising names, including guitarists Duane Allman, Sonny Sharrock and Mick Taylor. A sort of proto-world-music artist, Herbie Mann\u2019s work explored funk, blues, rock and countless other idioms including reggae. On his 1976 album <em>Surprises<\/em> (featuring vocalist Cissy Houston), he delivered his reading of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cCreepin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I_ti9q4OAD0?si=K9y2XDDTxNNQW7xh\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cToo Shy to Say\u201d from Diana Ross\u2019 <em>Baby It\u2019s Me<\/em> (1977)<\/strong><br \/>\nSuperstar vocalist Diana Ross fronted the Supremes from their beginnings in 1959 (as the Primettes) through 1970. On leaving the group, she embarked upon a prolific solo career. Her solo work initially explored, pop, soul and r&amp;b, and by the mid 1970s she jumped aboard the burgeoning disco trend as well. Produced by Richard Perry, Ms. Ross\u2019 eighth solo album, <em>Baby It\u2019s Me<\/em> featured three charting singles including the Top 40 hit \u201cGettin\u2019 Ready for Love.\u201d Though it lacks the original&#8217;s distinctive pedal steel guitar, her reading of \u201cToo Shy to Say\u201d is a rather faithful cover of Stevie Wonder\u2019s song.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8hPnSRUTXIU?si=mWZzch9j8lc1Bh0a\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThey Won\u2019t Go When I Go\u201d from George Michael\u2019s <em>Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1<\/em> (1990)<\/strong><br \/>\nThis deep album track from Wonder\u2019s <em>Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale<\/em> features an intentionally simple arrangement. The song features only Wonder\u2019s multiple overdubbed vocals, acoustic piano and the revolutionary T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer, a massive and revolutionary hybrid device that combined components from Moog and other synthesizer developers (it\u2019s featured in Brian De Palma\u2019s camp\/cult classic 1974 film <em>Phantom of the Paradise<\/em>). On George Michael\u2019s blockbuster 1990 album, he covers the song, layering on even more vocal parts than the original, but limiting the instrumental accompaniment to a single elegiac grand piano.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oata-ksmxjg?si=155iHDtKrOfKwnKX\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cBoogie On Reggae Woman\u201d from Phish\u2019s <em>Hampton Comes Alive<\/em> (1999)<\/strong><br \/>\nAlong with their substantial body of original work, jam band heroes Phish have made a career out of interpreting the work of other artists. The group has often staged entire concerts in which they perform an album \u2013 the Beatles\u2019 \u201cWhite Album,\u201d for example \u2013 start to finish in front of an enthusiastic audience. For the band\u2019s third live release, Phish released a six-disc set with the playful title Hampton Comes Alive (a nod both to the concert venue in Hampton, VA and to superstar Peter Frampton). Nearly half of the songs on the set are covers that hadn\u2019t appeared on any other Phish album, making it an essential purchase for hardcore fans. One of those covers would be this track from Steve Wonder.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q6IMshcg-ow?si=nIFrlN_eg6629JC9\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cYou Haven\u2019t Done Nothin\u2019\u201d from Roger Daltrey\u2019s <em>As Long As I Have You<\/em> (2018)<\/strong><br \/>\nStepping outside The Who for his tenth solo album, Roger Daltrey served up a batch of songs that included originals and covers of songs that have inspired him. In the latter category is his cover of Stevie Wonder&#8217;s \u201cYou Haven\u2019t Done Nothin\u2019,\u201d a politically-themed song written as a diatribe against American president Richard M. Nixon. Daltrey\u2019s deep-groove reading of the tune features a soulful vocal chorus, beefy horns and some tasty lead guitar from his Who band mate Pete Townshend.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nB7Ccy9qJYs?si=bHy8UXvvI175zxQZ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Child prodigy Stevie Wonder scored many hits as a Motown artist. But it was only when he broke free of the label\u2019s machinery and began to work as a truly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5523],"class_list":["post-28262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-stevie-wonder","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28263,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions\/28263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}