Record Review: "The 12 Year Old Genius" by Stevie Wonder

“Everybody have a good time So if you want me to If you want me to I'm gonna swing the song, yeah Just one more time when I come by” - Stevie Wonder

Title: The 12 Year Old Genius

Artist: Stevie Wonder

Release Year: 1963

Genre: R&B

Status: Gold (about 500,000 sold)  

Number of Tracks: 7 (3 Side one, 4 Side two)

Record Label: Tamla

Number Album Released: 3rd

What I Think

    This album is Stevie Wonder’s 1st live album and his 3rd released album. This is a somewhat iconic album from Wonder containing 1 number one hit. Which is “Fingertips”. The 1st song is “Fingertips”. Wonder’s singing is strong and his harmonica playing is fast tempo. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a fast tempo. The message of the song is about Wonder telling the audience to clap their hands and have a good time enjoying the music. The 2nd song is “Soul Bongo”. Wonder’s bongo playing is at a fast tempo. The band is playing a somewhat complicated beat and rhythm at a fast tempo with emphasis on Wonder’s bongo playing and on the drums. The 3rd song is “La La La La La”. Wonder’s singing is strong and smooth. The band is playing a somewhat complicated beat and rhythm with emphasis on the guitar and drums. The message is Wonder telling the audience to repeat the words “La La La” after him. The 4th song is “(I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over”. Wonder’s singing is slow, smooth and strong. The band is playing a simple rhythm at a slow tempo with emphasis on the horns. The message is about a man telling his woman that he has fallen out of love with her and that it’s not the same being with her. The 5th song is “Hallelujah I Love Her So”. Wonder’s singing is strong and smooth. The band is playing a somewhat complicated beat and rhythm at a fast tempo. The message is about a man singing about a woman that lives near him and how much he loves her. The 6th song is “Drown In My Own Tears”. Wonder’s singing is smooth. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man that misses his woman and the man keeps on crying and talks about how depressed he is. The 7th song is “Don’t You Know”. Wonder’s singing is strong. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat at a mid tempo with a saxophone solo. The message is about a man telling a woman that doesn’t she know he loves her and he tries to persuade her to love him all night long and to turn the lights down low.

Samples/Covers contained in the album

• Track 5: “Hallelujah I Love Her So” by Ray Charles
• Track 6: “Drown In My Own Tears” by Ray Charles
• Track 7: “Don’t You Know” by Ray Charles           

Scoring (Out of 10)

• How well the album did (Diamond 10/10, Platinum 8/10, Gold 6/10): 6/10
• How well is the singing: 8/10
• How well is the band: 8/10
• How impactful the messages of the songs are: 6/10
• How appealing is the cover: 6.5/10
• How creative is the cover: 7/10
• How relevant is the album after 10+ years since release: 5.5/10
• How much did it revolutionize its genre of music: 4/10
• How creative are the instruments: 6.5/10
• How creative are the lyrics: 5/10

Total Score: 6.25/10

Percentage: 62.5%

My Favorite Songs

1. Fingertips
2. Hallelujah I Love Her So
3. La La La La La
4. Don’t You Know
5. (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over
6. Soul Bongo
7. Drown In My Own Tears

Videos of Stevie Wonder performing songs from the album

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSjOxqldFs  “Little Stevie Wonder - 1963 Fingertips Part II”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBn8GdWJp8I  “Stevie Wonder - Hallelujah I love her so”

Comment what you think of this album and if you agree with me or not and stay tuned for my next record review which will be “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane.  

Record Review: "Live at the Apollo" by James Brown

“All aboard for night train” - James Brown

Title: Live at the Apollo

Artist: James Brown

Release Year: 1963

Genre: R&B

Status: Gold (about 500,000 sold)

Number of Tracks: 14 (5 Side one, 9 Side two)

Record Label: King

Number Album Released: 8th

What I think

    This is the 1st James Brown album that I acquired and this is a good album to start with. This is also a live album by James Brown of his performance at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY. The album begins with James Brown being introduced. In between each song is an interlude of the band playing. The 1st song is “I’ll Go Crazy”. Brown’s singing is strong and so is the backup vocals. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a mid tempo. The message is about a man telling his woman that if she leaves him that he will go crazy without her and the man telling himself that he has to live for himself and nobody else if she leaves him. The 2nd song is “Try Me”. Brown’s singing is smooth and so is the backup vocals. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man asking a woman to try to be with him because he needs her and wants to be with her. The 3rd song is “Think”. Brown’s singing is strong. The band is playing a somewhat complicated beat and rhythm with a saxophone solo at a fast tempo. The message is about a man telling his woman to think about it before leaving him because he is the one that truly loves her and for her to think about the good he has done for her and the bad that he tried not to do. The 4th song is “I Don’t Mind”. Brown’s singing is strong and slow. The backup vocals are smooth. The band is playing a simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man telling a woman that he doesn't mind if her love for him is going away because he knows that she will miss him. The 5th song is “Lost Someone”. Brown’s singing is smooth and strong with trademark James Brown screams. The band is playing a simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man who has lost someone that he loved so much, how it's affecting him and how much he misses that someone. The 6th song is “Please Please Please”. Brown’s singing is strong. The backup vocals are smooth. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man begging his woman to stay with him because of how much he loves her. The 7th song is “You've Got the Power”. Brown’s singing is smooth and slow. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a woman leaving her man and telling him that she won't be back and he telling her that he needs her back and she has the power to keep them together.   The 8th song is “I Found Someone”. Brown’s singing is slow and strong. The band is playing a simple beat and rhythm at a mid tempo. The message is about a man finding someone to love. The 9th song is “Why Do You Do Me?”. Brown’s singing is slow and smooth. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man that gave his all to his woman and his woman leaving him. The 10th song is “I Want You So Bad”. Brown’s singing is slow and smooth. The band is playing a simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man that wants a woman very bad and he is wondering if he will ever stop being all alone. The 11th song is “I Love You Yes I Do”. Brown’s singing is smooth and slow. The band is playing a simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man telling a woman how much he loves her, how much he needs her and how he has loved her from when he laid eyes on her. The 12th song is “Why Does Everything Happen To Me”. Brown’s singing is slow and strong. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message of the song is about a guy asking why do all these bad things happen to him and he contemplates suicide because of all the bad things happening to him. The 12th song is “Bewildered”. Brown’s singing is slow and strong. The backup vocals are smooth. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a slow tempo. The message is about a man who broke up with his woman and now he is confused and bewildered about why they left each other even though they loved each other so much. The 13th song is “Please Please Please” again sang and played the same way as last time. The 14th song is “Night Train”. Brown’s singing is strong. The band is playing a somewhat simple beat and rhythm at a fast tempo. The message is about a train going around the USA and stopping at notable cities with a high Black population such as New York City, NY, Miami, FL, Baltimore, MD etc.         

Scoring (Out of 10)

• How well the album did (Diamond 10/10, Platinum 8/10, Gold 6/10): 6/10
• How well is the singing: 6.5/10
• How well is the band: 7/10
• How impactful the messages of the songs are: 5.5/10
• How appealing is the cover: 7/10
• How creative is the cover: 8/10
• How relevant is the album after 10+ years since release: 6/10
• How much did it revolutionize its genre of music: 5/10
• How creative are the instruments: 4/10
• How creative are the lyrics: 3/10

Total Score: 5.8/10

Percentage: 58%

My Favorite Songs

1. Night Train
2. Please Please Please
3. Please Don’t Go (Please Please Please)
4. Try Me
5. Think
6. I’ll Go Crazy
7. Bewildered
8. I Don’t Mind
9. Why Do You Do Me?
10. You’ve Got The Power
11. I Want You So Bad
12. I Love You Yes I Do
13. Lost Someone
14. I Found Someone

Videos of James Brown performing songs from the album

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtYdwQx_OQ  “Joe Cocker, James Brown - I'll Go Crazy (LIVE in Detroit) HD”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owl9LZn_RGI  “James Brown performs "Try Me". Live at the Apollo Theater, March 1968”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vruy2GRUsV8  “James Brown performs "Please Please Please" to a live audience on the TAMI Show”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_rZrH4yBY  “James Brown performs and dances to "Night Train" to a live audience on TAMI Show”

Comment what you think of this album and if you agree with me or not and stay tuned for my next record review which will be “The 12 Year Old Genius” by Stevie Wonder.