Fulfillingness' First Finale

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Fulfillingness' First Finale
Fulfillingness' First Finale.jpg
Studio album by
Stevie Wonder
ReleasedJuly 22, 1974
Studio
Genre Progressive soul [1]
Length42:21
Label Tamla
Producer
Stevie Wonder chronology
Innervisions
(1973)		Fulfillingness' First Finale
(1974)		 Songs in the Key of Life
(1976)
Singles from Fulfillingness' First Finale
  1. "You Haven't Done Nothin'"
    Released: August 1974
  2. "Boogie On Reggae Woman"
    Released: November 1974
Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
"Boogie On Reggae Woman"
"Boogie On Reggae Woman" (album version sample)
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Fulfillingness' First Finale is the seventeenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Stevie Wonder, released on July 22, 1974, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It is the fourth of five albums from what is considered Wonder's "classic period". [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The album was Wonder's second to top the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it remained for two weeks, and also reached number one on the Billboard Soul LPs chart, where it spent eight non-consecutive weeks between October 5 and Christmas 1974. [5] At the 17th Annual Grammy Awards, it won in three categories: Album of the Year (Wonder's second consecutive win in this category), Best Male Pop Vocal, and Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance (for "Boogie On Reggae Woman") at the ceremony held in 1975. Retrospectively, the album was voted number 413 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000) [6] and included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [7]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [8]
The Austin Chronicle Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Christgau's Record Guide A− [10]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [11]
The Great Rock Discography 7/10 [12]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [13]
MusicHound Rock 4/5 [14]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The Village Voice B+ [17]

Recording

Following the epic scope and social consciousness themes of Innervisions , Fulfillingness' First Finale, in contrast, projected a more reflective, personal, and somber tone. The musical arrangements used in several songs, especially the bleak "They Won't Go When I Go" and the understated "Creepin'", were sparse compared to those of some of Wonder's other 1970s tracks. Wonder had not completely foregone social commentary, as evidenced by the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "You Haven't Done Nothin'", which launched a pointed criticism of the Nixon administration bolstered by clavinet, drum machine, and a cameo by the Jackson 5.

Track listing

All songs written by Stevie Wonder, except "They Won't Go When I Go", written by Wonder and Yvonne Wright.

Side one
  1. "Smile Please" – 3:26
  2. "Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away" – 5:01
  3. "Too Shy to Say" – 3:31
  4. "Boogie On Reggae Woman" – 4:54
  5. "Creepin'" – 4:17
Side two
  1. "You Haven't Done Nothin'" – 3:27
  2. "It Ain't No Use" – 3:58
  3. "They Won't Go When I Go" – 5:59
  4. "Bird of Beauty" – 3:46
  5. "Please Don't Go" – 4:06

Personnel

"Smile Please"

"Heaven Is 10 Zillion Years Away"

"Too Shy to Say"

"Boogie On Reggae Woman"

"Creepin'"

"You Haven't Done Nothin"

"It Ain't No Use"

"They Won't Go When I Go"

"Bird of Beauty"

"Please Don't Go"

Charts

Weekly charts

YearChartPosition
1974 Soul Albums 1
Top LP's & Tape

Singles

YearSingle Billboard
Hot 100 		Billboard
Hot Soul Singles
1974"You Haven't Done Nothin'"11
"Boogie on Reggae Woman"31

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Kendall, Jo (May 5, 2019). "Record Collection". Prog . Retrieved January 23, 2021– via PressReader.
  2. ↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2001). All music guide: the definitive guide to popular music (4 ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 447–448. ISBN   0-87930-627-0.
  3. ↑ Cramer, Alfred William (2009). Musicians and composers of the 20th century. Vol. 5. Salem Press. p. 1645. ISBN   978-1-58765-517-3.
  4. ↑ Brown, Jeremy K. (2010). Stevie Wonder: Musician. Black Americans of Achievement. Infobase Publishing. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-60413-685-2.
  5. ↑ "Fulfillingness' First Finale – Stevie Wonder". AllMusic. July 22, 1974. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 154. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.
  7. ↑ Dimery, Robert (December 5, 2011). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: You Must Hear Before You Die. Octopus. ISBN   978-1-84403-714-8.
  8. ↑ Allmusic review
  9. ↑ Moser, Margaret (May 19, 2000), Review: Innervisions. The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  10. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: W". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved March 9, 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  11. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0857125958.
  12. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). New York: Canongate. p. 1688. OL   18807297M.
  13. ↑ Hilburn, Robert (April 1, 2000). "Motown Releases Remind Us of Stevie Wonder's Impact". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  14. ↑ Graff, Gary, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink. p. 741. OL   8145585M.
  15. ↑ "Q review". Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
  16. ↑ Brackett, Nathan, and Christian David Hoard, eds (2004), Rolling Stone review, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Simon and Schuster, p. 885.
  17. ↑ Christgau, Robert (October 24, 1974). "Consumer Guide (49)". The Village Voice . New York. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Bird of Beauty" partial Portuguese lyrics provided by Sergio Mendes
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