At the Close of a Century

Finally there's a boxed set that covers his ENTIRE career with 70 tracks drawn from singles, soundtracks and 20 albums. Notes, photos and a discography, too! Includes Fingertips Parts 1 & 2; Uptight (Everything's Alright); Blowin' in the Wind; A Place in the Sun; Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day; For Once in My Life; My Cherie Amour; Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday; Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours; If You Really Love Me; Superstition; You Are the Sunshine of My Life; Higher Ground; Living for the City; Master Blaster (Jammin'); I Just Called to Say I Love You every Top 10 hit!

At the Close of a Century may seem a rather portentous title for a box set, even one showcasing the work of such a formidable writer-performer as Stevie Wonder. Consider, though, that these discs appear a few months before Wonder's 50th birthday and that he's already spent 36 years making records; he has more right than most to get a little highfalutin when invoking temporal milestones. Despite various retrospectives over the years, Close is the first to cover the arc of Wonder's entire career. By the end of the first disc we've heard his early Motown hits and watched him develop into the masterful artist who'd go on to stack up landmark album after landmark album in the '70s. (Aretha Franklin's Wonder-penned hit "Until You Come Back to Me" is here in a rare version by the composer.) The string of LPs from Talking Book (1972) to Hotter Than July (1980) provides gem after gem on the two middle CDs--with all of 1973's Innervisions save one cut represented--while post-"Master Blaster" winners such as "That Girl" and "Overjoyed" are the meat of the final disc. Add a smart booklet of essays, photos, and a discography, and this handsome package starts to look like a sharp addition to the collections of even hard-core Stevie buffs. --Rickey Wright