My Cherry Armor

Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10

Not as good as the last one if only because it doesn't have "For Once in My Life" or "Shoo-Be-Doo-Whatever" or "Sunny" on it. Indeed, nothing on here received a 10! ... A few got close, but nope. Nothin' on here can match those three aforementioned GREAT happy soul songs from our favorite happy soul songster. There is also a lot of bizarre cover songs in here. There's a soul reworking of The Doors "Light My Fire," there's a not-really-soul-reworking of "The Shadow of Your Smile." "Hello Young Lovers" is from the "King and I." All sorts of weird stuff.

But surprisingly or not, Stevie Wonder absolutely nails everything on here. Even if it's something as theoretically misguided as doing a soul reworking of "Light My Fire." Everything on here sounds like he absolutely and passionately means what he does ... Even if a song isn't really good, that doesn't seem to phase Stevie out one little bit. He sings as if his life depends on it.

Yeah, this is still the period of Wonder's life when Motown owned his soul (a few years later, he would renegotiate his contract and he would have nearly complete control of his career), but he sure gave them a good show!

Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10 (A nice album. It's commercially driven, surely, but Wonder does it without complaining!)

Average Song Score: 8.6 (Good songs overall. This one lacks a definitive highlight, but this is consistent, no doubt.)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (It takes Wonder's passionate vocal performances to hold this together. The way he sings these songs, it sounds like he owns them ... even if few of these are originals.)

Artist Rating: 8.0 (It is interesting at the vast array of covers on this album ... especially that one from The King and I. However, this isn't a great album in the artistic sense, really.)

Track Reviews

My Cherie Amour 9/10

As translated roughly from French, My Deer Love, this song tells the tale of Stevie Wonder's looooveeeee for somebody. Who this person is, we don't know. However, she is suspected French. And she is suspected deer. (He loves the girls with the hooves, eh? I understand how he feels. Hooves can be kind of sexy, you know.) ... And Stevie sure does write a nice love song about this problem. It's ... uhhh ... romantic and tuneful and stuff.

Hello Young Lovers 9.5/10

Upbeat and absolutely unabashedly happy, how can you resist??? All this old-time Motown soul stuff ... oh man .......... Stevie Wonder was working for THE MAN, and he was still totally awesome! Great song and an even greater vocal performance!!! I liiike thisssssss. ... And here's the punch line. This song is from Rodgers and Hammerstein's King and I. ... You'd hardly recognize it! (This is too cool to be Rodgers and Hammerstein. Those old freakies.)

At Last 8.5/10

It's so amazing how sincere this guy sounds. And I mean, he sounds like this *ALL THE TIME*! ... I bet Stevie Wonder could even show insurmountable excitement over "Merry Had a Little Lamb" sound and hardly give it another thought. This isn't really a great song, but Wonder's vocal performance is pure excitement.

Light My Fire 8.5/10

I didn't want to believe it at first, but this is a Motown-brand soul rendition of that Doors classic. ... Even though that might sound like a HORRIBLE idea at first, it actually turned into something halfway decent. ... In fact, enjoyable. ......... Of course, it can't even hold a candle to the Doors' original, but Wonder indeed sets it on fire!

The Shadow of Your Smile 8/10

This is one of my favorite songs from the post-jazz period ... and Wonder really does a nice with it. Although, this isn't exactly a soul reworking of it. ... Is this filler? Nah!!! ... Is it?!??!? Anyway, I think Wonder could have put some more wonder in this one, but it's still a lovely rendition.

You and Me 8/10

Oh yes ... we're still doing happy soul! And happy soul makes me sooo ... happy. I really do dig Wonder's vocal performance (which strains itself sometimes, it's so excited). The melody is pretty good, but it's not that good. You've got to love Wonder's vocals, though. Dudes.

Pearl 9/10

Wooohooooooooooo!!! I love the melody and the soul here, again! More great vocals from Wonder, and there's even an excellent tune here for him to work with. Yup. This is yet another successfully happy soul outing. SOUUUULLLLLALALALLLALLALLL.

Somebody Knows, Somebody Cares 9.5/10

I REALLY LOVE THE R&B GROOVE ON THIS ONE!!!! ... Very very very fun. It's nice'n'crunchy'n'gritty'n'stuff! Give me more of this CRUNCH and more of this DIRT!!! ... Of course, this is still blatantly commercial, but with Wonder's great vocalizations and the GROOVE, this is yet another great early Wonder classic!

Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday 9.5/10

Another super song! ... This is probably even my vote for the best song on this album. This has, simply, a great melody, a very nice romantic atmosphere, and some good'n'polished Motown song production. Stevie Wonder spoon-feeds the man and gives us something great to listen to at the same time.

Angie Girl 8.5/10

A heavenly song! An excellent melody, superb song production, and ... hey! This song was written independently by Wonder! ... Seriously, this guy should write *more* of his own stuff... Oh yeah.

Give Your Love 8/10

Super soulfuuuullllll... Oh, Stevie, drench me with your souuuulllllllll. I don't particularly like *this* song, but ... I don't know. I reviewed Barry White and ... I can't ever hate Stevie doing these smooth R&B exercises.

I've Got You 7.5/10

This isn't exactly the soulful, overpowering conclusion I was hoping for at the end of this album. But I guess this isn't a real **ALBUM** in that sense, because Stevie didn't have much control over it. So, it's forgivable, I guess! This isn't a bad song, anyway. The melody is merely passable; it's Wonder's own vocals that give it JUICE. He really knows what *soul* means, even if the actual music might fail to convince you of that.

Do you have something on your chest (besides nipples?) about this review of a Stevie Wonder album? If so, then you can fill out a happy reader comment form here!