Characters

Performer: Stevie Wonder
Artist: B.B. King; Michael Jackson; Stevie Ray Vaughan
Engineer: Gary Olazabal
Producer: Stevie Wonder
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson (vocals); Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King (guitar). Stevie Wonder shocked fans by taking only two years to release his next new non-soundtrack studio album, Characters. Unfortunately, it had long since become clear that Wonder was willing to settle for good pop music without challenging himself to make great pop music. And by now, a big chunk of his formerly mass audience had gotten the message: this was Wonder's first new album to miss the pop Top Five in 15 years. (The black music audience, however, responded far more favorably, as the album topped the R&B charts for seven weeks.) The biggest single was the "Superstition"-like dance track "Skeletons" (number 19 pop, number one R&B), and Wonder also charted with the pretty "You Will Know" and an up-tempo duet with Michael Jackson, "Get It." ~ William Ruhlmann By the time CHARACTERS was released in 1987, Stevie Wonder had gone from being a child prodigy to a leader of the politically charged '70s soul movement to a pop balladeer again in the '80s. By assimilating everything he had learned over the past 20 some years, he had developed into a world-class songwriter and producer. CHARACTERS displays every side of his musical personality, from the funky ("Skeletons"), to the tender ("With Each Beat Of My Heart") to the poppy ("Get It," which features Michael Jackson). His social conscience is in full display on "Dark 'n' Lovely" and "Skeletons." Perhaps the most poignant is in the opening track "You Will Know," where he explores the problems of drugs and single parenthood but offers hope with a simple phrase; "Problems have solutions." No matter what the subject matter, Stevie sings with an honesty and conviction that is rare in an artist that has been around so long. And hearing B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn trading fours on "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down" is worth the price of admission.

Rolling Stone - 3 Stars - Good

From 12-year-old multi-instrumentalist prodigy to groundbreaking adult songwriter and producer, Stevie Wonder is one of the handful of pop musicians who just about everybody agrees is possessed of genius. His 1960s recordings were great straight-up R&B, but his visionary '70s albums took pop and R&B where they'd never been before, incorporating electronics, reggae, and incredibly sophisticated melodic and harmonic development.

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