Stevie Wonder - Love Songs: 20 Classic Hits (1985)

Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Among the musicians and performers who list Wonder as one of their major influences are Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Gloria Estefan, Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Avia, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, George Michael, Nik Kershaw, Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, John Ondrasik (Five For Fighting), India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Kuhbumser, John Legend, Jason Kay (Jamiroquai), Donell Jones, Brandy, Beyoncé Knowles, John Farnham, Jon Gibson, Aaliyah, Babyface, Justin Timberlake, Craig David, Utada Hikaru, Shogo Hamada, Shunsuke Kuroda (from the J-pop group Kobukuro), Jim Underwood, and the members of Jodeci, the Neptunes, Spitting Blood, Dru Hill, and Thunder. UK soul singer Nate James sang in his international hit single "The Message": 'Let's go back in time, back to Music of My Mind, with Stevie playing piano just for you'. Wonder's songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing tensions such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, b5s, etc. in his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several notes. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example, "Superstition", "Higher Ground" and "I Wish" are in the key of E flat, and feature distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i.e. largely on the black notes of the keyboard).

Tracklist:

01. Contract On Love
02. My Cherie Amour
03. Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)
04. Yester-Me Yester-You, Yesterday
05. Never Had A Dream Come True
06. If You Really Love Me
07. Heaven Help Us All
08. Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer
09. A Place In The Sun
10. Alfie
11. Hey Love
12. For Once In My Life
13. We Can Work It Out
14. I Was Made To Love Her
15. I Don't Know Why I Love You
16. Blowin' In The Wind
17. Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day
18. I'm Wondering
19. Nothing's Too Good For My Baby
20. Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours