Trying again on it now, it’s all about development. Stevie Surprise, wunderkind blind multi-instrumentalist, had outgrown his juvenile persona and proved his price as an excellent mid-60s soul star with a sequence of upbeat hits. By 1969, he was hitting a distinct, extra mainstream viewers, because of the My Cherie Amour album’s title observe and the earlier yr’s “For Once In My Life.” Inside a yr or two he would discover his ft as a self-motivated, self-authoring soul revolutionary, and the likes of My Cherie Amour and its successor, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, could have offered a melodic and harmonic grounding for his distinctive and impeccable sequence of wonderful 70s albums.
A breeze on a scorching summer season day
Which may be the way it seems as we speak, however when it was launched, on August 29, 1969, My Cherie Amour was the modern Stevie. No person knew what was to return. As a substitute, folks gloried on this younger man who might ship songs that attracted dozens of canopy variations and have become instantaneous requirements. Not solely that, however his originals had been infused with a heat and pleasure the remakes couldn’t contact.
“My Cherie Amour,” the music, seems like a breeze on a scorching summer season day: contemporary, simple and lightweight. There are additionally some fantastic variations of Nice American Songbook classics, such because the uptempo, superbly put collectively interpretation of “Hello Young Lovers,” the extremely Motown-y blowout of Etta James’ “At Last” and a surprisingly transferring tackle Johnny Mandel’s “The Shadow Of Your Smile,” boosted by Stevie’s bittersweet harmonica solo. Somebody who was not but 20 mustn’t have been in a position to sort out such materials so convincingly. Even the album’s rock cowl was a tune that had discovered a parallel life in simple listening: “Light My Fire.” Surrounded by layers of orchestral sounds, Stevie injects real urgency into the music’s pleas – this younger man is eager for you, child, you perceive?
Late 60s Motown gems
Past this beforehand loved materials lay some stylish late 60s Motown gems. Deke Richard’s very good “You And Me” is a head-nodder with an excellent bassline from James Jamerson. Richard Morris’ upbeat “Pearl” is pushed by Stevie’s pressing vocal with very good assist from The Andantes. “Somebody Knows, Somebody Cares” is one other of these patented Stevie/Sylvia Moy/Hank Cosby storytelling compositions a couple of long-standing love. Then there are two extra mighty highlights: the hit single “Yester Me, Yester You, Yesterday,” a regretful music that belies Stevie’s tender years, and “Angie Girl.” The latter is a music that basically might have graced his traditional 70s period, with its floating really feel and surprising chord adjustments. Tucked away on the again of 1968’s “For Once In My Life” single, followers who flipped the disc had been pleasantly stunned by this pleasant music, with its string-laden intro that shortly fell away, confounding expectations.
It could not be arduous to think about the ballad “Give Your Love” additionally remodeled from private to common love and re-created by the 70s Surprise. My Cherie Amour closes with the mellow, midtempo “I’ve Got You,” the closest the album will get to routine Motown; that riff initially might simply have powered a mid-60s Isley Brothers’ hit delivered in a method pushier than Stevie’s.
Now we all know what was coming, it’s simple to suit this album right into a context it didn’t have on the time. We will’t hear it with 1969’s ears, however we will think about the grins it provoked and the romances it helped soundtrack. And whereas there are requirements right here – each these he created and people he adopted – who might do them like Stevie? My Cherie Amour is probably not his greatest album, however it was maybe his greatest up to now. And, sure, it does nonetheless provoke surprise: how did he get a lot undiluted pleasure into these songs?
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