"Little Stevie Wonder the 12-Year-Old Genius" by Stevie Wonder (July, 1963)

Dad's Take:

This is the second consecutive live soul record on our list. It's hard for a 12-year-old kid to follow the dynamic veteran, James Brown, but Little Stevie Wonder holds his own pretty well.

The highlight here is the mostly instrumental hit, "Fingertips." It's followed by another instrumental, "Soul Bongo," leaving one to wonder what the the 12-year-old wunder-kind Stevie Wonder actually does (since we can't see him). The music is exciting, but where is Little Stevie?

With the next song "La La La La La" he's back singing, and talking to the audience with his prepubescent voice. According to the introduction, he's also playing drums.

After that, he starts in with some great soul singing, beginning with "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over." For me, that's where the album comes alive. He follows it with a good performance of "Hallelujah, I Love Her So." The kid had some chops.

Overall, this is a good performance, but coming right after James Brown, it can't help but feel a little weak. Standing on its own, though, it's not hard to see why this is on the list. First of all, it's a strong record. But it's also another early performance from a future major force, like some others on the list.

Brad's Take:


I forgot that Stevie Wonder was so young when he started performing. Being only 12 years during this concert, he's amazing! He has almost as much energy as James Brown.

Little Stevie had good pipes and stage presence, but I didn't really like any of the songs that much. "La La La La La La" was probably my favorite one. His faster songs were the ones I enjoyed the most, but his voice really shined on the slow ones, like "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over." On the faster songs, he put all of his energy into them, but in the slow songs, that's where he put his soul into.

Live albums are kind of harder to review than studio albums, but this is good. It's not the best live album. It's not as good as James Brown's, but like my dad said, Little Stevie held his own well, especially for a 12 year old. If nothing else, at least check out "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over" from this album, and then decide from there if you want to hear more. I can almost guarantee you that you will.