Vernon Neilly – “A Tribute To Stevie Wonder”

A Tribute To Stevie Wonder is collection of classic Stevie Wonder songs interpreted by Vernon Neilly and Friends. Stevie Wonder is a master of the genre and an icon in the music business so I was quite intrigued as to what this was going to sound like. What I found, quite honestly surprised me a bit.

The opening track, “Boogie On Reggae Woman International,” is a high-energy tune with some unbelievable playing both on the keyboards and on the guitars. I was quite impressed with the musicianship. The next song up, “I Wish” carried the same traits with it and I found the distorted guitar shredding to be more than intriguing, I honestly never expected to hear old school R&B reinterpreted as creatively as these guys have done; I really enjoyed it a lot.

By far my favorite track on the disc is “Superstition,” a very aggressive, balls out, heavy metal reworking of the old classic. As odd as it sounds I think it works really well. As good as these first three tunes are there are some songs that I feel do not stray to far from the original in either creativity or delivery. “Sir Duke” and “Isn’t She Lovely” are prime examples of this. While they are decent songs in their own right, I do not feel that they pack as much punch as the first couple of tunes.

Bottom line I give Vernon Neilly and Friends credit for attempting, (and for the most part succeeding) in reworking these classic tunes in a rather innovative way.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Boogie On Reggae Woman International
02. I Wish
03. Superstition
04. Sir Duke
05. Isn’t She Lovely
06. I Was Made To Love You
07. Don’t You Worry About A Thing
08. For Once In My Life
09. Boogie On Reggae Woman (Vocal Version)
10. Isn’t She Lovely (Instrumental)

Run Time: 42:08
Release Date: 07.28.2008