A short-form piece for the Beeb on Stevie Wonder’s Another Star, the theme tune for the BBC’s World Cup coverage:
Another Star closes side four of Songs in the Key of Life – the very end of a four-album run in which Wonder relentlessly outdid himself. He had originally intended to follow his previous, Fulfillingness’s First Finale, with a sequel.
Fulfillingness’s Second Finale was to be a darker, socially conscious experience, but Wonder’s ambition overtook him, and he spent two years putting together a double album (with bonus single) instead.
No space this time for a collection of cover versions, so here they are.
With the Tokyo Philharmonic:
Salome De Bahia:
Caron Wheeler of Soul II Soul, Afrodiziak:
Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge:
And, of course, with Nile Rodgers and Daft Punk:
- See also: Is London Calling the best anthem for a city?
- Photo of a star, 2006, from, I think, a David Batchelor installation on the South Bank
Tags: bbc, bbcnews, journalism, music, smashedhits, steviewonder, writing
