Today, at a time of constant streaming platforms and instant access to an online jungle of videos and mixes, who here has ever been frustrated at hearing (usually unofficial) lazy and absurd remixes, ripping off some favourite track by the heroes of soul-funk-rhythm & blues? Let’s seize the opportunity of this selection to set some records straight, with the daring and assertive ambition that each and every one of these 20 original hits by Stevie Wonder will have any respectable party animal shaking and grooving irrepressibly.
We’ve tried to cook up a playlist that’s organised in such a way that these 90ish minutes will keep everyone busy grooving, jamming, dancing and sweating to Stevie’s killer tunes, where there are no boundaries on style or genre. Soul, funk, reggae, pop, rock, latin and disco are just some of the ingredients fueling this pot.
There are countless anthologies, compilations and best ofs, but oddly enough, not many that deliberately choose to focus on Stevie’s unique ability to fill a dancefloor and keep its fire hotter than it was minutes before.
We dare you – at a friends party, say – to go ahead and surprise everyone out of the blue by playing Stevie’s 1965 track “Teach Me Tonight”. The aim of this selection is to keep it real, seminal, and booty shaking. When Stevie shoots his arrows – some light, some heavy, some short, some long – they hit our hearts, lips and hips.
The end justifies the means because “Everyone’s feeling pretty / It’s hotter than July / though the world’s full of problems / They couldn’t touch us even if they tried (…) Tonight there will be a party…!”
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