Maps of Music

Up-Tight (1966)

Where the lyrics of Up-Tight take you, and where it was really made.

Its folk cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" is what made Wonder popular with crossover audiences.

Key places

Recorded at Hitsville U.S.A., Detroit (1966)

Recording site Hitsville U.S.A. Studio A — The album was recorded at Motown's studio Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit. The Funk Brothers and the Andantes, Motown's studio and in-house backing musicians, took part in the album's recordings. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Up-Tight (shown as Up-Tight Everything's Alright on the cover): fifth album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder
• Released by Motown on the Tamla label on May 4, 1966
• Includes the 1962 single "Contract on Love" and the unissued 1964 single "Pretty Little Angel"

Background

• Includes "Nothing's Too Good for My Baby", another Wonder co-write
• Remake of folk star Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", which made Wonder popular with crossover audiences
• Recording of the standard "Teach Me Tonight" with vocals by the Four Tops
• Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops sings co-lead on "Teach Me Tonight"
• "Pretty Little Angel" was listed as a single release in 1964 and mastered that fall, but not issued at the time

Recording

• Recorded at Motown's studio Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit
• Backed by the Funk Brothers, the uncredited Motown Records studio musicians
• Motown's in-house female backing group, the Andantes, also accompany Wonder on the album
• For one recording session, Pat Lewis stepped in as a replacement for a member of the Andantes
• Clarence Paul shares co-lead vocals on "Blowin' in the Wind"
• The Temptations provide backing vocals on "Contract on Love", and The Originals on "Nothing's Too Good For My Baby"
• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra plays on "Pretty Little Angel" and "With a Child's Heart"

Cover

• The cover title reads Up-Tight Everything's Alright

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Stevland Hardaway Morris, known as Stevie Wonder, was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, and became blind shortly after birth.
• He signed with Motown's Tamla label at age 11 in 1961, receiving the name Little Stevie Wonder.
• His single "Fingertips" topped the Billboard Hot 100 when he was 13, the youngest solo artist ever to do so.

Career

• Music of My Mind and Talking Book (1972) marked the start of his classic period, moving away from the Motown sound toward synthesizer- and keyboard-driven music.
• Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life (1973–1976) won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, and he is the only artist to have done so.
• In the 1980s he campaigned to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday and scored several number-one hits, including "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
• He has sold more than 100 million records and won 25 Grammy Awards, the most by a male solo artist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Records

• Released 4 May 1966 by Motown on the Tamla label
• Reached No. 33 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart
• Reached No. 2 on the R&B Albums chart
• Features the U.S. Top 5 single "Uptight (Everything's Alright)"
• That single was co-written by Wonder with Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby
• Remake of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" made Wonder popular with crossover audiences
• "Pretty Little Angel" was listed as a single release in 1964 but was not issued at that time
• Some copies were pressed two years later, in 1966, with the later Tamla label style; very few of these copies exist
• The track was withdrawn again when "A Place In The Sun" was considered superior

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album includes two earlier recordings: the 1962 single "Contract on Love" and the unissued 1964 single "Pretty Little Angel".
• "Pretty Little Angel" was listed as a single release in 1964, but the track was withdrawn again when "A Place In The Sun" was considered superior.
• The Funk Brothers, the uncredited Motown Records studio musicians, played on the album and helped define the '60s Motown sound.
• The album's U.S. Top 5 single "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" was co-written by Wonder with Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby.
• Four Tops vocalist Levi Stubbs sings co-lead on the standard "Teach Me Tonight".

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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