Rhythms Of Wonder
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As you might probably guess from the title, this book is marketed as a biography of Stevie Wonder. Notes on the dust jacket proudly inform us that "Sharon Davies is a former member of the London Staff of Motown Records and a trusted friend to many Motown Stars". Indeed the claim is well illustrated by a photograph of Sharon leaning over the man himself. If Sharon does hold such a close relationship with Wonder then one might expect revelations which might not be supplied by other writers. If this was your expectation then be prepared for a big disappointment. Any privileged information that Sharon has she seems determined not to share with anyone else. Indeed for someone allegedly so close to the stars any primary information is virtually non existent. The whole book is based not on her personal observations, but is culled from record sleeves and magazines and other secondary sources. Apart from the photograph there is little evidence within that she has even met Stevie Wonder. In my review of Sharon's book about Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" I commended her for resisting the temptation to turn the book into yet another Motown History. Sadly, where this book is concerned this is clearly not the case. The author deviates from one tangent to another making the life story of Stevie Wonder almost an irrelevance. He is merely used as a vehicle for yet another potted history of Motown. Any references to him focus entirely on his professional life and the successes of his albums. The author's reviews supplement the factual information about chart performances. Stories about his personal life are conspicuous by their absence. The deviations into the lives of other Motown artists, coupled with the wholesale reliance on secondary sources leads me to conclude that the author never really had enough information to write this book in the first place and it is clearly a triumph of padding over meaningful content. Despite her lack of material Sharon Davies is a talented writer, and she maximises to the full that what she has, cleverly interleaving it with lesser relevant stuff. The book also contains some nice plates of Stevie Wonder performing. None the less even Davies is not capable of weaving a silk purse from a sow's ear. My advice would be to wait until somebody writes a book about Wonder who knows a considerably more than Sharon does. |
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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