| Hotter Than July | 
 enlarge | Artist: Stevie Wonder
Label: Motown
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $5.72
You Save: $4.26 (43%)
New (46) Used (11) from $5.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 4695
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 157363
UPC: 601215736328
EAN: 0601215736328
ASIN: B00004SZWB
Release Date: May 2, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Tracks:
| • | Did I Hear You Say You Love Me | | • | All I Do | | • | Rocket Love | | • | I Ain't Gonna Stand For It | | • | As If You Read My Mind | | • | Master Blaster (Jammin') | | • | Do Like You | | • | Cash In Your Face | | • | Lately | | • | Happy Birthday |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 So much HOTTER THAN JULY you'll need flame retardant clothing !!! March 29, 2007
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Stevie Wonder scored a coup with his 1980 album entitled Hotter Than July. Hotter Than July gives us Stevie at his best with a distinctly early 80's flavor to his music that still rocks well and sways today! Just one listen to this CD proves it.
The CD opens with "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me;" this number has Stevie asking his woman to prove her love to him. The music rocks hard and I love those guitars! Stevie's voice is in excellent form, too! "All I Do" has a more R&B flavor as Stevie sings that he is falling deep and hard for his woman. It will charm you--for sure! The backup chorus enhances the beauty of this number, too. "Rocket Man" lets Stevie tell the story of a love gone awry; he uses the image of the two lovers rocketing toward the sky of love and then he falls suddenly back to earth as he expresses his chagrin over losing his woman. The drums and percussion do a great job on this number; and the strings add a lot to the musical arrangement as well.
"Master Blaster (Jammin')" has a catchy reggae beat as Stevie sings about peace coming to Zimbabwe. Sounds like a great reason to celebrate this song to me! Stevie's voice remains in excellent form and I liked the background vocals, too.
"Do Like You" tells the sweet story of a young boy who surprises everyone by being a naturally talented dancer; the beat rocks hard and the background vocals shine on in this number once again.
"Lately" is a rather sad but stunningly beautiful number about a love gone awry; and even though I hadn't listened to this album in years before yesterday I remembered the melody exactly the way I first heard it. "Lately" has a certain poignancy and beauty that I rarely hear in any song about love; the piano and Stevie's voice are sublime on this number! You feel truly sorry for Stevie's character as he sings this to perfection. "Lately" is a masterpiece that has been rather overlooked, in my opinion. Check this track out!
"Happy Birthday" opens with a great musical intro and this song stands as Stevie's solid gold Happy Birthday wish to the legendary Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, at the time this album was released Dr. King's birthday was not yet a national holiday; one can only imagine the joy Stevie must have felt when Dr. King got his holiday--this number is stunning as Stevie and the backup chorus harmonize to perfection. You will remember this joyous and relentless upbeat number for ages to come; it's that good. It received a good amount of air time when it was first released, too.
The liner notes give you the complete lyrics to the songs on this CD; and you get the song credits, too. The art work reflects great judgment and the digital remastering by Kevin Reeves leaves nothing to be desired! Great!
I recommend this CD as a "must have" for Stevie Wonder fans; and people who enjoy music from this time period will love this CD also.
Great job, Stevie Wonder! You're a genius! Thank you for everything!
 "Didn't know you would be jammin' until the break of dawn??" January 10, 2005
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I'll be the first to admit that it took me a solid 4 or 5 times of listening too it before I really liked it. This album is very much "80's" and is quite different from Wonder's previous masterpieces. It took me a while to get used to this new style Stevie was using, but after that it stands in my mind as a truly great album.
One thing about any of his albums is that they do not lack any depth lyrically, Hotter than July is no exception. He's on point as ever with "Rocket Love" & "Cash In Your Face". Musically this album is more fast paced and jams more so than his previous efforts. "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me", is a great groove and "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" is a quite impressive track with the inclusion of country elements. "Do Like You" is a solid track, and perhaps the only one I skip is "As if You Read My Mind" (You might not though). What makes this album work more than any other factor is musical gems found on here. "All I Do" & "Master Blaster" are both classics in his catalogue & of course "Lately" is one of his finest (both musically and lyrically). "Happy Birthday" is also essential if only because of its historical value. Despite the strength of some individual tracks it does lack the overall as an album that we've previously come to expect with Wonder. But, what you have is a 45 min run time album that is just full of solid tracks. It's truly a testament to Stevie Wonder that, while many great artists of the 70's collapsed when they tried to adapt to the 80's style (look no further than Led Zeppelin), he was able to still convey his musical genius.
This album is definitely not a masterpiece, nor close to touching the genius of his previous albums. Perhaps it's not his best, but does that take away from it? Are we just too spoiled by his previous efforts? Bottom line: It's still simply a great album and only further adds on to Wonder's legacy. One of the best albums released from the 80's era.
The Master Blasts!!! July 22, 2005
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
What an amazing CD this is. Originally released in 1980 and still sounding up to date. Not as great as his 70s masterpieces, but hey, still a fabulous outing, with varying musical influences and outstanding songwriting. The album made it to No.3 on the Billboard album charts.
The tribute to Bob Marley, `Master blaster (jammin')' is a delightful lilting reggae number with great horns and outstanding vocals, which made No.5 in the US and the UK top 10.
There's the mid tempo, disco-tinged, synth driven `All I do' featuring backing vocal;s from Michael Jackson (repaying the favour for Stevie's `I can't help it' from his `Off the wall' album the previous year) and a great sax break.
`Rocket love' is a tender atmospheric ballad with great `Do do do...', dramatic strings, and lyrics comparing a woman's love to a ride in a rocket. Classic Stevie!
`I aint gonna stand for it' (a UK top 10 and US no.11) features backing vocals from the Gap Band (whose vocal styling was clearly inspired by Stevie), and is an upbeat song with faint country elements in the verses, which connects to the next song, `As if you read my mind' with a great piano bridge. Percussion on this song is outstanding.
Other standouts are the tender much covered piano ballad `Lately' (a UK top 10) featuring an achingly passionate delivery from Stevie, and closing track, the sunny, poppy `Happy Birthday' which was a tribute to Martin Luther king Jr, and was a part of the push to get his birthday declared a national holiday, which it eventually was.
It was a real hot July....
 Not as hot as July April 29, 2004
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
In 1980 Stevie Wonder was still one of the major players in music. His last five albums, released in the 70s, had all been major successes both musically & commercially, and the man was basically On Top. However then he released a strange soundtrack `Secret Life Of Plants' to accompany a film of the same name that was never released (Great book by the way), which left people confused by the kinda odd subject matter and style of the album.`Hotter Than July' was quickly released to undo the damage, but it does sound kinda rushed in places as a result. The reggae cut `Master Blaster' is the real killer jam here, and love songs like `Lately' and the almost eerie `Rocket Love' are Stevie on top form, but a lot of the other material here is less memorable and distinctive than the albums he was cutting in the 70s. `Happy Birthday' is leaning into pop rather than the funk Stevie excelled at. Overall this is a solid album with some great moments, but not as essential as the work that preceded it. Still, its worth pointing out that there are no bad songs here, and even a lazy Stevie Wonder is actually more enjoyable than any of the contemporary R&B jokers out there these days. Too bad.
An impulse buy that paid off for this 24 year-old... April 12, 2001
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I saw 'Hotter Than July' at a record store being sold at a decent price, and noted that it included songs that I recognized by name: "Rocket Love", "Happy Birthday", "Lately", and "Master Blaster (Jammin)". On impulse, I bought it.I'm glad I did. You see, "All I Do" has been remade into a dance/techno song by a British group called the Cleptomaniacs this year; so when I heard the original - it just made me feel so enlightened. For the record I prefer Mr. Wonder's version, but both versions of "All I Do" are enjoyable. "Lately" was immortalized by an R&B group named Jodeci in the spring/summer of 1992; and they actually performed the song with Stevie on the Arsenio Hall show - and it was great. "Lately" (for me) is a sad and moving song that is also very beautiful. It scares me to think that as late as 1980 we still didn't celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday; but hey, at least now I know the words to the whole song besides the chorus. "Happy Birthday" serves as a wonderful finale to the album. But my favorite song on here would have to be "Rocket Love". My favorite Stevie Wonder songs are the slower, or midtempo songs that seem to just float, and take you on majestic, magic carpet rides. "Send One Your Love", "Superwoman" and "Ribbon In The Sky" do this for me. But something tells me this isn't his absolute best album (assuming they can be ranked)...and from what I've been able to gather, 'Innervisions' and 'Songs In The Key Of Life' seem to be the top two. At any rate, just know that this disc is a good investment. I'm listening to it right now as I type this. It's on "Lately"... Thanks for reading.
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