Conversation Peace


Conversation Peace is the twenty-second studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder, released on March 21, 1995, by Motown Records. The album was Wonder's first full-length non-soundtrack studio album since 1987's Characters. It yielded the hits "For Your Love" and the reggae-flavored "Tomorrow Robins Will Sing". Conversation Peace also saw Wonder reuniting with Robert Margouleff, who assisted during Wonder's "classic period" from 1972 to 1974.
Wonder wrote about 40 songs in 1993 after being invited to stay for six weeks in Ghana by President Jerry John Rawlings. A number of these songs were eventually shaped into album form. Motown announced in August 1993 that Conversation Peace would be released later that year; however, Wonder continued to work on the album through 1994 until its release in March 1995, when Vibe magazine reported that the album had been in development "off and on for at least the past four" years.
A circulating outtake from these sessions, "Ms and Mr Little Ones", was later released on Natural Wonder.

Reception

Critics felt that the album was a return to Wonder's classic period of the 1970s. John Milward in a 1995 review in Rolling Stone gave it four stars and felt that while the album is "reminiscent" of Wonder's classic albums, its "lean execution" gives it a "modern sound". While the quality of the work was appreciated, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune and Jean Rosenbluth of the Los Angeles Times felt that the style was a bit too familiar and well-worn to be interesting, though Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave it an "A−" and remarked that while listeners may have "heard all this before, that doesn't mean it's worn out its welcome." Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it two-and-a-half stars in a retrospective review for AllMusic and felt the music was not contemporary enough to get radio play.

Commercial performance

Conversation Peace debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200, selling 53,000 copies in its first week. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on June 14, 1995.
As of October 2005, the album had sales 361,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Track listing

All tracks written by Stevie Wonder, except where noted.

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.

Musicians

Technical

  • Stevie Wonder – producer,, arranger, digital editing & album assembly
  • Nathan Watts – associate producer
  • Vaughan Halyard – associate producer
  • Derrick Perkins – associate producer, original loops & programming
  • Van Arden – engineer, mixing
  • Steve Durkey, R. R. Harlan, Kimm James – additional engineers
  • Jim Champagne, Ryan Foster, Anthony Gallagher, Tim Hoogenakker, Grant Mohrman, Neil Perry, James "Rock N' Roll" Sandweiss – assistant engineers
  • Brant Biles - mixing
  • Robert Margouleff – mixing
  • Mark Cross – sound combinations
  • Robert Arbittier – custom software design, digital editing & album assembly, digital audio & midi manipulation
  • Michael Parish, Peter Vargo – equipment techs
  • Milton Hardaway – cover coordinator
  • Stephanie Andrews – Stevland Morris Music project manager
  • Steve McKeever – executive in charge of production
  • Jonathan Clark – art direction & digital illustration
  • Shauna Woods – graphic design
  • Todd Gray – photography
  • Karen Kwak, Lisa Smith-Craig – A&R project coordinators