Part Time Lover
In 1985 Stevie Wonder came back with his first studio album in 5 years to most fans excitement. Wonder had taken the 80's by storm and scored more hits then ever but his creativity had subsided to give room for pure Pop instead of Soul. Considering that this album came out in 1985 it's not that strange that some of the songs rely on synthesizers and drum machines which sound rather dated today but "In Square Circle" is considerable better then the soundtrack album he made two years ealier for the film "The Woman In Red" and some of the songs here are simply outstanding. Here you find the catchy uptempo "Part Time Lover" a huge hit that topped the billboard charts and is one of his alltime best. For alot of people this was probably the first exposure to Stevie Wonder's greatness. If you listen closely to the end of the verse, you can hear Luther Vandross's humming. Second song "I Love You Too Much" is another great number, a love song where Wondeer prove he still got it. Other good songs are the South African influnced "It's Wrong (Apartheid)" with African chants and drums which deal about the obvious thing stated in the title. A brilliant ballad called "Overjoyed" that could have been released today probably takes the price as the best song. It's about finding that special one and to feel "Overjoyed" by that experience and hoping that the other person feel the same about you. "Wherabouts" may not have the catchyness but it's lyrics are wonderful about a man trying to capture the moments in the past where everything was working fine for him with love and happyness. Two funky numbers with "Go Home" that was a #10 hit and good for the dancefloor and "Land of La la" which probably got a double meanming when it talks about finding fame and success in LA and then sings land of La LA in the hook which stand for something else. The last three songs, "Strangers in the Shore Of Love", "Never In The Sun" are quite forgettable midtempo/lovesongs while "Spiriual Walkers" is a synthesizer friendly pop song. As a whole, "In Square Circle" is a good enough purchase with plenty of memorable songs. It's the last good album from Stevie Wonder. In particular "Overjoyed", "I Love You Too Much" and "Wherabouts" are hidden gems that proved that Wonder still had it. There isn't that much more to say other then if you like most of his music you're gonna like this one aswell even if it's not among his better albums.

Some fantastic tunes but Stevie's muse got him to do mechanical stuff too
This album has 3 or 4 fantastic tunes, which rank with the best stuff Stevie's ever produced. However,a few disappointing tracks due to their "machanical" feel. A very good album, but I can't give it five stars.

Part-Time Lover Deserves a 2nd Listen
Give yourselves a treat to 3minutes & 42seconds of one of music's most magical moments. Singing together here are two of the most beautiful, soul inspired, talented individuals that ever were. As Ron below said, that's Luther Vandross with Stevie. I know that Luther was a very close personal friend of Stevie Wonder, I heard Stevie's voice mail message of hope & prayer for his good friends recovery.
Sadly the full recovery did not happen but on this song we have those two together, in what is a thing of beauty and joy to cherish forever. Thank our stars for this.
If you don't like this particular album, get this song on a best of, I'm writng this review here since this album was the origin of the song.
BTW there are 34 grammy awards between these two guys. Stevie's latest one comming from the Tribute to Luther Album.

Stevie Can Do Better Than This
I have owned this on CD and cassette. I have long since traded the CD off...Stevie can do better than this. Their are a few highlights on this CD. Go Home, Land Of La La, and Whereabouts are among the best songs. But, overall this is a pretty lame effort for Stevie. Sorry, but I just rate them as I hear them.

The Melodies Save It
this album did it for stevie; after a decade of inspired and inspiring songs, arrangements, melodies and lyrics, he totally sold out and offered a bland, awful, completely uninspiring product, and this continued throughout to this very day.

Or did he? Well, this is partially true, except for one thing; Stevie was always about selling albums. Yes, he did it in an amazing, beautiful way, but stevie has always been a commercial artist. This album reflects that; he has become very interested in digital synths with this one. And, unfortunatley, he is not as creative with digital synths as he is with analogue. Not only that, but the album does not feature his great drumming either! It's all drum machines. A disaster?

Well, the arrangements are sometimes a mess. Not quite a disaster, but this album doesn't live and breath like classic stevie. In the 70's, stevie would make a song on which he played every instrument live and breath like a real funk jam. Prince was someone who inherited this tendency from Stevie, but Stevie did it better. But on this album, his arrangements are not as "living" as before, and it's easily blameable on Stevie fully embracing digital technology. For this reason, this album sounds much more dated than his 70's albums; well, in a way, all albums are dated by their time period. But I could see somebody creating an album like, say, Talking Book today; it's sound is timeless. This album is very 80's.

This is why this album loses one star; also, there are more weak songs on this one album (one or two) than all of Stevie's output in the seventies put together (zero). So, I can't help but see this as the beginning of Stevie's "unimportance" in music. Stevie has, or never will, have the impact on music he once had.

So why four stars?! I spend this whole review bashing this album, but then I give it four stars; well my fellow Stevie fans, I give this album four stars because even if Stevie has lost his edge, importance, and arrangement creativity he still has one very important thing; his pure melodic ability. All of these songs are very very melodic and catchy (part time lover) or beautiful (overjoyed). Only one misstep; Apartheid (It's Wrong) was a stupid, dated mistake. I know Stevie couldn't resist doing his political commentary thing but it just doesn't work here.

All in all, this is a very good album. But there is a reason I focused so strongly on the negatives. This is the beginning of the end for Stevie. He still has his wonderful melodic sense; it hadn't failed him at this point. Unfortunatley, however, Stevie's melodic ability begins slipping rapidly after this album, making his music very adult contemporary. Most fans shoudl stop here, proceed with caution after this.