Forget the 80s stuff (Innervisions - Stevie Wonder)

Member Name: litebite

Product:	Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Date:	01/11/01 (673 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: So many great songs, A lyrical genius at his peak

Disadvantages: Perhaps a little too 70s at times

People have many different opinions on Stevie Wonder. For many he is best remembered for his early 80s music, songs such as I Just Called To Say I Loved You' and 'Happy Birthday'. Some have heard songs such as 'Superstition' and 'Signed Sealed Delivered'. But few seem to possess a Stevie Wonder album, especially one of his classics. 'Talking Book', 'Songs In The Key Of Life' or 'Innervisions'. All of these are brilliant and worth owning, but my personal favourite is Innervisions.

Released in 1973, Innervisions is the perfect soul album. It combines funky dancealong songs with more meaningful lyrical numbers that show the irony of his blindness. As the album cover shows Stevie can see much more than most visually able men. When he sings on 'Visions' 'I know that leaves are green they only turn to brown when autumn comes around' you know he is not only referring to colours.

1) Too High

A great funky start to the album. The jazzy guitars and bass combine wonderfully with Stevie's soaring voice, extolling the virtues and evils of drugs. This is one of the mellower tracks, but it makes a pleasant introduction, as relaxing and comforting as the subject of the song. Too High lures you into the harsher songs that are to come.

Best Lyric. 'She's a girl in a dream she sees a four-eyed cartoon monster on the T.V. screen'

2) Visions

The first classic of the album. Stevie wonders whether people now live in harmony or whether it is all just a dream. For me this song sums up what was probably a very confusing time. After the joyous freedom of the 1960s, the 1970s were seen as the hangover when America woke up from its collective trip to wonder whether they had imagined the previous decade. A wonderful song, where the lyrics are matched by the music with a simple acoustic guitar providing the perfect backdrop.

Best Lyric. 'Peopl
e hand in hand have I lived to see the milk and honey land?'

3) Living For The City

The most powerful song on the album. This is a seven minute story of what it is like to be black in America. Growing up in the segregated south, he escapes poverty and unemployment by traveling to the city, where he is exploited and arrested. An indictment of both black and white America for me this song makes me think of how little has changed, with America's non-white races still exploited and abused, both from the white majority and within their own groups. As, with the whole album the lyrics are perfectly matched by the music, a powerful beat and downcast simple piano melody provide the tempo for the story, maintaining their distance from the central character, Stevie's voice.

Best Lyric. 'I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow and that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow'.

4) Golden Lady

Possibly the weakest song on the album. It's not bad, just a little bland. The basic drumming and piano are not accompanied by the usual interesting lyrics. It's possible that Stevie could be singing about drugs ('Golden Lady I'd like to go there?') but for me it's just a mildly cliched tale of a man singing about his woman, and how she inspires thoughts of flowers and rainbows. Still this is better than most albums' best song.

Best Lyric. 'Looking at your hands. Hands can understand.'

5) Higher Ground

Stevie at his most familiar, with a Superstition-style guitar riff and Stevie's soaring voice rising above the music to shout his story. A tale of karma, reincarnation and how your efforts will be rewarded in the next. The uplifting nature of the song makes it zip along and creates a positive mood, whatever the atmosphere.

Best Lyric. 'Till I reach my highest ground no-ones gonna bring me down.'

6) Jesus Children Of America
r>Another song about religion, this tme Christianity. Stevie expresses his view that all will be judged before Jesus, and that the evil-doers should change soon before they are judged before God. Again this combines a simple beat with bass guitar and the emotion created purely form Stevie's voice.

Best Lyric. 'Are you standing for everything you talk about? Holy Roller'

7) All In Love Is Fair

A heart-breaking song about the futility of love and the damage it can cause. It is also about writers and perhaps is a reflection that however many love songs he writes the same mistakes will always be made. This is Steve's greatest singing moment, as his voice leaps and sinks, expressing a full range of emotions.

Best Lyric. 'A writer takes his pen to write the words again that all in love is fair.'

8) Don't You Worry Bout A Thing

Stevie in a different guise, as a carefree playboy. This track buzzes along with Stevie using his full vocal range, especially towards the end, when he improvises.

Best Lyric 'But just don't you feel too bad when you get fooled by smiling faces'

9) He's Misstra Know-it-all.

The most catchy song on the album, you will be humming this for weeks afterwards. A deceptively political number about con-artists and how to judge your fellow man.

Best lyric. 'He's a man with a plan, got a counterfeit dollar in his hand'

I often find that soul albums are dominated by one or two fantastic songs, with the rest instantly forgettable. This is the exception, as every song is superb and I find a different favourite every time I listen. Many prefer 'Songs In The Key Of Life', but I find a double album is spreading Stevie a little thin. This is 40 minutes of consistent pleasure. And please nobody say they like 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'.