Stevie Wonder is known as a musical mastermind wherever he is. His music is also known as some of the best around. The combinations of Jazz and Soul made his music purely original. He is still proclaimed as a legend today due to his fresh style and fantastic albums.
P.S. – He’s blind.
Hard to believe right. A legend in the making, yet he has never seen the light of day and never will as long as he lives. Therefore he has his own visions and portrayal of the world looks. He was once offered by doctors to have surgery so he could see. But he turned them down without even thinking about it.
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
#23 on Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums list
Innervisions is probably Stevie’s most well known album, surprisingly it has never been reviewed on this site. Might I be one to say that this album has a lot of different points to it. The first track,
Too High is a nice little jazz song. It has all the “doo-wops” that you need to make a soul song. It has a dirty jazz tune, and is pretty fast paced too. One of my favorites on the album.
But the second, and title track,
Innervisions is a slow and dreary step into the album. Quite frankly, I find this song to be a minor waste of time, at least after it’s half over. After the halfway mark it’s boring as hell as you can hardly hear anything. But this is the weakest point on this cd and the best song on here is coming up next.
Living For The City is the best song on this album. In my opinion it’s the best Stevie Wonder song I’ve ever heard. The gut-wrenching lyrics are of a story, a young black man trying to get away from slavery in the south, therefore he makes his way to New York. He’s not there for five minutes before he gets arrested and beaten and thrown in jail. This song shows some of Stevie’s best songwriting ability. The instruments are unbelievable in this track. The emotion here is incredible. Even though it’s seven minutes long, I get sad as it makes it’s way to the closing, and then fades away…
Golden Lady is the next song on the album and has this really jazzy and salsa feel to it. The rhythm makes the song beautiful in its four minutes of life. This is one of the ballads on the album as it is all about this “golden lady” being the savior for the narrator.
Higher Ground is one of my favorite songs of all time. The SICK bassline that carries this is the backbone for the rest of the sound. The lyrics are also unbelievable, they give the overall feeling of rising in the hierarchy. This was one of the singles off the album and is still played in many movies and TV shows today.
The next song is not my favorite. It’s too slow and is placed very badly in the album.
Jesus Children Of America is it’s name and it has a sweet bassline but it’s nothing compared to the last track. This is a soul song at heart, but does have some jazzy elements to it that give it a very happy feeling. After this track it’s all dreary again and that’s a shame because it was getting fun.
The next track on the album is the most boring on the whole album.
All In Love Is Fair is the title. The lyrics are really good but I’m not a fan of the song’s musical quality. The piano carries the song very well with the light drums in the background. The singing is also some of Stevie’s best, but this song doesn’t really appeal to me. This is a classic wedding song too, so don’t go with my opinion of this one.
Yelling in Spanish begins the next song, which also sounds like a salsa beat.
Don’t You Worry Bout’ A Thing begins and it’s a very catchy song. The maracas add a ton to the overall sound of the song. Stevie’s vocals standout highly here. The piano is the backbone of this song though. The keynotes are perfect for the singing and the lyrics. This is an outstanding song, one of the best on the album.
The 9th and final song here is
He’s Misstra Know It All. This is one of the slower songs on the album and the soul choir makes it sound really great. The singing is the standout in this track. Then in the middle, Stevie goes on this raspy screaming breakdown. It is beautiful in every way possible. The title is repeated every other second and when the song has a minute left, it fades away. Right about now, I miss it and I think I’ll listen again.
Anyway, that was the album. This is one of the greatest albums to ever be released in the history of music. Go out and pick it up if you like R&B, Jazz, or Soul. Innervisions, one of music’s defining albums. Stevie Wonder outdid himself here.
5/5
