Stevie Wonder, The #9 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

Those synthesizers first introduced on Music of My Mind were now prominently featured on his incredible 1973 album Innervisions.  That great wah-wah clavinet sound was achieved with a Mu-Tron III envelope filter pedal.  Stevie played all instruments on the song, including drums and percussion, and provided the bass line with his Moog synthesizer.  

The lyrics deal with getting a second chance ("So darn glad he let me try it again").  Ironically, three months after he recorded it, Stevie had a serious accident on his way to a benefit concert in Durham, North Carolina.  The car he was riding in was behind a heavy truck carrying logs, which stopped all of a sudden, sending a log through the windshield and hitting Wonder in the head.  Stevie was in a coma for four days.

His friend and road manager, Ira Tucker Jr., knew Stevie liked to listen to music at high volume, so he tried singing this song right into his ear.  There was no response.  The next day, Tucker tried it again and Wonder's fingers began moving in time with the song.  It was the first sign that he was going to recover.

 

The great "Higher Ground" went #1 R&B and #4 overall in the U.S. and #9 in Canada.

Stevie was for all purposes a one-man band during his prolific period in which he turned out some of the finest albums known to man.  All the while, he was greatly expanding the boundaries of R&B, pushing it in directions it had never gone before or since.  Innervisions reached #4 in the U.S. and #8 in the U.K.  

Stevie again played all the instruments on this song, which also contains some of his finest lyrics.  "I think the deepest I really got into how I feel about the way things are was in 'Living For The City', he said.  "I was able to show the hurt and the anger.  You still have that same mother that scrubs the floors for many, she's still doing it.  Now what is that about?  And that father who works some days for 14 hours.  That's still happening."  "Living For The City" also is underrated at #8, although it did top the R&B chart.

Stevie won Best R&B Song for "Living For The City".  The innovative Innervisions captured Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards and Stevie was nominated for Producer of the Year.  "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" gave Stevie another #2 R&B smash that peaked at #13 Popular.

"Visions" is thoughtful while at the same time being gloomy.  It isn't long in the song before Wonder realizes that this utopian vision exists only in his dreams.

 

"He's Misstra Know It All" is a warning of encountering a hustler.  The song begins slowly, but as Stevie gets more irritated, both he and the song jump up a few levels.  The flute-like sounds come from Stevie's TONTO synthesizer.  Bassist Willie Weeks is the only other musician on the track.  Many have said the song is about then-president Richard Nixon.   

Although much of Innervisions features sharp social commentary, Wonder mixed in a love song, "Golden Lady".

 

"Too High" is about drug abuse to a musical background of scat vocals and a jazz fusion arrangement.

 

This amazing gem is not only a Top Track* but one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*:  "All In Love Is Fair" describes a couple nearing the end of their relationship and Stevie uses clichés to get his point across and proves the clichés true.

After Stevie recovered from the accident described above, he toured Europe and performed on the German television show Musikladen.

 

In 1974, Wonder released another amazing album, Fulfillingness' First Finale.  Stevie enlisted the help of the Jackson 5 on the #1 smash (Popular and R&B in the U.S. and #1 in Canada) which lamented the pathetic presidency of Richard Nixon--"You Haven't Done Nothin'".

During this incredible period of individual success and nearly unparalleled creativity, Wonder also found time to either write, sing, or play on songs by the Supremes, James Taylor, the Pointer Sisters, Roberta Flack, B.B. King, Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, Dave Mason, Rufus (wrote "Tell Me Something Good"), and Minnie Riperton.

The album topped charts in both the U.S. and Canada and jumped to #5 in the U.K.  There was no one producing better albums during this stretch, and Stevie again captured the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.  He was just 25, and Wonder had won that prestigious award two years in a row.  The next year, when Paul Simon accepted the honor for Still Crazy After All These Years, he said, "I would like to thank Stevie Wonder for not making an album this year."  

 

This funky number, incredibly already his 11th career #1 R&B smash (#8 Popular) is "Boogie On Reggae Woman".  Originally slated for inclusion on Innervisions, engineer Robert Margouleff convinced Wonder it would fit better on this album.

Wonder also captured Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male (the entire album was recognized) and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male (for "Boogie On Reggae Woman").  He was also nominated for Best Producer and "Tell Me Something Good" was also nominated for Best R&B Song.

And the album of his career, and The #4 Album of the Rock Era*, was next.  Join us for Part Four from the incredible Stevie Wonder!