A work of constant, evolving surprise.
Remarkably, Innervisions is Stevie Wonder's 16th studio album. It is the album that best celebrates his musical maturity and completes the transition from Little Stevie Wonder to the grown-up artist with an active imagination and burning social conscience. Coming just nine months after Talking Book, Innervisions is Wonder at the absolute peak of his powers, a 23-year-old man with the world at his fingertips.
After the release of Talking Book, Wonder said: "We as a people are not interested in ‘baby, baby’ songs any more, there’s more to life than that." As a result, Innervisions is like a snapshot of America in 1973, seen through Wonder's mind's eye. Too High looks at drug addiction; Living for the City addresses urban issues; Jesus Children of America conveys the cynicism of some organised religions. That said, this being Stevie Wonder, the album is rich in Motown schooling, its maker crafting a body of unforgettable, catchy tunes that coat the polemic sweetly – and this is most obvious on He's Misstra Know-It-All, the album's biggest UK hit. Its tale of greed and deceit – a thinly-veiled swipe at then-US president Richard Nixon – is set amid a ballad plaintive enough to be included in the chart-topping Motown smoochers collection The Last Dance at the turn of the 80s.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music