A BOY IS BORN
IN HARD TIME MISSISSIPPI
SURROUNDED BY FOUR WALLS
THAT AIN'T SO PRETTY
Innervisions
is the sixteenth
studio album
by American
singer, songwriter,
and musician
released on
August 3, 1973,
by Tamla,
a subsidiary of
Motown Records.
A landmark recording of
Wonder's
"classic period",
the album has been regarded
as completing his transition
from the
"Little Stevie Wonder"
known for romantic ballads
into a more
musically mature, conscious,
and grown-up artist.
On
Innervisions,
Wonder continued to experiment
with the revolutionary
T.O.N.T.O.
(The Original New Timbral Orchestra)
synthesizer system
developed by
Malcolm Cecil
and Robert Margouleff.
Wonder's previous
two albums,
1972’s
Music of My Mind
and
Talking Book,
boosted his standing
in the music industry,
transforming him from
a reliable hitmaker into a
"master"
of the new album format.
Ahead of
Innervisions,
Cecil and Margouleff
were pushing Wonder
to shift his lyrical themes,
allowing for
political and metaphysical issues
to be discussed in his music
instead of primarily singing
about romance.
The album's second single,
“Living for the City”
is considered its centerpiece.
Innervisions
peaked at number four
on the
Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart
and number one
on the
Billboard Soul LPs chart.
At the 16th
Grammy Awards,
it won Album of the Year
and
Best Engineered
Non-Classical Recording,
while
"Living for the City"
won Best R&B Song.
The album is
widely considered by fans, critics,
and colleagues
to be one of Wonder's
finest works
and one of the
greatest albums of all time.
It was ranked number 34
on
Rolling Stone's list of
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"
in 2020
and was inducted into
the Grammy Hall of Fame
in 1999.
The album became
hugely influential
on the future sound of
commercial soul
and black music.
TRACKLIST
Too High
Visions
Living For The City
Golden Lady
Higher Ground
Jesus Children Of America
All In Love Is Fair
Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
He's Misstra Know It All
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