Innervisions
Released August 3, 1973
Studio The Record Plant
(Los Angeles, California)
Media Sound Studios
(New York, New York)
Genre Soul, funk, rock, jazz
Length 44:12
Label Tamla
Producer Stevie Wonder
Robert Margouleff (assoc)
Malcolm Cecil (assoc)
Innervisions is the 16th studio album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973, on the Tamla label for Motown Records, a landmark recording of his “classic period”. The nine tracks of Innervisions encompass a wide range of themes and issues: from drug abuse in “Too High”, through inequality and systemic racism in “Living for the City”, to love in the ballads “All in Love Is Fair” and “Golden Lady”. The album’s closer, “He’s Misstra Know-It-All”, is a scathing attack on then-US President Richard Nixon, similar to Wonder’s song a year later, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'”.
As with many of Stevie Wonder’s albums, the lyrics, composition and production are almost entirely his own work, with the ARP synthesizer used prominently throughout the album. The instrument was a common motif among musicians of the time because of its ability to construct a complete sound environment. Wonder was the first black artist to experiment with this technology on a mass scale, and Innervisions was hugely influential on the subsequent future of commercial black music. He also played all or virtually all instruments on six of the album’s nine tracks, making most of Innervisions a representative one-man band.
Track listing
All songs written, produced, and arranged by Stevie Wonder.
Side one
“Too High” – 4:36
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Fender Rhodes, harmonica, drums, Moog bass
Lani Groves – background vocal
Tasha Thomas – background vocal
Jim Gilstrap – background vocal
“Visions” – 5:23
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Fender Rhodes
Malcolm Cecil – upright bass
Dean Parks – acoustic guitar
David T. Walker – electric guitar
“Living for the City” – 7:22
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocals, Fender Rhodes, drums, Moog bass, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer, handclaps
“Golden Lady” – 4:40
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, piano, Fender Rhodes, drums, Moog bass, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer
Clarence Bell – Hammond organ
Ralph Hammer – acoustic guitar
Larry “Nastyee” Latimer – congas
Side two
“Higher Ground” – 3:42
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, Hohner clavinet, drums, Moog bass, tambourine, handclaps
“Jesus Children of America” – 4:10
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, Hohner clavinet, handclaps, tambourine, handclapping, drums, Moog bass
“All in Love Is Fair” – 3:41
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, piano, Fender Rhodes, drums
Scott Edwards – electric bass
“Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” – 4:44
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, piano, drums, Moog bass
Yusuf Roahman – shaker
Sheila Wilkerson – bongos, Latin gourd
“He’s Misstra Know-It-All” – 5:35
Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, piano, drums, handclaps, T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer, congas
Willie Weeks – electric bass
Personnel
Recordist – Dan Barbiero, Austin Godsey
Tape operator – Gary Olazabal
Mastering – George Marino
Recording coordinators – John Harris, Ira Tucker Jr.
Synthesizer programming – Robert Margouleff, Malcolm Cecil
Album art – Efram Wolff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia