Customer Reviews
Flawless Soul - By: T. Flint, 18 Jun 2008 
If you like some classic soul eg Marvin, Curtis, Aretha, Al Green etc then this is an essential purchase. Also if you like the quality end of modern RnB like Alicia Keys or John Legend then this is also essential. There are no bad tracks here. 'Living For The City' is probably the greatest of Stevie's social commentaries. Alot of listeners today don't appreciate how amazing Stevie Wonder wasin his prime, I'm too young to have heard him during the 70s & if I hadn't just trusted all the platitudes I probably would never have discovered him!. I just thought of Stevie Wonder as being the guy who did 'I just Called To Say I Love You' but that was the end of the creative period. He's not that visible these days & hopefully his first European tourin over 10 years this Autumn will enable people like me to enjoy the classics we missed first time. This album is up there with 'Blonde On Blonde', 'Revolver' 'London Calling', a classic of the album format. Get it today, you won't be disappointed!.
Innervisions is a visionary wonder - By: russell clarke, 18 Apr 2008 For much of my adult life i livedin complete ignorance of the glories of artists like Stevie Wonder, too miredin my prosaic parochial little existence of indie bands , spiky agit rock , & historically relevant classic rock groups. Then by happy accident i heard Innervisions. Till then the only Stevie Wonder songs that orbited my universe were "Master Blaster" which i liked because it reminded me of the great West Indian batsman Viv Richards. ( For the cricket ignorant that was his nickname) though it is a great song "Happy Birthday", "Ebony And Ivory" .and, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" which is a pleasant enough pop song but has the irritation factor of a swarm of midges.
Innervisions though is a masterpiece. I,ll leave the arguments about whether it,s Stevie Wonders best album (For the record i think it is) for others . Releasedin August 1973 Innervisions is considered to be the third album of the five albums considered to encapsulate his classic period. The 1972 album "Talking Book" vies with Innervisions for most people as his finest album. Conceptually & musically Innervisions is powerful & innovative. If putin cinematic terms Innervisions is the work of an auteur. The lyrics , arrangements , & production (Though Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil also helped produce) are all down to Wonder , with the synthesizer, then a novel instrument, being utilised extensively .
The songs cover a range of social issues with only "Golden Lady" & "All In Love Is Fair"serving as a straight forward love songs."Don,t Worry About A Thing" sounds like a joyous plea for hedonistic freedom but is actually about drugs as is the slightly more querulous "Too High". There is palpable anger at social disintegrationin the song "Higher Ground" & the magnificent "Living For The City" while the melodically splendid "He,s Misstra Know It All" is a scathing attack on the then President Richard Nixon."Visions" has a terrific vocal though of course all the songs do, & is the most graceful track on the album while "Jesus Children Of America"is a harder edged funk slice of funk.
Black artists singing about their statusin society really exploded with bands like Public Enemy & NWAin the 1980,s yet artists like Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield & Marvin Gaye were eloquently documenting the deprivation encountered by black people through their music much earlier. In the case of Innervisions Wonder was achieving this with a brilliant ground breaking fusion of soul funk & pop.Put simply Innervisions is a visionary wonder.
Stevie's so much more than 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' - By: MNA Jones, 25 Feb 2008 Everyone who has reviewed this album has rated it 5 stars & I feel that says it all & I'm definitely not going to go against the grain. This is,in my opinion, Stevie Wonder's greatest album &in an ideal world every household would own a copy. In the real world however he is remembered by the masses for the dreadful 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'. Like someone else stated, this is a great place to start if you are looking to buy your first Stevie Wonder album (Talking Book was my first Stevie album & this is another great album to start). Forget the Greatest Hits, there is so much more to Stevie than the singles & I feel it's better to hear the songs as they were meant to be. A great mixture of songs & sounds - my favourites have to be 'Golden Lady' & 'Living for the City'. I'm predominantly a fan of alternative/indie/ avant garde music & another reviewer was a 'Prog Rock' fan, so this shows how great the songs on Stevie's albums of the 70's are, that they appeal to such a wide range of listeners. For your sake, please buy this album - you won't regret it.
The "genius" is at it again - By: R. G. Philpott, 09 Feb 2008 I cannot fault this album, full of super songs some happy , some sad.
The vocals & lyrics on "Allin love is fair" are out of this world. He never has to take his pen & write the words again, as he is right first time. Golden lady is another super song. The rest are as good but we all have favourites.
I Never Tire of this album - 30 Years later - By: Love Books, 04 Jan 2008 This has just got to bein my all time top 3 albums. This is magical music.
