Innervisions
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Innervisions is an album by Stevie Wonder, released on Tamla/Motown on August 3 1973 (see 1973 in music). It was the third of five consecutive albums widely hailed as his "classic period", along with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life. The nine tracks that make up Innervisions encompass a wide range of themes and issues: from drug references in "Too High" and "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"; social anger in "Higher Ground" and "Living for the City"; to love in the ballads "All in Love is Fair" and "Golden Lady."
As with many of Stevie Wonder's albums the lyrics, composition and production are almost entirely his own work, with the synthesizer used prominently throughout the album. He also played all or virtually all instruments on "Too High", "Living for the City", "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing", "Higher Ground", "Jesus Children of America", and "He's Misstra Know-It-All".
Innervisions won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording in 1974, while "Living for the City" won the Grammy for Best R&B Song. Innervisions has been considered by many fans, critics, and colleagues to be Stevie Wonder's magnum opus and one of the greatest albums in pop music history.[1] In 2001, VH1 named it the 31st greatest album of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 23 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Track listing
All songs written, produced and arranged by Stevie Wonder.
Side One
- "Too High" – 4:37
- "Visions" – 5:22
- "Living for the City" – 7:22
- "Golden Lady" – 5:00
Side Two
- "Higher Ground" – 3:42
- "Jesus Children of America" – 4:10
- "All in Love Is Fair" – 3:42
- "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" – 4:44
- "He's Misstra Know-It-All" – 5:35
Personnel
- Stevie Wonder - vocals, acoustic and Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizers, drums
- Malcolm Cecil - bass on "Visions"
- Dean Parks - acoustic guitar on "Visions"
- David "T" Walker - electric guitar on "Visions"
- Clarence Bell - organ on "Golden Lady"
- Ralph Hammer - acoustic guitar on "Golden Lady"
- Larry "Nastyee" Latimer - congas on "Golden Lady"
- Scott Edwards - bass on "All in Love Is Fair"
- Yusuf Roahman – shaker on "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"
- Sheila Wilkerson - bongos and Latin gourd on "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"
- Willie Weeks - bass on "He's Misstra Know-It-All"
- Lani Groves - background vocals on "Too High"
- Tasha Thomas - background vocals on "Too High"
- Jim Gilstrap - background vocals on "Too High"
- Minnie Riperton - background vocals on "Living for the City"
- Deniece Williams - background vocals on "Living for the City"
- Syreeta Wright - background vocals on "Living for the City"
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Pop Albums | 1 |
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Black Albums | 1 |
| 1973 | Pop Albums | 4 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | "Higher Ground" | Adult Contemporary | 41 |
| 1973 | "Higher Ground" | Black Singles | 1 |
| 1973 | "Higher Ground" | Pop Singles | 4 |
| 1973 | "Living for the City" | Black Singles | 1 |
| 1974 | "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" | Adult Contemporary | 9 |
| 1974 | "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" | Black Singles | 2 |
| 1974 | "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" | Pop Singles | 16 |
| 1974 | "Living for the City" | Pop Singles | 8 |
Living for the City
This standout song (about an African-American young man from Mississippi who is framed for drug dealing when he leaves the country for New York) is frequently alluded to and sampled in hip-hop for its bluntly racial subject matter, most notably in "The City" by Wu-Tang Clan from the album Wu-Tang Forever It is also sampled in Public Enemy's Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
