Immer noch eines der besten Stevie Wonder-Alben. Hier vermischt sich seine phantasievolle, mehr ausschweifende musikalische Seite perfekt mit seinem Talent, Popohrwürmer aus dem Ärmel zu schütteln.
Innervisions von 1973 schwankt zwischen zarten und luftigen Balladen, Latin-Rhythmen wie auf der Hitsingle "Don´t Worry ´Bout A Thing" und seinen ureigenen, synthieschweren Soulnummern vom Kaliber eines "Higher Ground". Im direkten Vergleich von "Vision", mit seiner sanften Friedenserwartungshaltung und dem Evergreen "Living For The City", einem funkigen, immer noch aktuellen Rassismus-Rocker, zeigt sich Wonders kompositorische Größe und Stilvielfalt.
--David Cantwell
Audio
Der blinde schwarze Keyboarder lieferte mit diesen Visionen 1973 einen sozialkritischen, extrem vielfältigen und spannenden Klassiker der Black Music, dem die Goldkur wahrlich gebührte. Und dem sie glänzend bekam: Ob die wuchtigen Synthie-Bässe, das feine Zischeln der Becken oder die delikaten Chorstimmen - alles strahlt fast audiophil.
© Audio
Stereoplay
Mit "Innovisions" setzte Stevie Wonder 1973 nach "Talking Book" den zweiten Meilenstein in einer höchst schöpferischen Phase, die drei Jahre später in den "Songs In The Key Of Life" ihren Höhepunkt erreichte. Lieder wie "Living In The City", "All In Love Is Fair", "Dont't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" und "He's Misstra Know-It-All" sprechen einfach für sich. Die goldverspiegelte Nobel-Disc verfügt gegenüber der Standard-CD (Motown ZD 72012) über eine präsentere und natürlichere, in den Höhen weniger scharfe Stimmwiedergabe, dazu über etwas präziser konturierte Bässe und generell eine ausgeprägtere Räumlichkeit.
© Stereoplay
| Review |
by John Bush |
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When Stevie Wonder applied his tremendous songwriting talents to the unsettled social morass that was the early '70s, he produced one of his greatest, most important works, a rich panoply of songs addressing drugs, spirituality, political ethics, the unnecessary perils of urban life, and what looked to be the failure of the '60s dream — all set within a collection of charts as funky and catchy as any he'd written before. Two of the highlights, "Living for the City" and "Too High," make an especially deep impression thanks to Stevie's narrative talents; on the first, an eight-minute mini-epic, he brings a hard-scrabble Mississippi black youth to the city and illustrates, via a brilliant dramatic interlude, what lies in wait for innocents. (He also uses his variety of voice impersonations to stunning effect.) "Too High" is just as stunning, a cautionary tale about drugs driven by a dizzying chorus of scat vocals and a springing bassline. "Higher Ground," a funky follow-up to the previous album's big hit ("Superstition"), and "Jesus Children of America" both introduced Wonder's interest in Eastern religion. It's a tribute to his genius that he could broach topics like reincarnation and transcendental meditation in a pop context with minimal interference to the rest of the album. Wonder also made no secret of the fact that "He's Misstra Know-It-All" was directed at Tricky Dick, aka Richard Milhouse Nixon, then making headlines (and destroying America's faith in the highest office) with the biggest political scandal of the century. Putting all these differing themes and topics into perspective was the front cover, a striking piece by Efram Wolff portraying Stevie Wonder as the blind visionary, an artist seeing far better than those around him what was going on in the early '70s, and using his astonishing musical gifts to make this commentary one of the most effective and entertaining ever heard.
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