Now that I’m firmly ensconsed on the wrong side of forty – and,
\ntruthfully, starting to enjoy it – it seems I’m noticing more and
\nmore how important little pieces of history can get shoved aside by
\ncircumstances or just the simple passage of time. How many young
\nrecord (oops, CD) buyers today know that Sting used to be in a
\nband? Or that Jakob Dylan’s dad is kind of famous, too? Or that
\nbarely a generation ago, Martin Luther King Day was not a national
\nholiday, but rather a controversial proposal that also became the
\nsubject of a song by one of the 1970s’ most successful musical
\nacts?<\/p>\n
Stevie Wonder was quite possibly the most gifted, prolific and
\nserious-minded artist working the r & b and pop charts in the
\n’70s. On classic albums like
\nInnervisions<\/i> and
\nTalking Book<\/i>, he combined philosophical, socially-conscious
\nlyrics with grooving, keyboard-based funk, lightening things up in
\nbetween with his distinctly romantic, even sensuous ballads. After
\npeaking with 1976’s double-album opus
\nSongs in the Key of Life<\/i>, though, Wonder took most of the
\nrest of the decade off from music. Aside from a somewhat odd
\nsoundtrack album, Wonder didn’t issue another album of new music
\nfor four years.<\/p>\n
\nHotter Than July<\/i> arrived in 1980 complete with all the
\nelements that had made Wonder such a unique artist – the thoughtful
\nlyrics, the complex arrangements, the multiplicity of musical
\napproaches. The pulsating “Did I Hear You Say You Love Me” kicks
\nthings off with one of the most danceable grooves Wonder ever
\nconstructed, which he tops off with one of the most exuberant
\nvocals of his career. “All I Do” follows like a sequel, the gently
\npleading seduction at the party’s end, covering the same lyrical
\nground but in the context of a ballad as lush and romantic as
\nyou’re ever likely to hear.<\/p>\n
Born romantic that he is, though, Wonder doesn’t shy away from
\nexploring darker shades of emotion and the inevitable tangles
\nreal-life relationships get into. In the troubled ballad “Rocket
\nLove,” he veers from ecstasy to agony as his romantic entreaties
\nare repeatedly rejected; in “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It,” a steady
\ngroove and clever metaphors can’t disguise the simmering fury of a
\ncuckolded husband. And “Lately” is possibly the most affecting
\nballad of his career, a self-interrogation in which he puts the
\nblame squarely on himself for the fragile state of a relationship
\nhe senses is crumbling around him.<\/p>\n
The principal single from this album, “Master Blaster
\n(Jammin’),” is actually one of its lesser tracks, an attempt at a
\nsocial-unity anthem that offers a pleasant reggae backbeat and
\nhorn-section accents, but never really ignites. It’s only toward
\nthe end of the disc that Wonder finds his socio-political feet.
\n“Cash in Your Face” is up there with his 1972 classic “Living Just
\nEnough For the City” in terms of effectively portraying the
\ndevastating human cost of racism.<\/p>\n
But the closing “Happy Birthday” is the album’s true emotional
\ncenter, a buoyant song of praise to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and
\nhis legacy that takes the unique approach of combining rhythmic
\nsynthesizer tones with a soaring gospel chorus. As its author
\nhoped, it became the de facto theme song of the movement to
\nrecognize King’s birthday as a national holiday. Knowing now how
\nthe story ended, it’s an even more fitting finale to Stevie
\nWonder’s best album of the ’80s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6336],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37518","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stevie-wonder","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37518"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}