STEVIE WONDER - INNERVISIONS

Albums bought when they came out includes of course the triumvirate of Wonder's most creative period known as his classic period from 1970 1979 with 'Talking Book', this 'Innervisions' and  'Fulfilingnesses First Finale'  but one should include also 'Songs In The Key of Life' and we have mentioned this before as to whether it is a quadratic quorum or a trio but for me it is four album tour de force and afterwards which is where he left me or I left him but we bought ALL of these as soon as they were released and frankly I don't think I knew anyone who didn't! (sic) but I am forever indebted to my pal Leon for turning us all on to Stevie and this extraordinary outpouring of creativity. 
What I don't believe we were aware of at the time is the now well documented car crash into the back of a truck and subsequent four day coma Stevie experienced mid way through this extraordinary outpouring and whilst he was hospitalised for a not inconsiderable time he emerged with his creativity totally intact and whilst his senses were dulled (he lost his sense of smell and taste) he continued to astound and followed up in '74 a year later with the stunning Fulfillingness' First Finale widely considered his masterpiece of the period . For me it is all as mysterious as the period 68/69 when so much musical outpouring or cultural explosion happened right across the world but hey . . . 'Don't You Worry About a Thing'

On this day in music history: August 3, 1973 - “Innervisions", the sixteenth album by Stevie Wonder is released. Produced by Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, it is recorded at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, CA and Media Sound Studios in New York City from March - June 1973. Following the major breakthrough success with his previous album “Talking Book", Stevie Wonder continues his remarkably prolific streak of creativity when he begins work on his next album. Covering a wide variety of social issues and topics from relationships to drug abuse. Wonder is a virtual “one man band”, playing  nearly all of the instruments on six of the albums nine tracks. Only three days after its release, Stevie is seriously injured in a car accident, suffering a contusion to the brain that puts the musician in a coma for four days. Miraculously, he survives with his physical and creative abilities intact after a long and slow recovery period. Emerging even more conscious and spiritually aware. Like its predecessor, it is another artistic and commercial triumph, and is widely regarded as one of Stevie Wonder’s most important and influential works. It spins off three hit singles including “Higher Ground" (#1 R&B, #4 Pop), “Living For The City" (#1 R&B, #8 Pop) and “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing" (#2 R&B, #16 Pop). The album wins three Grammy Awards including Album Of The Year.  Originally released on CD in 1984, it is remastered and reissued by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab as a 24k gold CD in 1991. The MoFi edition has become highly prized by audiophiles and collectors, for its excellent mastering and superior sound quality. To date, it is the only digital edition of the album to be mastered from the original first generation master tapes. Other remasters including  the 2000 CD reissue by Motown/Universal, a recent gold CD release by Audio Fidelity Records and vinyl reissued by Mobile Fidelity which were all made from 1:1 safety copies of the masters. The original tapes are in Stevie Wonder’s possession, who has not let them out of his personal tape archive for further use. “Innervisions" spends two weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B album chart, and peak at number four on the Top 200. The album is also inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999.

with thanks to Jeff Harris' wonderful blog 'Behind The Grooves  On this day in Music History