Wednesday, April 12, 2006

how to be a music snob, lesson 5


Stevie Wonder - Heaven Help Us All [from Signed, Sealed & Delivered, 1970]

Lil Stevie becomes full-fledged Stevie Wonder here. He was still on Motown in these days, but he was beginning to throw in electronics (more than just an amplified blues harp), expand lyrically, and generally get away from the standard Smokey Robinson/Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown scene. Most significantly, he moves away from the usual songs about romance into more socially profound territory, or (with several tracks, including this one), into religious topics. Kanye said "they say you can rap about anything except for Jesus," but, 35 years earlier, Stevie was taking a huge step by singing about Jesus while former gospel singers like Solomon Burke and Sam Cooke moved into more secular territory. This LP still made Berry Gordy a grip of cash, but the man called Wonder was starting to bust out on his own.
[Also, doesn't he look like Andre 3000 in this picture?]

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