I think I’m guilty of under-estimating Wonder as a songwriter, especially one tackling topics more serious than how beautiful his baby daughter is. But on this album, part of the ongoing series of his best period, we get the great You Haven’t Done Nothin’.
Do we need yet another protest song about Nixon? Well, one more won’t hurt; maybe not as direct as Misstra Know-It-All, this one could be applied across the political spectrum for politicians that promise much but deliver little. It features the Jackson 5 on backing vocals; Michael’s first (hidden) appearance in this list. I imagine he’ll crop up again.
Many of the other songs, however, are unfiltered and heartfelt expressions of joy and love like I’m Too Shy To Say. Boogie On Reggae Woman is neither boogie nor reggae, but a funky piece with a great fuzzy Moog bass sound. There are a lot of tracks using the Moog in this early Seventies period and they can sometimes they sound dated and clumsy. However Wonder, like Eno, really leans into the artificiality of the sound and his glorious funk makes a very distinctive and infectious song.
It also feels on this album like Wonder is exploring more musical genres. The marvellously-titled Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away is a song is about finding God, with an underlying rock and roll 4-chord progress done in a gospel/prog-soul style. Although, thinking about it the closest sound is Sam Cooke’s Twistin’ The Night Away.
Bird Of Beauty has samba rhythms. The final track Please Don’t Go turns into a gospel number. For me this was Wonder’s most infectious album yet, and there were no big singles from it. Maybe I liked it because of that, that lack of over-familiarity.
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