I tread a troubled track - my odds are stacked
Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...
#34 : Innervisions - Stevie Wonder (1973)
“We as a people are not interested in ‘baby, baby’ songs any more, there’s more to life than that,” Stevie Wonder said in 1972. With Innervisions, Wonder offered a landmark fusion of social realism and spiritual idealism; he brings expressive color and irresistible funk to his synth-based keyboards on “Too High” (a cautionary anti-drug song) and “Higher Ground” (which echoes Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of transcendence). The album’s centerpiece is “Living for the City,” a cinematic depiction of exploitation and injustice. “Innervisions gives my own perspective on what’s happening in my world,” Wonder said. “I think it is my most personal album. I don’t care if it sells only five copies.”
Our third visit (out of four) with Mr Wonder and it's fair to say I'm just not quite getting it yet - would this be the one where it clicked? I was expecting this to be pretty funky, pretty soul with a lot of intelligence involved - but I had no idea whether I'd actually like it or not. And, whilst I think it's an improvement on his previous entries, I'm not sure I'm quite in love with it. It's a very "clean" sound and his voice is impressive (surprisingly low at times) and he overdubs some fantastic "other" vocals (they're not harmonies, but I don't know the right words for them - counterpoint melodies, maybe?). It also all sounded particularly fine through headphones.
The tracks are generally fine, but on the whole not generally instant classics - I'm not sure I agree yet with Rolling Stone that "Living For The City" is the album's centrepiece. However, I did like the "New York - just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and everything!" bit because I recognised it from Neneh Cherry's "Inner City Mama" on Raw Like Sushi - which I always liked but found a bit incongruous, but now I know why it's there! Back to Innervisions, I found the running order quite interesting because I thought the first side was OK, but no more than that (and generally that's where you're going to find the best tracks). The second side starts with a super funky track "Higher Ground", followed by a "meh" track, so you're not still sure what you're going to get. And then "All In Love Is Fair" kicks in, and you're like "hmmm - maybe there is something here after all". And that's then followed by "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" (how could Rolling Stone not even mention it? It does start in a very odd way though) and "He's Misstra Know It All" which are both ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. And then the album's over. Oh - that's a shame.
Wikipedia tells us that, at the age of 23, this was "Little Stevie"s 16th album. Errr - what?!? At 23, I could barely tie my own shoelaces - in fact, I think I only learned how to do so in order to teach my kids how to do it. He also played all of the instruments on two thirds of the tracks - he really is quite a talented dude. It also tells me that "Living For The City" was one of the first soul music tracks to deal with systemic racism, which seems somewhat surprising to me (but I don't doubt for a minute). A surprising amount of the entry deals with a car accident he had three days after the release of the album (no, he wasn't driving). Apparently he only got hit in the head by a TREE which came off a lorry in front and through the windscreen, after which he spent 4 days in a coma - apparently it slightly changed his view on life, which I think we can forgive him for. The rest of the entry basically says that the critics and normal people both liked it, although bizarrely it doesn't give you any idea about the US sales, which is a very unusual state of affairs for Wikipedia.
I'm running a bit late - it's the weekend and I've just had a very tasty takeaway, but fortunately we've got another Stevie album to come (top 10, nonetheless!) so I can fob you off by promising I'll read it when we get there. You'll believe me, right?!? "Customers also listened to" Marvin, Smokey, Sly and Diana - no massive surprises there. But this has definitely been my favourite of his so far and I'm glad I was forced to listen to it all because I'd probably have given up after the first side otherwise. And I'm very much looking forward to the next one.
#33 : Back To Black - Amy Winehouse (2006)
With her love of Sixties girl-group pop and her dark beehive, Amy Winehouse came across as a star from another time. But as a child of the Nineties, she also loved hip-hop and wrote openly about her splattered relationships and issues with drugs and alcohol. Her breakthrough second album (recorded in Brooklyn with co-producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi) marked the arrival of a resplendently damaged 21st-century torch singer. Tracks like the mildly pushy “You Know I’m No Good” and the sumptuous “Love Is a Loving Game” had an elegant, beguiling smudginess that avoided the wax-museum quality of so much retro soul. “My odds are stacked,” Winehouse sings. “I’ll go back to black.” Indeed, the pain and tumult in her voice was very real. Before her death in 2011, she left behind a tragically unfulfilled promise.
I know I often have very dull stories about how I've seen certain artists live (and often how I wish I hadn't), but I have a sad story about how I've not seen Amy live (but I'm glad I hadn't) - let's just say she wasn't going through her finest years and was due on a reasonably remote stage at Glasto at the same time as Kasabian and Arcade Fire, neither of whom I was massively keen on but I knew they'd at least turn up so I plumped for Kasabian, who were surprisingly OK even if I now realise I should have gone for Arcade Fire. Afterwards (just as Amy was turning up on stage) I watched Bjork and she was FUCKING ACE, so I don't really remember Kasabian at all (like most people these days, which is a bit of a shame but hey ho). But a lot of stories I heard the next day started "Amy - oh dear" - and apparently she was worse the next year but i bet she was absolutely amazing on one of the smaller stages back in 2004.
But, I like the recordings she left behind and particularly this album, although I hadn't listened to it in ages so was looking forward to doing so again - although I did remember it being generally OK, but a lot of it somewhat overshadowed by the high points. But actually, having listened to it, I think the quality is pretty high throughout, although in distinct contrast to Stevie's effort, the last two tracks were the least effective. All the songs on the album are really well done in a retro style with modern lyrics (she sings "what kind of fuckery is this?" on Mr & Mr Jones whilst being ably supported by the standard 60s-style backing singer line-up). Really listening to the album (which I can't claim to have done before) you get a feel for what a talent she was - there's so much impressive vocal control going on. It's also an interesting production job because it's "fuzzier" than you might expect (fuzzier than Stevie's effort, for instance) - I assume this is intentional to invoke memories of the time. "Rehab" and the title track are the obvious highlights, but I also particularly enjoyed "You Know I'm So Good", "Me & Mr Jones", "Love Is A Losing Game" and "My Tears Dry On Their Own" - and all the rest are perfectly listenable.
The Wikipedia entry for the album is lengthy - the most important thing it does is to remind us that Amy wrote most of the songs on this album herself. It's easy to think of her as a manipulated figure (and in a lot of ways, she was) but musically she was very much her own guiding light and she knew where she wanted to be. Again, this is one of those rare albums on the list that sold more in the UK than the US - but it should be noted that it sold 3 million in the US, so this is incredibly impressive. Global sales are over 16 million - none too shabby indeed! Her Wikipedia entry is lengthy, but I don't feel I can really do it or her credit easily - either read it yourself or watch Asif Kapadia's documentary on the lass which is a very well put together document of her life. Another, slightly more enjoyable documentay is this which is a really lovely watch and well worth an hour of your time.
"Customers also listened to" Duffy, Alicia Keys, Nelly Furtado and Beyonce - some women with reasonable voices there I guess. This album is up there with the best of them - I enjoyable listening to it, and listening to it a bit more carefully than I did in the past. I also have to say it was a pleasure to listen to a woman's voice because it's been 23 albums since we last had a female vocalist - a dreadful state of affairs! The good news is that we don't have to wait quite so long for the next one.
So, whilst there isn't a direct line of descendancy between the albums, I think there's certainly an argument that Amy might have listened to and enjoyed Innervisions before producing Back to Black 33 years later - there's certainly bucketloads of talent on display on both of them. I enjoyed Stevie's album more than either of his previous entries, but I don't think I'm quite there yet in terms of declaring myself a convert, so I'm going to give this round to Amy because, whilst I liked this album before, listening to it closely deepened my appreciation both of the album and Amy. And it's such a shame that she's not here to take the plaudits.
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