INNERVISIONS  -  STEVIE WONDER

YEAR:  1973
LABEL:  Motown
TRACK LISTING:  Too High,  Visions,  Living For the City,  Golden Lady,  Higher Ground,  Jesus Children of America,  All In Love Is Fair,  Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing,  He's Misstra Know-It-All
IMPRESSIONS:  Landmark album of his "classic period".  Ridiculously impressive.  Ridiculously prolific.  Ridiculously talented.  In just nine songs, Stevie runs the gamut of themes and subjects from love songs to politics and from hardcore funk to easy listening ballads.  During this period, Stevie would dominate the charts as well as the Grammy Awards with classic album after classic album.  And this album was almost his last.  Only three days after INNERVISIONS' release, Wonder was involved in a car accident when a car driven by his friend crashed into the back of a logging truck; a log smashed through the windshield and hit Stevie directly in the forehead.  The singer was in a coma for four days.  Only when friend and tour director Ira Tucker sang "Higher Ground" loudly into Stevie's ear did the singer begin to tap his fingers to the beat and begin to come around.  The cover painting has always been very strange to me since it practically foretells the car accident that would occur three days after the album's release; we see Stevie inside a shape with an opening that could be viewed as resembling a car windshield with another shape emerging from his forehead which also recalls the log which hit him in the exact same place. 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Too High,  Visions,  Living For the City,  Higher Ground,  Jesus Children of America,  All In Love Is Fair,  Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing
FACT SHEET:  INNERVISIONS is Stevie Wonder's sixteenth album.  The album won Grammy Awards for "Album of the Year" and "Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording" and "Living For the City" won the Grammy Award for "Best R&B Song".

DUETS  -  ELTON JOHN

YEAR:  1993
LABEL:  MCA
TRACK LISTING:  Teardrops,  When I Think About Love (I Think About You),  The Power,  Shakey Ground,  True Love,  If You Were Me,  A Woman's Needs,  Old Friend,  Go On and On,  Don't Go Breaking My Heart,  Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing,  I'm Your Puppet,  Love Letters,  Born To Lose,  Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me (Live),  Duets For One
IMPRESSIONS:  Coming out the same year as Frank Sinatra's "DUETS" album, it's not really possible to know who had the idea first since Elton's "DUETS" was released on November 30 and Sinatra's was released on November 2; obviously both albums were in production at the same time to have release dates so close to each other.  However, the word at the time was that Elton had the idea first owing mostly to the number one success of the live version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" with George Michael in 1991 (which is included on this album).  Regardless, Elton's album pips Sinatra's in the simple fact that Elton and his duet partners sang together in the same room!  That having been said, Elton's "DUETS" is a remarkably hit-and-miss affair featuring some truly wonderful collaborations (k.d. lang, Marcella Detroit, Kiki Dee, Nik Kershaw, Bonnie Raitt, Leonard Cohen and the aforementioned George Michael) and some unbelievably forgettable duets which should've been MUCH much better (Little Richard, Tammy Wynette, Gladys Knight).  Elton and RuPaul reprising "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is actually quite funny and worthwhile while the Don Henley and Paul Young duets are OK but unspectacular.  There are a great deal of covers here as well as some John/Taupin originals but you really need to use the skip button for this one.  
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Teardrops,  True Love,  Old Friend,  Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing,  I'm Your Puppet,  Love Letters,  Born To Lose,  Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me (Live),  Duets For One
GUEST ARTISTS:  k.d. lang (vocals on "Teardrops"),  PM Dawn (vocals and producers on "When I Think About Love (I Think About You)"),  Little Richard (vocals on "The Power"),  Don Henley (vocals on "Shakey Ground"),  Kiki Dee (vocals on "True Love"),  Chris Rea (vocals on "If You Were Me"),  Tammy Wynette (vocals on "A Woman's Needs"),  Nik Kershaw (vocals and producer on "Old Friend"),  Gladys Knight (vocals on "Go On and On"),  RuPaul (vocals on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"),  Marcella Detroit (vocals on "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing"),  Paul Young (vocals on "I'm Your Puppet"),  Bonnie Raitt (vocals on "Love Letters"),  Leonard Cohen (vocals on "Born To Lose"),  George Michael (vocals and producer on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me (Live)"),  Don Was (producer),  Stevie Wonder (backing vocals, all instruments, producer and songwriter on "Go On and On", synclavier programming on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"),  Narada Michael Walden (producer on "True Love"),  Giorgio Moroder (producer on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart")
FACT SHEET:  DUETS is Elton John's 24th album and was certified platinum. 

MUSIC OF MY MIND - Stevie Wonder

YEAR: 1972

LABEL: Motown

TRACK LISTING: Love Having You Around, Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You), I Love Every Little Thing About You, Sweet Little Girl, Happier Than the Morning Sun, Girl Blue, Seems So Long, Keep On Running, Evil

IMPRESSIONS: It's thanks to the Colding that I have this album. He recommended it to me one day when we were working at the Hellmouth. Oddly, I always think of this as Stevie Wonder's first album even though he had been pumping out albums for Motown for a decade. It's more accurately his first "adult" album in which he had creative control upon reaching the age of 21 and having those terms in his recording contract. The mood of the album is totally unlike anything Stevie had released for Motown before.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You), I Love Every Little Thing About You, Happier Than the Morning Sun, Evil

FACT SHEET: MUSIC OF MY MIND is Stevie Wonder's 14th studio album. This is the first real album Stevie made after turning 21 in which he had true creative control. It is generally regarded as the start of his 1970's "classic" period. The album showcases Wonder's synthesizer experimentation as well as the use of longer songs in his songwriting.