We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
Motown founder Berry Gordy made a fortune by controlling the artists on his label. He groomed them…he picked out the songs they recorded…he controlled most of what they did. And some of his major artists began to chafe under that kind of control as we entered the 1970’s. That included Stevie Wonder who turned 21 in 1971. That meant the original contract that kept Wonder on a short leash would come to an end. And Wonder would receive all of the royalties that his 60’s work had piled up. Gordy, of course. wanted to re-sign Wonder and Stevie knew it. So, he demanded some freedom to record the last LP under his old contract and got it for 1971’s ‘Where I’m Coming From”.
The album did include some stuff that you would call “traditional Motown”, including the hit single “If You Really Love Me” which went Top 10. Also a number of ballads including “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” which Stevie sang years later at Michael Jackson’s funeral…
But there was also some different stuff on the Lp. Stevie had been listening to an album by a group called Tonto’s Expanding Head Band…which was actually two guys using a bank of synthesizers. You can hear a bit of that in the LP but he would readily embrace the stuff on his amazing run of LPs that started in 1972….which included the two guys from Tonto’s Expanding Head Band! They explain…
The LP features some social commentary in tunes like “Look Around” and “I Wanna Talk To You” and in “Look Around” you can hear the Clavinet sound that became so familiar in his later 70’s work. This may not be as groundbreaking as Marvin Gaye’s ‘Whats Going On” but it does show an artist on the cusp and using the freedom that he was coming into to create some brilliant music in the next few years.
Comments