| By the time Hotter Than July was released, in 1980, Stevie Wonder's most fertile period was already over. The smash run that began 1972 (Music of My Mind and Talking Book) and ran through Innervisions (1973), Fulfullingness' First Finale (1974) and 1976's Songs in the Key of Life was winding down. There was still enough magic left in Wonder for one last hurrah, however--and while July isn't its forerunner's equal in the heights it scales or consistency, it's still bears the marks of Wonder's best work: there's the regretful "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It", the reggae-crossover "Master Blaster (Jammin')", an oft-imitated classic (see Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives", for one); and the enormously successful paean to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Happy Birthday". --Randy Silver |
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