Hotter Than July

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With 1979’s <i>A Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plant,”</i> Stevie Wonder had experienced another first: a critical flop. While Wonder was publicly blaming Motown for under-promoting the forward-thinking, digitally-produced double album, he was privately toiling on his 19th album in his recently purchased Wonderland studio. The album that emerged, 1980’s <i>Hotter Than July</i>, was a new Stevie for a new decade: For the first time since the late 1960, Wonder released an album without any larger social commentary or spiritual aims (and, to Berry Gordy’s relief, not a single reference to botany). <i>Hotter Than July</i> is simply a collection of pop-flavored, exquisitely produced R&B. Given the sonic tenor of the time, a four-on-the-floor groove winds its way through the album’s early moment, when the buoyant “Did I Hear You Say You Love Me” seamlessly segues into “All I Do,” which Wonder had originally co-written during his pre-independence Motown era, and then dusted off and turned into a low-key disco burner. He might not have been arguing for music as a universal language anymore, but he showed on <i>Hotter Than July</i> that he could easily switch genres: On “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It,” Wonder actually (and successfully) pulls off a country song, while “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” is a reggae-lite tribute to Bob Marley, perhaps Wonder’s only 1970s peer as a global icon of Black music. .

via Apple Music

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