STEVIE WONDER INNERVISIONS ORIGINAL 1973 FIRST PRESS SEALED VINYL LP *RARE MINT*

$

249

STEVIE WONDER 

INNERVISIONS

T 326L STEREO © 1973 TAMLA RECORDS

* * * ORIGINAL FACTORY SEALED * * * 

* * * FIRST U.S. PRESSING * * *  

* * * GATEFOLD SLEEVE * * * 

WINNER OF ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

WINNER OF BEST ENGINEERED NON-CLASSICAL RECORDING

WINNER OF BEST R&B SONG “LIVING FOR THE CITY”

#1   BILLBOARD Soul LPs

#4   BILLBOARD Top LPs & Tapes 

#23 Rolling Stone’s 500 GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME

This is a MINT condition ORIGINAL FIRST U.S. PRESSING of Stevie Wonder's 1973 LP, Innervisions, released under the TAMLA label for Motown Records. The GATEFOLD sleeve and the vinyl record inside have been preserved since production; protected by the ORIGINAL FACTORY SEALED plastic shrink-wrap, which is entirely intact. 

This album is widely considered by fans, critics, and colleagues to be one of Wonder's finest works and one of the greatest albums ever made. It racked up awards at the 16th Grammy Awards, when Innervisions won Album Of The Year and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, and its featured hit single “Living For The City,” won Best R&B Song. In 1999, Innervisions was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

"Stevie identifies himself as a gang and a genius, producing, composing, arranging, singing,  and, on several tracks, playing all the accompanying instruments. But Stevie Wonder, you  see and want to know more. At the center of his music is the sound of what is real. Vocally,  he remains inventive and unafraid, he sings all the things he hears: rock, folk, and all forms  of Black music. The sum total of these varying components is an awesome knowledge,  consumed and then shared by an artist who is free enough to do both."

— The New York Times (October 21, 1973)

“Stevie Wonder may be blind, but he reads the national landscape, particularly regarding  black America, with penetrating insight on Innervisions, the peak of his 1972-73 run of  albums–including Music of My Mind and Talking Book. Fusing social realism with spiritual  idealism, Wonder 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.”

—?Rolling Stone Magazine

RECORD CONDITION: MINT

VIRGIN VINYL ALBUM IS STILL IN ITS ORIGINAL FACTORY SEALED PLASTIC SHRINK-WRAP.

SLEEVE CONDITION: MINT

ALBUM COVER IS STILL COVERED AND PROTECTED BY ITS ORIGINAL FACTORY SEALED PLASTIC SHRINK WRAP. CONDITION IS IMPRESSIVE. NO SIGNS OF WEAR AT CORNERS AND FRONT AND BACK COVERS ARE FLAWLESS.

NO IMPERFECTIONS ON GATEFOLD COVER:

• No cut-out (drill) holes
• No cut-out corners 
• No saw-marks or indents
• No dirt/dust rubbing stains 
• No wrinkles/creases
• No split seams
• No stains 
• No yellowing from aging 
• No writing 
• No stamps
• No tape or peel-off marks
• No retail or price stickers
• No mold or mildew spots
• No water damage
• No warping 
• No wax, glue, paint or liquid drops on the cover
• No glue traces or wax residue
• No barcodes

TRACKLIST:

All songs written, produced, and arranged by Stevie Wonder.

SIDE ONE:

A1 Too High 4:37

A2 Visions 5:17

A3 Living For The City 7:26

A4 Golden Lady 5:00

SIDE TWO:

B1 Higher Ground 3:54

B2 Jesus Children Of America 4:04

B3 All In Love Is Fair 3:45

B4 Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing 4:55

B5 He's Misstra Know-It-All 6:06

COMPANIES:

Phonographic Copyright (p) – Motown Record Corporation

Copyright (c) – Motown Record Corporation

Published By – Stein & Van Stock, Inc.

Published By – Black Bull Music, Inc.

Recorded At – Record Plant, Los Angeles

Recorded At – Mediasound

Mastered At – Master Cutting Room

Mastered At – Kendun Recorders

CREDITS:

All songs written, produced, and arranged by Stevie Wonder.

Recording Coordinators – Ira Tucker Jr., John Harris

Engineer, Producer [Associate], Programmed By [Arp, Moog] – Malcolm Cecil, Robert Margouleff

Illustration – Efram Wolff

Mastered By – George Marino

Producer, Arranged By, Instruments [All], Synthesizer [Arp, Moog], Written-By – Stevie Wonder

Recorded By – Austin Godsey, Dan Barbiero

Tape Op – Gary Olazabal

NOTES:

? 1973 Motown Record Corporation © 1973 Motown Record Corporation, Hollywood, California 90028, 

All rights reserved, Trademark Motown Record Corporation, printed in U.S.A.

All tunes published by Stein & Van Stock, Inc. & Black Bull Music, Inc. (ASCAP).

Recorded at Record Plant, Los Angeles and Media Sound, Inc., New York

Mastered at The Cutting Room, New York

The promotional inner sleeve is an order form for the songbook "The Songs of Stevie Wonder."

DISCOGRAPHY: 

Innervisions is the 16th studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973, on the Tamla label for Motown Records, a landmark recording of his "classic period". It is also regarded as Wonder's transition from Little Stevie Wonder and romantic ballads to a more musically mature, conscious and grown-up artist. With Wonder being the first artist to experiment with the ARP synthesizer on a large scale, Innervisions became hugely influential on the subsequent future of commercial black music.

As with many of Wonder's albums, the lyrics, composition and production of Innervisions are almost entirely his own work, with the ARP used prominently throughout the album. The instrument was a common motif among musicians of the time because of its ability to construct a complete sound environment. Wonder also played all or virtually all instruments on six of the album's nine tracks, making most of Innervisions a representative one-man band.

The nine tracks of Innervisions encompass a wide range of themes and issues: from drug abuse in "Too High", through inequality and systemic racism in "Living for the City", to love in the ballads "All in Love Is Fair" and "Golden Lady". The album's closer, "He's Misstra Know-It-All", is a scathing attack on then-US President Richard Nixon, similar to Wonder's song a year later, "You Haven't Done Nothin'". "Living for the City" was one of the first soul music songs to deal explicitly with systemic racism and to use everyday sounds of the street like traffic, voices and sirens which were combined with the music recorded in the studio.

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WHY IS THIS ALBUM LISTED AS "USED" INSTEAD OF "NEW"? 

I get asked this question a lot. The answer is simple: NEW, by definition, means a recent production of something that has never been previously owned. All of my records are original vintage vinyls that have all been previously owned and therefore must be considered used despite never being opened. 

This is called "USED NEW OLD STOCK" which means that the album was previously owned, but it was NEVER BEEN OPENED OR REMOVED FROM THE MANUFACTURER'S ORIGINAL FACTORY SEALED PLASTIC SHRINK WRAP. If you still have questions, feel free to send me a message.

PLEASE REFERENCE PHOTOS FOR ACCURATE LOOK AT CONDITION

Please take care to look at all photographs very closely as they are the best accounting of the record's condition. I took care to provide the best true-to-life photographs I could, including angles from the album's front, back, and sides as well as close-ups of its corners and any notable flaws. It is the buyer's responsibility to review them closely, so there are no surprises when the album arrives.

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IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE ASK!

I will get back to you within 24 hours.

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ABOUT MY RECORDS

I inherited all of my vinyl from the private collection of a 25+ year London Records Executive who worked for the label in New York City during the 60s, 70s, and into the late-80s. He held a senior role at the label, which allowed him unique insider access to many original first press editions when they were first released in the US as well as some rare test pressings. He worked directly on US marketing and promotion for The Rolling Stones throughout most of the 1960s when they were at the height of their fame, which is why I have so many early pressings of their albums. The collection overall is vast and diverse with a myriad of albums and artists spanning more than 30-40 years and over a dozen music genres. The lion’s share fall into three main categories: Rock, Classical Symphony & Opera, and Jazz.

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SHIPPING & HANDLING:

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