Hotter than July


Hotter than July is the nineteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder, originally released on Motown's Tamla label on September 29, 1980. The recording sessions were primarily done at Wonderland Studios, which Wonder had recently acquired, in Los Angeles where he became responsible for writing, producing and arranging his own material for the new album.
Following the commercial and critical disappointment of Wonder's Journey through the Secret Life of Plants, Wonder felt struggle at the turn of the new decade. He insisted to the media that Journey through the Secret Life of Plants was not as critically acclaimed as his albums during his "classic period" because of Motown's weak promotion for the album.
Hotter than July peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on February 3, 1981. It was Wonder's most successful album in the UK, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart and producing four top ten singles there. The first, third and fourth single were released with music videos.
Hotter than July was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Album at the 1982 American Music Awards. Writing for The Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine found the album "buoyantly tuneful" and said fans viewed it as a return to form after the commercial disappointment of Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.

Background

The commercial failure of his last album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants with only one single "Send One Your Love" making the top 5 of the Billboard chart left Stevie Wonder struggling at the turn of the new decade. He let the media know that he felt that Motown had not promoted the album very well. His talents kept him busy when he co-wrote the song "Let's Get Serious" with Lee Garrett for Jermaine Jackson's 1980 album of the same name and another with Eric Mercury called "You Are My Heaven" which became a success for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway on Atlantic Records. During this time of upheaval, he was also in demand as a guest artist on many other albums ranging from the likes of B.B. King, James Taylor, Quincy Jones and Smokey Robinson among others.
Wonder finally began work on a new album which was to be titled Hotter than July. Inspired by his love for reggae music from meeting Bob Marley, Wonder was encouraged to write the first track, "Master Blaster ", after their performance at the Black Music Association in Philadelphia in 1979. The recording sessions were primarily done at Wonderland Studios in Los Angeles where he became responsible for writing, producing and arranging his own material for the new album.
Inspired by the growing popularity of Bob Marley's music and its clear messages against war, "Master Blaster " was Wonder's way of honoring Marley. The country-tinged "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It", the ballad "Lately" and the upbeat "Happy Birthday" were other notable successes from the album. In the UK, all four singles reached the top 10, with the first and last releases peaking at #2 in the charts.
Track two, "All I Do", had originally been written by a teenaged Wonder and collaborators Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax in 1966. Tammi Terrell recorded the original version of the song that year, but her version never saw release in her lifetime and remained in the Motown vaults until it was posthumously included on the compilation A Cellarful of Motown! in the UK in 2002, 32 years after her death. Brenda Holloway also recorded a version that was released on her Motown Anthology set in 2005. Michael Jackson, Eddie Levert and Walter Williams of the O'Jays, and Betty Wright provided backing vocals for the song on Wonder's album. Charlie and Ronnie Wilson of the GAP Band, handled backing vocals for "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It". Wonder's ex-wife Syreeta also shows up on "As If You Read My Mind".
Despite the wide critical acclaim for Wonder's previous works such as Songs in the Key of Life and Innervisions, Hotter than July was his first album eligible for platinum status, as Motown sales records before 1977 were not audited by the RIAA.

Sleeve liner design and Martin Luther King Day activism

Wonder wrote "Happy Birthday" in order to honor Martin Luther King and used the song to campaign for King's birthday, January 15, to become a national holiday in the US. The sleeve liner design is entirely dedicated to these two purposes. Both sides are printed in a black-and-white semi-glossy photographic process. One side features a large square photograph portrait of King inset on a black background with white lettering above and below. Above the photo is printed "Martin Luther King, Jr." "January 15, 1929 -- April 4, 1968", and below it appears a passage of text written by Wonder. The text below the photo reads:

It is believed that for a man to lay down his life for the love of others is the supreme sacrifice. Jesus Christ by his own example showed us that there is no greater love. For nearly two thousand years now we have been striving to have the strength to follow that example. Martin Luther King was a man who had that strength. He showed us, non-violently, a better way of life, a way of mutual respect, helping us to avoid much bitter confrontation and inevitable bloodshed. We still have a long road to travel until we reach the world that was his dream. We in the United States must not forget either his supreme sacrifice or that dream.



I and a growing number of people believe that it is time for our country to adopt legislation that will make January 15, Martin Luther King's birthday, a national holiday, both in recognition of what he achieved and as a reminder of the distance which still has to be traveled.



Join me in the observance of January 15, 1981 as a national holiday.


Stevland Morris a/k/a Stevie Wonder

To the right of this text is a thumbprint, presumably Stevie Wonder's, serving as his signature.
On the other side of the sleeve is a collage of five historical photos. Two images, one above the other, form the background. The top image shows an aerial view of a low-lying urban area with a six-lane highway passing through it and thick smoke rising from many of the buildings on both sides of the highway—apparently a riot scene. The bottom image shows a confrontation, in an urban street four of five lanes wide, between a large group of African Americans standing in non-violent defiance and law enforcement officers with white helmets and weapons who are apparently advancing on them. The other three, smaller photos are laid out horizontally across the midline where the background images meet and are about 40% of the height of the sleeve. In the center is a wide rectangular photo of a large peaceful demonstration march, with both black and white participants, being led by Martin Luther King. To either side are two square photos of apparent police brutality: in the photo to the left, three officers in white helmets seize a male African-American youth by his arms and one leg; one officer holds as a club what appears to be a long nightstick turned around with the thicker handle end out. In the photo to the right, an African-American man lies in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of an urban store, while in the foreground an officer in a white helmet stands at a distance and looks toward him, and in the background another Africa-American man crouches with his back against the wall and looks away.
These images contrast with the general mood of the album, which is upbeat and positive, including "Happy Birthday". Exceptions are the few songs about romantic turmoil and the socially critical "Cash In Your Face", which protests racial housing discrimination.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden said Hotter than July proved Wonder was still "our most gifted pop muralist" because of his evocative, unique synthesis of pop and African elements. It was voted the eighth best album of 1980 in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it eighteenth on his own year-end list and, in a retrospective review, wrote that while "Master Blaster" and perhaps "Happy Birthday" were the only "great Stevie here", the pleasure in which Wonder performed the songs was evident in "his free-floating melodicism and his rolling overdrive, his hope and his cynicism". In The Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine found the record "buoyantly tuneful" and said fans viewed it as a return to form after the commercial disappointment of Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.

Track listing

All songs written, produced and arranged by Stevie Wonder except where noted.
;Side one
  1. "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me" – 4:07
  2. "All I Do" – 5:06
  3. "Rocket Love" – 4:39
  4. "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" – 4:39
  5. "As If You Read My Mind" – 3:37
;Side two
  1. "Master Blaster " – 5:07
  2. "Do Like You" – 4:25
  3. "Cash in Your Face" – 3:59
  4. "Lately" – 4:05
  5. "Happy Birthday" – 5:57

    Musicians

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications