Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants shared some similarities with its predecessor, Songs In The Key Of Life. Both albums came after long waits, both were double records, and both tackled a wide and challenging array of sounds and styles.
Not both albums were received warmly, however. Secret Life Of Plants, a soundtrack to a now-forgotten film, saw Wonder subjected to the first serious criticism of his work in a decade.
Same Old Story
From the beginning of the album, with 'Earth's Creation', there is a sense of the music being by Stevie Wonder, but not quite. A melodramatic opening, a radical difference from the joyous, soulful, funky records that had established Wonder as one of the stars of the seventies, is soon punctuated by a more recognisable harmonica solo from the artist.
This theme is followed throughout the instrumental openings of the record, with 'The First Garden' and 'Voyage To India' following the narrative of the film. Whilst introducing some neat musical flourishes, such as the clear influence of the title country on 'Voyage To India', there is a sense that the tracks are an overly long prelude to the main event.
'Same Old Story' gives the album's first taste of Wonder's voice, on a pleasant if not revolutionary plea for belief in the secret life of plants. The track ambles along, never hinting at picking up pace, and ultimately creating a lackluster effort.
Race Babbling
The rest of Disc 1 throws up a divergent collection of tracks. 'Venus Flytrap and The Bug' has its appeal, despite its odd subject matter, recalling some of the peculiar experimental songs of Love You-era Brian Wilson. 'Ai No Sono' continues Wonder's musical journey through the world by visiting Japan, and the string synths of 'Village Ghetto Land'.
The instrumentals of 'Seasons' and a wordless 'Send One Your Love' break little new ground and sandwich 'Power Flower' a statement ten years out of date, but sounding like a late-70s ballad akin to Dr. Hook or a lethargic Isley Brothers. The final disc of the first record, 'Race Babbling', injects pace and horns, but is hampered by a hollow and unreal-sounding drum machine, which deflates any real sense of funkiness.
Send One Your Love
The album is fully redeemed in the space of the first three tracks of the second disc. 'Send One Your Love', the lead single and a pop number 4, used the same ideas as 'Power Flower' but to far greater effect, and demonstrated for the first time on the record the emotional capabilities of Wonder's voice. Wonder's harmonica performance also pushes itself, and the combination of these staples created the album's biggest hit.
'Outside My Window' follows the plant theme, but through the interesting squelches and uplifting joy in Wonder's vocal, becomes much more than a song about enjoying plant life. 'Black Orchid' again keeps to the subject matter, but uses metaphor to create an effective love song.
Following the more commercial, yet successful, opening of the second disc, Secret Life Of Plants returns to a more mismatched template: 'Ecclesiastes' another inoffensive but unmemorable instrumental; kora, jimbae drum and shekere on 'Kesse Ye Lolo De Ye'; ex-wife Syreeta Wright taking the lead vocal on the delicate 'Come Back As A Flower', and an overly wordy 'The Secret Life Of Plants'.
Secret Life Of Plants
Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants finishes on the seamless transition between the instrumentals 'Tree' and 'Finale'. The latter references all of the tunes that make up the album, highlighting that as always Wonder has an unmatched ability for easy melody, yet the cohesiveness of the track highlights the rambling nature of the album as a whole.
Unlike the rest of Wonder's seventies output, Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants shows only flashes of brilliance, and as a whole does not flow in the way the likes of Innervisions managed, despite theoretically being based around one specific theme. The record, despite reaching a high of number 4 on the Billboard chart, was met with disappointment and outright criticism, and forced Wonder to make an uncharacteristically swift release by producing Hotter Than July less than a year later.
Karl Keely - Karl has been writing for several years now despite his youth, and has produced material for a variety of sources. His largest recent ...
