Seven musical artists who turned in exquisite five-album runs

STEVIE WONDER

Music of My Mind (1972)
Talking Book (1972)
Innervisions (1973)
Fulfillingness First Finale (1974)
Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

When Paul Simon won the Grammy for Album of the Year for 1975’s Still Crazy After All These Years, he made a point of thanking Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year. That’s how dominant Wonder was in the mid-70s. Rank these five albums in whatever order you like – they constitute the greatest five-album run in modern pop music history.

It’s not as if they came out of nowhere. Wonder was a child prodigy who had been cranking out hits for Motown for a decade. Music of My Mind revealed an adult artist writing love songs with extraordinary sophistication for a 21-year-old. “Superwoman” and “Happier Than the Morning Sun” feature equal parts youthful excitement and old-soul wisdom.

Less than a year later came the extraordinary breadth of Talking Book. With its twin poles of “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition,” the prodigy was living up to his promise and redefining what popular music could do.

The three remaining albums simply continue that expansion. From the political “You Haven’t Done Nothin” from Fulfillingness… to the towering double album Songs in the Key of Life,  Wonder was in rarefied air. That double album was highly anticipated because it was the first time in a while he had taken a little bit of time between releases. And it did not disappoint.

I can’t say anything that would do justice to the centerpiece of this run. Innervisions is one of the greatest albums in the history of American popular music. Listen to it. That’s my only insight.