Stevie was working with synthesizer wizards Robert Margouleff and Cecil Malcolm who were very good at reigning in his tendency to wander. The SW biography I've read paints a picture of Stevie being hugely talented but occasionally undisciplined, a guy with a million song ideas in his head but constantl wanting to start new jams, or new compositions, rather than sitting down and finish enough tracks to complete and release an album.
That brings me to "Innervisions". Stevie manages to mostly steer clear of schmaltzy love songs here, instead addressing drugs "Too high"; racism, and the hardships of growing up black in America "Living for the city"; political digs at Nixon "He's Misstra Know-it-all".
Romance is addressed in the song 'All in love is fair' which was covered by singers including Dionne Warwick and Bette Middler.
All up, it's a brilliant album with no weak spots. Even the somewhat cheesy mock Latin-jazz opening to 'Don't you worry about a thing" holds up nicely.
It's an album laden with soul, underpinned with funk and using both Stevie's voice and the synthesizer technology to great effect.
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