STEVIE WONDER’S RENEWED AMBITION

You get an idea of how hard Stevie Wonder works on his music when you listen to him describe the thought he puts into just selecting his album titles. Rather than the usual practice of simply naming the album after the one of the collection’s most appealing songs, Wonder wants his titles to represent the direction and tone of his LPs.

Sitting recently in an office at his Burbank recording studio, Wonder, 35, said that “In Square Circle” was chosen as the title of his just-released album because the term suggests both the complexities and ironies of human experience.

“Take the album itself--the cover is square, but the record itself is a circle,” he said. “But also the world is round even though it is based off in squares--with north, east, south and west. In the West, most buildings are built in the square form, but a lot of the African buildings of old are built in the circular form.

“There is also the need to pay careful attention to things because they often are not what they seem. Some of the songs talk about this. You have many people these days who try to convince you that they are acting in God’s name--as if He OK’s what they are doing. But they are actually just using the Creator’s name to justify their own selfish motives.

“Take the apartheid song on the album. That’s a perfect example of a government that says it acts in God’s name.”

The song--”It’s Wrong (Apartheid)”--speaks to both rulers and oppressed blacks of South Africa. The album version of the song ends with an expression of hope to the latter: “Freedom is coming. . . . Hold on tight.”

However, the song will be extended on the still-unreleased 12-inch single and on the compact disc version of the album to include this warning to South African officials:

The clock of now says it’s time

For you to make up your mind

Before it’s too late for you

To earn your redemption.

Wonder has had a steady series of hits in recent years, including “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” in 1980 and “That Girl” in 1982, and he won an Academy Award for “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” his No. 1 single from the film “The Woman in Red.”

Still, he maintained something of a low profile in the ‘80s after establishing himself in the ‘70s as perhaps one of the most gifted and acclaimed figures of modern pop. His dominance was highlighted in the mid-’70s when three consecutive Wonder LPs won best-album Grammys: “Innervisions,” “Fulfillingness’ First Finale” and “Songs in the Key of Life.”

Though his next album, the sound track for the documentary, “Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants,” was an equally exquisite musical statement, its esoteric design was not what the public or the industry was expecting--and it was widely viewed as a disappointment. Still, the two-record set is likely to stand as one of Wonder’s most noteworthy achievements.

While the follow-up, “Hotter Than July,” was generally admired and sold well, it didn’t catch the pop imagination the way his earlier work had. The sound track to Gene Wilder’s comedy “The Woman in Red” was a mostly light-hearted sidestep.

However, Wonder sees the new album as the start of his most ambitious series of albums since the ‘70s trilogy.

“This is the first of a group of three albums,” he said, wearing a simple sport shirt and slacks and removing his dark glasses as he relaxed. “Some of the songs will deal with relationships and love, some with political themes and social issues, and some just with religious beliefs and concepts.

“I realized that I was working on all these songs and saw a direction for the albums. That’s also why titles are important to me. They help set a direction or goal because I basically come up with a lot of different things. A title helps me decide what songs fit the direction and which don’t.”

There is an exuberance and grace to the best songs in the new album that echo the ambition and confidence of the early work (see review by Dennis Hunt, Page 59).

Wonder, a participant in the “We Are the World” recording session, is one of many artists who are helping restore a sense of social consciousness to pop.

Unlike many of them, however, Wonder is no newcomer to social commentary--though his importance as a commentator in pop is often overlooked because he puts his thoughts into such a highly melodic and accessible format.

A classic example was “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” one of the most scathing attacks of the ‘70s on governmental indifference toward the disadvantaged. But it was backed by such a vigorous, danceable tune that it could have highlighted a party album. Other songs have touched on such matters as the difficulty of Vietnam veterans in readjusting to live at home and calling for a national holiday in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Wonder is encouraged by the upswing of social awareness and responsibility among pop artists.

“I think it took a long time for people to get over the disillusionment of losing such very great people . . . Martin Luther (King), John Kennedy. And, then the younger generation--black and white--didn’t know a lot about the struggle that had gone on. They took for granted a lot of the advances that were made.

“That may be why so many young people today have such a conservative attitude. The interesting thing is that a lot of the momentum for this renewal is coming from people my age--people who grew up in the ‘60s and did see what happened. A lot of these people realize it is time to get involved again.”

Because of “Happy Birthday,” Wonder was associated with the drive to honor the memory of King, and he was thrilled when Congress voted to establish the third Monday in January, effective next year, as a national holiday. Wonder was in the U.S. Senate gallery with the slain civil rights leader’s widow and son the day in 1983 that the bill passed. King was born on Jan. 15.

“It’s a funny thing about that song,” he said. “I never connected it with the movement too much, even though I know it’s connected. Music creates a vibration and energy, and I think people were just singing it to themselves even before I wrote the song. Their spirits were singing that kind of celebration because we wanted it to happen.”

About the holiday, Wonder added, “It’s a great thing and I feel everybody had a hand in making it possible--even those who didn’t (initially) believe began to believe in the value and importance of it.”

Pausing briefly, he shifted his attention back to South Africa. “But you know, it’s ironic to think that less than 20 years later you have another situation like that (a minister leading a civil rights crusade) with Bishop Desmond Tutu.”

Don’t get the idea that Wonder’s thoughts revolve only around social issues. His musical vision has always included everything from graceful ballads to high-spirited workouts. Two songs on “In Square Circle”--including “Whereabouts” and “Stranger on the Shore of Love”--touch on insecurities or romantic disappointments.

“I think to a certain degree all of the songs touch on certain feelings I have,” he explained. “A lot of the songs are based on what I’ve seen happen to other people, and I’m thinking about how I’d like it to happen to me, or sometimes how I hope it doesn’t happen to me.”

But story lines are only one aspect of Wonder’s musical search. He’s also looking constantly for new sounds and instruments. He was a leader in the use of synthesizers in pop, employing them in the ‘70s when many pop artists dismissed them as too cold and mechanical.

“I always try to listen for what’s new out there--to find inspiration,” he said. “It’s not that I’m listening for sounds or styles I can copy, but for things that give me ideas--sounds that I can adapt to my own style.

With the album finished, he is looking forward to a busy few months. He expects to tour before the end of the year, help organize a network TV special in January to celebrate King’s birthday, write and record a Christmas album for 1986 and make the second in the “In Square Circle” trilogy.

That’s a lot of activity, but Wonder--who was 13 when he had his first hit single, “Fingertips, Pt. II”--says he learned years ago to pace himself.

“One of the first things you have to learn is that you can’t base your life on other people’s expectations. I’ve basically taken the position that all I can do is my best. At the same time, you have a responsibility to accept nothing less than the best you can do.

“The only real pressures come from business matters--meetings, contracts, deadlines. But you have to accept that as part of your life. The biggest enemy is the deadline; the need to have your album done by a certain date. The only real deadline you should have is your own excitement. Your heart tells you when you’re finished with a record.”