I love the 1001 Albums Generator website for albums like this: I’d honestly never heard of Shuggie Otis before, let alone knew of the existence of his third (and, for a long time, final) album, "Inspiration Information". Wikipedia describes the style as “progressive soul”, and indeed, it’s fantastic music that combines the groove and accessibility of soul with the complexity of progressive rock. I can well imagine why the album went largely unnoticed in 1974: it simply didn’t fit the stereotype of black music and was far too sophisticated for the pop-oriented R&B crowd. But it’s also immediately obvious why the multi-instrumentalist Otis had such an immense influence on the young Prince, who was to make a name for himself a few years later with a similar concept (and much more commercial tracks). The comparison with Stevie Wonder (who was working on the masterpiece "Songs in the Key of Life" at the time) isn’t too far-fetched either, but of course, he didn't have neither the resources nor the experience of Stevie Wonder. It would have been very interesting to see what else Otis might have produced after this album, but instead he largely withdrew from the stage (and the studio) as a solo artist and produced music only for his own collection. Some of this material was eventually released many decades later following its rediscovery. It was too late for a global career, but the album impressively demonstrates a singular talent that was lost in the grind of the record industry.