Stevie Wonder-- C or D?

You some sort of Counting Crows fan, jj ?

Anyway classic. I only know the mid 70s work, people on the other SW threads were praising the 60s stuff, which I imagine to be great in a fun motown way.

Woman in Red onward = Dud

but he made some of the most joyously swinging soul singles of the '60s, and then made these absolutely perfect albums all in a row in the '70s:

music of my mind
talking book
innervisions
fulfillingness' first finale
songs in the key of life

and then went on to make a couple of good if not great albums afterward before finally burning out and turning into a very hit-or-miss '80s soul dude.

an amazing singer, a great songwriter, an inventive arranger, and if he needed to play all the instruments himself, he could do that too, a la prince. that latter talent wouldn't really matter if the songs weren't there, but they were, and he had range, from smooth balladry to jittery funk to protest music with strings. and he could rock the clavinet like nobody.

if his rep is a bit lower than he used to be, which i'm not sure it's true, that sure as hell ain't stevie's fault.

dud. not.

And, hey - just because something's overrated doesn't neccesarily mean it's not great. It can be both!

Deserves a dud for his 80s output tho'.

Dud for inventing the interminable "thanks to..." credit list, on Songs In The Key Of Life.

AND SHE'S ON IT!

life has no more surpries for me now

http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/news/06062008/423854/stevie_wonder_european_tour

Man, is this guy a great drummer. I'm listening to "Bird of Beauty" and "Have a Talk With God."

"Higher Ground"! He's got a cupla good backbeats on the last album.

He's like Ringo -- he gets a great SOUND from his instrument. You can distinguish him from other players.

He's hanging off the back of the beat even more than Charlie Watts = CLASSIC

A couple really distinctive things I've noticed about his drumming are that a) he tends to bust out with triplets on the cymbal against an otherwise straight-8th base and b) his tendency to use the ride cymbal in the function of the hi-hat, which makes those tricky cymbal rhythms sound clearer than they would played on the hat.

"What'd I Say" = #1 influence on Stevie as a drummer imo

Yeah, that makes sense -- that kind of busyness. He plays fills that I don't think anybody else could get away with on "Bird of Beauty."

Btw, who was the drummer on "What'd I Say"? That mf is my hero.

Also, the hats/ride tend to be mixed LOUD on Stevie's records. Cymbals, cymbals, cymbals.

But yeah, basically Stevie is a monster on the trap.

also he does a lot of overdubbing & multitracking (ie playing just the cymbals, then just the snare, and/or multiple hi-hat parts like on 'i wish')

Listening to "Bird of Beauty", the most amazing thing about the drumming is how ably he inserts all his oddball fills right into the middle of the groove, instead of breaking from the groove to fill. He just inserts all these other drums around the maintained pattern.

xp: I feel like you just told me Santa Claus doesn't exist.

http://www.towleroad.com/2012/08/stevie-wonder-some-people-who-think-theyre-gay-are-confused.html

The actual quote isn't really very declarative. Chalking this one up to "from a different generation," but it's still disheartening, even though I've been well aware that Stevie's ideas about the nuts and bolts of relationships have always been pretty reactionary. Doesn't take much effort for me to picture him being bewildered by the dynamics of male-male or female-female relationships.

yeah this is the guy who wrote "Superwoman."

Hah, that's almost exactly what I posted on FB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZSIeSsmwI

man oh man

was just listening to the 70s-era live boot that opens with a 17 minute contusion this morning... wish stevie would put out some of his valt of unreleased 70s stuff at some point.

Supposedly there's a clause in his contract stating that his unreleased material is to be destroyed when he dies. But that might only be studio stuff (which, if there's unreleased 70s material, arrg).

yeah, i'd heard that, and it is a cold comfort!

They say that Stevie Wonder's unreleased songs are 10 zillion light years away.

You've got to I've got to they've got to
We've got to They've got to We've got to

Conversation Peace's "Cold Chill" is excellent!

Loved Treat Myself off that album too.

He's doing a short US tour where he's doing all of Songs in the Key of Life. I think you need a citi card for today's presale

Scoop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgngvsWLlE

Not completely blind =/= not blind. Lots of legally blind people have enough sight to watch sports (Stevie has courtside seats), use cameras and otherwise interact visually with the their surroundings.

Retinopathy of prematurity (Stevie's diagnosis, caused by exposure to high oxygen concentrations in an incubator after premature birth) produces a spectrum of visual deficits, many people affected are left with at least some sight.

The fact that Stevie wears sunglasses all the time is itself an indicator that he's not totally blind (or else the ambient light levels wouldn't affect him).

My Dad's blind but not completely so, he wears dark glasses even indoors. His friends who have no sight at all usually don't bother wearing glasses, there's no point.

Wouldn't be a surprise if Berry Gordy and co had decided to market Stevie as "blind" without bothering to explain the details.

Also, you'd be surprised what blind people can do. Ray Charles use to fly his plane, and he swore he could land* it too, though nobody would let him.

*he had a plan where he would bust the glass on the dials with his lighter and read them by touch

Even if stevie wasn't blind he'd still be the eighth wonder of the world.

what i wouldn't do for an LP of stevie's demos of sleeping alone, bring your sweet stuff home to me, his tracks for syreeta and minnie, etc...

"Do I Do" is so fantastical

YES

If there were another 20 minutes of it I would want to hear them all

Do NOT want to see this thread revived this year.

oh give me a break

I got "musical aquarium" on cassette, thing bumps

I love this man

I have some affection for the Jose Feliciano version of "Golden Lady" tbh.

hard 1000% agree with your #1 choice.

Have ben thinking lately how great an album of his demos of songs he gifted to other artists would be, a la the recent Prince posthumous release

like, stevie-sung versions of bad weather, baby bring your sweet stuff home to me, perfect angel... that would be amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAC7aEegUc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNZRJB952b0

I think I've said this before here, but that modulation from "Perfect Angel" into "Loving You" is breathtaking.

What was the sendspace file Milton Parker linked to above, now long dead? The actual 16 track tapes of Superstition??

Makes me so sad that Stevie doesn't want his unreleased material ever to be heard(seriously, he wants the masters junked after he dies), you only imagine what he must have stashed away in the vaults from his golden seventies period.

I hope Stevie has a Max Brod in his life...

Happy birthday, dude. Let me put the spotlight on this jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEK7tMxXRpo

Dud.

Oh, wait, I thought this was about Greta Van Fleet. I meant classic, sorry Stevie.

"A Seed's A Star" is so fantastic I only wish it didn't sound like it was emerging from a transistor radio.

and of course this Wonder-ful creation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGhSJIMHeoo

During lockdown, I took the time to re-evaluate his post-Hotter than July recordings. Robert Christgau's always defended those records, and while I don't think they're very consistent records (much less great ones), Christgau wasn't completely wrong. Barring some health or mental issue, talent doesn't completely dry up overnight for artists like Stevie Wonder, where not a single memorable hook or melody is suddenly beyond their ability. He was completely overshadowed as an innovator thanks to Prince and Michael Jackson, and he still had a weakness for syrupy glop, but he still crafted a few good tunes every now and then.

Yeah, I rediscovered "Never In Your Sun" this last year and cherish it fully.

A Time for Love in particular suffers from post-'90s CD-era bloat, but, damn, it's got jams. And he was still stretching as a balladeer.

This resequenced version of the most approachable material on Plants would've made for a still eccentric listen but still far more agreeable as part of the magnificent 1972-1982 streak.

Side A
"Send One Your Love" – 4:01
"Outside My Window" – 5:29
"The Secret Life of Plants" – 4:17
"Race Babbling" – 8:51

Side B
"Black Orchid" – 3:47
"Same Old Story" – 3:44
"Power Flower" – 5:29
"Come Back as a Flower" – 4:59
"A Seed's a Star/Tree Medley" – 5:53

Side B not quite as seamless with songs coming at you in complementary keys, but hey, I worked with what I had.

Ah thanks, I'll try your version ! Never managed to get into that album although I love all the ones before (and even some after... well, Hotter and parts of Square...).

You could even stick in "Kesse Ye Lolo De Ye" of the latter half of "Voyage to India" as something to give Side A some more space if you wanted.

I'd miss "Ecclesiastes" in that version.

So after listening to this version I like it ! Basically all ballads/smooth songs.
I could do without "Race Babbling" which is fun but a bit silly and far too long for its own good.

I could never do without 'Race Babbling'!

Just a heads-up: There's some good discussion of Stevie Wonder by Hanif Abdurraqib and Fred Moten on the most recent Millennials Are Killing Capitalism Podcast

https://www.patreon.com/posts/hanif-abdurraqib-51211207 - starting around 45:40

anyone else look at the cover of Music From My Mind and thought damn this dude got some tiny hands??