His string of 5 albums from 1972 to 1976 is probably one of the greatest things that's ever happened in music history.... He's one of those artists where you have to listen to the full albums from start to finish... Of all the dozens and dozens of songs on those albums, there isn't a single dud, and there are many buried treasures....There are so many great Stevie Wonder recordings but the first one that comes to mind when I try to think of my favorite is "You Haven't Done Nothing" — We are sick and tired of hearing your song/Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong/'Cause if you really want to hear our views/You haven't done nothing.
[H]e's had a ubiquitous influence on the last 50 years of music — so many artists like Prince, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, etc. It's hard to imagine what pop music would sound like without him. The combination of songwriting and performing is astounding... [A]n effusive, impassioned joy flows out of him more naturally than from almost anyone else.
ADDED: I remember when Stevie had to show Bob Dylan how to sing like Bob Dylan:
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I listed Stevie a year ago, among America's great songwriter-musicians. But nobody said a thing.
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Ahead of my time
Steveland Morris. Saw him with the Stones, 72 tour. Wonderlove was phenomenal. They came back with the Stones' entourage doin Satisfaction and Uptight medley. Stevie ALWAYS kicks it. Happy Birthday and thanks for the memories.
I was born in 1972 and remember my parents 8 tracks of Stevies albums.
For me, 1970s music is Stevie Wonder and David Bowie. Those two are the sound survivors from that decade.
You know he's not really blind, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=IrvIq6M9HrI&feature=emb_title
I saw Stevie Wonder open for the Stones in Tucson, 1972; he had something that blended his voice with the keyboards, similar to Frampton's "talk box" effect...?
Stevie Wonder during that period stood out among some great and wonderful, innovative and enjoyable music. That's my assessment anyway. Heavily influenced by the fact that I was mid-teens and headed off to college in the fall of 1975. A golden age of music for me.
He didn't die, did he?
My favorite is the one Aretha did, Til You Come Back to Me. could tell it was his by the harmonies he used.
He def has his own sound.
wild... so true, and his mellow is like no other as well
Turned 70 and his last great Album was in 1976 when he was 26.
Beethovan only lived to 56 but wrote his 7th, 8th, and 9th symponys in his 40's and 50's. Stevie Wonder seemed to have it end to soon.
Fernandistein... talk box can be used on most instruments.
Check this one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnR19INlXV8 for Stevie's talk box
There were a few years there when Stevie Wonder was understood to be the best pop artist. It seemed to be universally acknowledged.
A lot of socially conscious music there. Not a big fan of Fulfillingness' First Finale though.
One of the all-time all-timers. Though he had some great (again) all-time hits in the 60s (I was made to Love Her; My Cherie Amour), he was at the top of the industry in the 70s. And I'll just say that- there was a lot of fuckin good music in the 70s. His was among the best.
I hope he has many more great years.
Mark- Fulfillingness' First Finale? Boogie on Reggae Woman, Creepin, You Ain't Done Nuthin'? You need to give it another listen. If you don't have some extremity movin when listening to 'Boogie on Reggae Woman' you're not breathing. Check your pulse.
"Til You Come Back to Me"
Love this, though I could never come up with a good translation for the idiom, "D'accord, amour, adieu."
I've long exhorted in converations & mailing-list threads (that thing before browsers/blogs/chats) with my music-fan/musician friends that those string of lps is the greatest consecutive run in pop history.
Tho the string is 6, not 5, as his first album when no longer under Motown's control of content & production - Where I'm Coming From - is a stunner, especially when you consider it was recorded mostly in 1970 when he was 20. Full of funk and social commentary, not the standard Little Stevie stuff, tho as always with Stevie - upbeat. The songs were all co-writes with Syreeta Wright, who he married in September while the album creation was underway. Plus I'd add her 2 solo records from '72 & '74, which he produced & co-wrote with Syreeta most of the songs. Both have that unmistakable Wonder vibe of his early/mid 70's music.
Jeez. Just listened to the Dylan video. I'm one of those who has spent years trying to 'get' Dylan. He's got the worst voice in the industry. Yes- a great songwriter, but I prefer a songwriter who I can stand to listen to. He's just awful. But I've been coming around. Liking him more as I get older. This video did not help. :)
I didn't replace many of my non-classical LPs with CDs when CDs came in, but I can't do without SITKOL at least!
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So he has his duds too
I'll be loving you always.
https://youtu.be/eLbmdG8U60E
His greatest works are more recent: "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You."
More seriously, my favorite Stevie song is "Superstition."
Back to snarky, which song is worse: "We are the World" or "Do They Know It's Christmas"?
Wonder was a favorite since I was in elementary school, then rediscovered him in high school with his grown up stuff, and listed to him all through college. Not something my friends were in to, but a special thing for me in my car or in my bedroom with headphones. One of those pure talents for whom creating great music seemed effortless. I never imaged him working on a song. He probably did, but I always imagine them just coming out him like a conversation.
Was that a young BaBaBooey Gary DelAbate @1:54 in the foreground working below the camera?
I always liked the song "Too High" about drug addicted girl. A simple song that comes into my head out of nowhere from time to time. It's been doing that for decades.
Wow. New York, just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and everything.
Look here. Run this 'cross the street for me right quick.
My wife worked at the Nordstrom in Pentagon City several years ago. There's a big grand piano in the middle of the store. One night Stevie Wonder came in, was recognized (of course) and asked for autographs. Someone had the sense to ask Stevie to play a song on the piano and he did. My wife tells me that he sounded wonderful in person, and that the joy he imparts in his music came through beautifully. I only wish I could have been there too.
Dylan and Wonder are kind of opposites. Wonder uses some poetry to flesh out his music, but he is pure musicality, and Dylan, well, Dylan does poetry. The music is just a container to hold it.
All is changed with time.
https://youtu.be/1surYguNfEg
I started HS in 1972. Stevie Wonder was there throughout; always enjoyed his music. I never had much interest in the Grammy's, but for some reason I was watching in 1976. Paul Simon won Album of the Year and in his acceptance speech he said "...most of all I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year.".
"You Haven't Done Nothing" is fantastic, with it's blaring horns and Jacksons singing. But hands down "Superstition" is one of the 10 greatest songs of all time.
Rick Beato - What makes this song great - Stevie Wonder
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M7d7AL5Tvn4
I have his retrospective box set, and, damn!, every song from nearly forty years of nonstop creativity is golden..."Creepin" still pops up in my head from time to time.
I always hoped that perhaps Wonder would follow the Johnny Cash path and team up with Rick Rubin. But alas, that hasn't happened. Maybe it still could. The result would probably be pretty amazing.
His string of 5 albums from 1972 to 1976 is probably one of the greatest things that's ever happened in music history
Exactly right except the word "probably."
Stevie was in his teens on the Motown tours and would sexually harass all the female acts. I guess when you're blind it's always like 2AM @ closing time.
You do know You Haven't Done Nothin is an indictment of Nixon in particular and the Southern Strategy in general?
"Fingertips" - the only Stevie Wonder song I like.
I guess when you're blind it's always like 2AM @ closing time.
"You say no but your braille says 'yes'"
He’s got like three good songs. Criminally overrated. Course I’m a punk rocker and think the Beatles sucked even worse. No accounting for taste I suppose.
"You Haven't Done Nothin"- I seem to recall many soldiers gave their lives for somethin in the civil war.
Amazing how whites accept guilt. Good for the soul. Shows you are a good person.
The word “genius” gets thrown around far too often, but Stevie Wonder is surely a genius.
Absolutely agree on the run of great albums in the 70s - albsolute stone classics that sound fresh even today. My favorite is probably “Innervisions” but “Music of My Mind’ ranks right with it.
He was great at cranking out killer pop hits *and* top notch full albums - this is a combination you almost never find. He made it look easy, while writing all the songs and arranging the music and playing most of the instruments!
But don’t sell short his one indispensable album from his younger years though - Greatest Hits Vol. 2. For Once in My Life, My Cherie Amour, Heaven Help Us All, We Can Work It Out, If You Really Love Me, plus several others you probably have not heard before (I had not) but are still great and definitely grow on you.
And he did all that as a teenager! Most artists would kill to make that much great music in their lifetime. Here is a youtube link to the entire album: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lT5TXPBkuQbV0tjVcYANv0FKr3ci7Wqoo&feature=share
It's impossible for me to listen to "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and not feel my mood lift.
You haven't done nothing always head-fakes me into thinking Superstition is being played.
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