POLL IN THE KEY OF LIFE

Soooo "Another Star".

"Isn't She Lovely"? Too obvious?

"Pastime Paradise". Which is brilliant even though LV - and later Coolio - tried to destroy it close 20 years later. "Joy Inside My Tears", "Love's In Need Of Love Today" and "Village Ghetto Land" are also brilliant, and you gotta love those Yamaha CS80 string sounds!

The two singles here are often way overrated when compared to most of the rest of the album.

Weren't there 4 singles off this album? (I Wish, Sr Duke, As and Another Star)

Ja.

XP I thought about the two most famous ones, but "Another Star" isn't any good at all. "As" is a great song though, at least until it speeds up towards the end.

Coolio ruined Pastime Paradise for me. Coolio... and Michelle Pfeiffer. Though relistening to it, it is a pretty fucking great song.

I'm gonna stick with Isn't She Lovely, tho. Cause it's absolutely lovely.

Both "Pastime Paradise" and "Gangsta's Paradise" are great. Don't be a mentalist.

I'm not saying Gangsta's Paradise is bad. Just that I can't listen to the original without hearing it.

This list was gonna make me insane so I just went with my gut and voted for "I Wish" because it has everything I ever wanted in a single and it was #1 and made my 10 year old self dance all over the place.

"as" is one of my favorite songs of all time. it gets teh vote.

Weren't there 4 singles off this album? (I Wish, Sr Duke, As and Another Star)

those are my favorites on the album. voted for "as".

"Isn't She Lovely" is lovely - and might have won my vote, if it weren't for the annoying baby noises in the coda (yes, I know, who could hate on baby noises? - I have a heart of stone, I guess - I could also do without the harmonica solo).

"Both "Pastime Paradise" and "Gangsta's Paradise" are great. Don't be a mentalist."

That video (and Michelle Pfeiffer) is awful. It does kind of ruin the latter for me. Nothing can ruin the former though.

Am I wrong in saying the ep kind of sucks? "All Day Sucker" is kind of its saving grace.

Heaven help ILM if "Joy Inside My Tears", "Love's In Need Of Love Today" or "Village Ghetto Land" gets more votes than "Summer Soft."

"Joy Inside My Tears" and "Village Ghetto Land" are two of my favorite songs on the album.

And "Love's In Need Of Love Today" is mine

Am I wrong in saying the ep kind of sucks?

Not at all. I usually stop befor the EP tracks. The album is long enough already, and the EP tracks aren't worth the wait.

And XP those are all wonderful ballads. Precisely what Wonder is best at.

Yeah, those aren't exactly my three least favorite songs on the album (well, except for "Joy Inside My Tears," which is ... sorry Reverend), but I was obviously being pointed.

Geir, you and I probably agree a lot on what are Wonder's best songs (i.e. "You and I"), but you'd have to be willfully, stubbornly against all things rhythm to have a problem with "Another Star." That bridge is every bit as gorgeous as the last minute of "You and I" or "Lately."

Anyway, "Summer Soft" is the song that got me seriously into Stevie, so it has that nostalgic value going for it. (Go figure, it's a song about nostalgia and the swiftness of time!)

My least favorite major Stevie album ("If It's Magic," ugh). "Knocks Me Off My Feet" for me.

Am I wrong in saying the ep kind of sucks?

Saturn and Ebony Eyes are great! I don' care much for the other two. I Wish is definitely my favorite song on the album. Then As and Summer Soft.

Yeah, never front on "Ebony Eyes" y'all.

this Ebony Eyes >>> that Ebony Eyes

i totally just thought this said "pocky in the key of life"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Pocky_strawberry.jpg/300px-Pocky_strawberry.jpg

My vote went to "Another Star," though if you'd asked me in fall 2001 it would have been "Love's in Need of Love Today."

Songs that I predict will get 0 votes:
"Contusion" (Wonder) – 3:45
"Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing" (Wonder) – 3:48
"If It's Magic" (Wonder) – 3:12

Songs I might add to that list:

"Have a Talk with God" (Hardaway/Wonder) – 2:42
"Ordinary Pain" (Wonder) – 6:23
"Ebony Eyes" (Wonder) – 4:08
"Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)" (Wonder) – 3:56

Then again, I never know which polls are going to generate 10 votes and which are going to generate 100.

"Sir Duke," duh.

Not that I'd vote for it but "If It's Magic" doesn't deserve 0 votes. I have never accepted the hatred that people meet when they try experimenting with pre-rock popular music genres (see also "When I'm 64" and "Honey Pie")

pipecock OTM for once. "as" is sooooo good.

i'd also rank "black man", "sir duke" and "contusion" up there with it.

"as" is the masterclass in changing gears from ballad to dancefloor though there's a few other stevie wonder tracks that pull off the same trick

Nobody changed gears from slow to fast (although not neccessarily particularly dancefloor) like the mid 70s incarnation of Genesis :)

"Sir Duke," duh.

Agreed. Lotta great songs on this record, but Sir Duke is unbeatable. It's gotta be one of the most joyful songs ever committed to vinyl. Funnily enough, at least a couple of other songs that would make it on to such a list are Stevie ones as well.

I also love how it's essentially a song about music. ILM.

"Sir Duke" is nice, but I don't see why "I Wish" is supposed to be so great.

C'mon. Who doesn't get nostalgic about being spanked?

Steve Wonder's parents didn't spank him when they wanted to punish him. They rearranged the furniture in his room.

"I Wish" is the best thing he ever did, so there.

"Songs in the key of life" is a weird one for me, because when i first heard it, I was kinda meh, then I went through a six month period when i was convinced it was the greatest thing ever recorded, and then i drifted back into benign indifference.

This is a very hard call, but in the end I went with As, although I could just as easily have gone with Sir Duke, I Wish or Another Star or maybe even Knocks Me Off My Feet.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"I Wish"

I have to admit, Happy Feet killed a small piece of my love for "I Wish."

"Wild Wild West" did even more to destroy whatever enjoyment I might have had of it before.

"Knocks Me Off My Feet" just gets me everytime.

I love that chorus.

another star is maybe the best song ever written.

Me, I think that EP's just fine & that its four songs should've been portioned out to each of the four imperfect LP-sides in place of the coupla overlong sluggish ones. (In fact, since this is ILM, it's my DUTY to vote for the truly angular "All Day Sucker", so consider it done.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not bad.

Wow, at least someone else voted for "Summer Soft." Things in ILM will be OK.

We did a pretty good job predicting the zero votes.

I wasn't aware that many people liked "Love's In Need Of Love Today". I thought I was more or less the only one who had that one as one of my favs on the album.

Also, the perfect thread to pay tribute to this wonderful and underrated instrument:
http://www.hammondhire.com/gallery/images/8F584946-1143-369D-C49A3313098A6AA4.jpg

Oh, hell yeah!

now jamming: "Black Man"

Soooo "Another Star".

-- The Reverend, Friday, December 14, 2007 3:18 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

"Another Star" sounds exactly like those Brasilo-disco-fusion Flora Purim records my dad always played when I was a kid.

This record (Everyday, Everynight) = the bizness
http://dellton.com/culture/archives/everyday_everynight.jpeg

flora purim is the shit btw

FLORA PURIM IS THE SHIT BTW

Hey I like "Joy Inside My Tears" now.

Still can't see how "Another Star" only ended up with 3 votes, though.

Don't blame me.

I always thought Pastime Paradise was his ELO rip (specifically, Tightrope from a New World Record)

I know I voted "Summer Soft," but "Another Star" would've easily been my pragmatic vote.

Why was I hating on "Ebony Eyes"?

I don't know how a song with as wild a bassline as "Joy Inside My Tears" could've ever sounded bad to me.

That bright sunny organ riff that opens the second chorus of "Summer Soft" is the most perfect thing ever, right? And then he repeats the damn "Golden Lady" trick. Goddam.

Everything about "Summer Soft" is the most perfect thing ever.

id fade black man early, and loves in need could probably do with an edit but theres not a bad song on this album. the only song i dont particularly like is i wish but i wouldnt say its a 'bad' song.

Gotta remember that titchy assembles his arguments by randomly piecing together cut-up squares of paper containing half-true statements. It's like a Challops-o-Matic.

― Tim F, Saturday, February 14, 2009 2:57 PM Bookmark

well done. you remembered a post made about me 2 months ago. excellent referencing.

No really, if you are a person who doesn't think "Summer Soft" is a perfect record, I basically hate you.

But with a hate that comes from love.

Every time I listen to "Black Man," I keep expecting one of the lines to end with 'the Good Humor man.'

Song kicks so much fucking ass.

I rly love "Have a Talk with God," too, even as an atheist – kind of helps me dig why people would go for that.

No love for "Contusion"?

Yeah srsly a lot of these no-vote songs are good-to-great:

"Ebony Eyes"
"Saturn"
"Have a Talk with God"
"Contusion" (fucking out of control good!)
"Black Man"

"Another Star" is just decent but I'm sure I'll change my mind on that someday.

the middle of ordinary pain is great

the every part of Ordinary Pain is great. so sad it got no votes.

"Another Star" is majestically more than just decent. Most of these songs deserved at least a vote, tho. Even "If It's Magic," which doesn't do much for me in the harp-accompaniment version, sounds gorgeous on Stevie's piano demo included as a snipped on that VH1 "behind the album" special.

"Saturn" = John
"Ebony Eyes" = Paul
"All Day Sucker" = George
"Easy Goin' Evening" - Ringo

??????

there's some TV thing where Stevie's talking about the Beatles and goes one by one naming ways each of them was special and then gets to the end and kinda pauses and goes "the...voice of Ringo," which always cracked me up. i wonder if he was thinking "fuck him, even i play drums better than Ringo."

I've never gotten the "Ringo is a shitty drummer" meme. Stevie is probably a better drummer, but that's no slight on Ringo. I mean Ringo's no powerhouse, but he's highly a highly musical drummer and has a lot more character than most.

Stevie is a phenomenal drummer, so there is no "even I" about it.

Both are fantastic drummers.

I got nothing against Ringo. I'm just saying, the way Stevie hesitated was hilarious.

The hoots, howls, and cackles in the background of "I Wish".

Some one needs to sample the opening drum-break from "All Day Sucker" like ASAP

An album SO FREAKING GREAT that 'Knocks Me Off My Feet' isn't even considered to be in it's Top 5 songs.

SHES A DEVASTATING BEAUTY A PRETTY GIRL WITH EBONY EYES

fuck.............. this song is sooo.............damn

damn

daamn

BSQUIGGLE-BOOM-BAP BSQUIGGLE-BOOM-BAP BSQUIGGLE-BOOM-BAP BSQUIGGLE-BOOM-BAP

Some one needs to sample the opening drum-break from "All Day Sucker" like ASAP

― The Reverend, Friday, January 8, 2010 9:38 PM Bookmark

and damn, what's up with those kids chanting at the end of "saturn"???? i alwasy skip it when i'm sober

how did "contusion" get no votes?

Some one needs to sample the opening drum-break from "All Day Sucker" like ASAP

― The Reverend, Friday, January 8, 2010 9:38 PM Bookmark

― gucci mane leflaur leflah eshkoshka (The Reverend), Saturday, April 17, 2010 12:23 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how did "contusion" get no votes?

or ordinary pain?!

or them all

or "if it's magic" honestly

i think "joy inside my tears" is my favorite, with "contusion" being up there as well. but really this album is tremendous.

Every song apart from Isn't She Lovely deserves a vote on this. Not sure what I'd pick though, I used to say Love's In Need of Love Today but All Day Sucker and Joy Inside My Tears are up there too. This is my favourite Stevie album and my favourite double album ever.

I'm fine with "Easy Goin Evening" getting zero votes. And "Isn't She Lovely" is top 5 off this album.

this is sophie's choice ish imo

the songs on the bonus EP >>> most of the regular album tracks

I'm firmly against that position. "All Day Sucker" is the only ufwable keeper of the four, and even that isn't as good as roughly half the album tracks. Get real.

this is Stevie Wonder. When is "real" ever relevant?

"Ebony Eyes" and "All Day Sucker" I'll take over "Summersoft," "Ordinary Pain."

What is this, prenuptial negotiations? There is nothing better in the world than "Summer Soft."

good! We were getting on too well. Now we know I'll use the guest room a few times a month.

You should probably know I play that song every day.

the ONLY song I won't go to bat for is Saturn which I've always found totally disposable.

It's got some of the stupidest lyrics in an album not wanting for contenders to the title. The changes are consistently surprising tho.

structurally, it's an interesting song, i agree.

you gotta love those Yamaha CS80 string sounds!

This wouldn't be an ILM thread without a bit of Geir misinformation: it's the "Dream Machine" -- the Yamaha GX-1.

Not sure if I voted in this but my faves outside of Sir Duke/I Wish have always been Summer Soft, As, Joy Inside My Tears, Ordinary Pain, Knocks Me Off My Feet, and Pastime Paradise in that order.

I get why some people might think this record is bloated but I love so many of these songs deeply.

Standing outside the school gates for my bus, circa 1978, and an older black kid walks by with a massive old-skool ghettoblaster on his shoulder pumping out the first few bars of Sir Duke. A musical revelation like no other for me.

^valuable new posters

the songs on the bonus EP >>> most of the regular album tracks

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 14, 2013

as much as I like "All Day Sucker" and "Ebony Eyes", that's just insane

omg "knocks me off my feet", another amazing one

OK, more like "many" than "most". But who really cares, it's all good.

xpost

this fuckin beautiful fuckin record

Summer Soft
Another Star
Sir Duke
Isn't She Lovely
Black Man
As
All Day Sucker
Contusion
Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing
Ordinary Pain
I Wish
Joy Inside My Tears
Knocks Me Off My Feet
Saturn
Pastime Paradise
Love's in Need of Love Today
Ebony Eyes
Village Ghetto Land
Have a Talk with God
If It's Magic
Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

hey you guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T3FucGDSI0

fell in love with "All Day Sucker" last week, particularly the guitar and clavinet riffs competing for attention.

huh i never realized 'i wish' was supposed to start side 2, on cd 'sir duke' > 'i wish' is this unbelievable high point in the middle

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/wonder-76.php

I mean, lots of people ask me about this record--not pros, or fans, just contemporaries, give or take five years on the up side and 15 on the down. To an extent, their curiosity reflects a suspense hyped up by titanic money battles and Stevie's perfectionitis in the studio and then relieved by the evidence on the radio that at least their anticipation would not end in flatulent letdown. But it also reflects something more sustaining. People care about Stevie Wonder--they like him, they respect him, they find pleasure and hope in him. And while it is impossible to credit this audience with critical reserve--the $13.98 double-LP was instant number one--it is also impossible, at least for me, to fault its faith. Frankly, I was expecting a letdown. This is one of those instances when the audience knew better. That's one of the rewards of being a rock critic sometimes.

http://andreaocello.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Stevie-were-almost-finished1-700x1024.png

how is this album this good, also how did nobody vote for Saturn. BELATED VOTE

also how did Joy Inside My Tears only get one vote, I guess it is full of pretty damn good voting options

how did he know how to sound like a computer in 1979, Have A Talk With God sounds like a computer, how

another thing that struck me hearing this is how toweringly influential it's been, everything sounds like it

*1976!!!

def would've considered giving a vote to "joy inside my tears," but not over "as" or "another star"

no-vote songs that deserve love: "contusion," "ordinary pain," "ebony eyes"

yes, those all bang insanely hard

it feels like there are a number of albums that when you join ILM you should be physically sat down and forced to listen to and this is one of them

I'd love to buy that

WE'RE
ALMOST
FINISHED

shirt except I think people today would misinterpret it.

Summer Soft
Another Star
Sir Duke
Isn't She Lovely
Black Man
As
All Day Sucker
Contusion
Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing
Ordinary Pain
I Wish
Joy Inside My Tears
Knocks Me Off My Feet
Saturn
Pastime Paradise
Love's in Need of Love Today
Ebony Eyes
Village Ghetto Land
Have a Talk with God
If It's Magic
Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Sunday, June 22, 2014 12:14 AM (eight years ago)

Pretty close, even still. "As" jumps up a few spots for being the closings song at my wedding. "Joy Inside My Tears" jumps up for finally clicking into place from a live performance of it in the SITKOL tour some years back.

Summer Soft
Another Star
Sir Duke
As
Isn't She Lovely
Black Man
Joy Inside My Tears
All Day Sucker
Contusion
Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing
Knocks Me Off My Feet
Ordinary Pain
I Wish
Saturn
Pastime Paradise
Love's in Need of Love Today
Have a Talk with God
Ebony Eyes
Village Ghetto Land
If It's Magic
Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

Seeing my guitar teacher's cover band do Stevie Wonder tonight! Gonna be like 30 people onstage, lol. We were just talking about Stevie last week, too. People tend to overlook that Music Of My Mind was something like his 14th (!) album.

picking Saturn as your favorite track on both discs of Key is some megacontrarian ish

I've always assumed saturn was a nod to sun ra (fellow auteur / synth pioneer) but I haven't seen any confirmation. they had to be aware of each other. the lyrics a characteristically more cuddly but feel like a spin on an outer spaceways / we'll wait for you type thing. genius attributes it all to the god which is a partial reading at best

people are underrating if it's magic, it's a gorgeous bit of water nymph repose, in fact I want a whole album of just his voice and dorothy ashby's playing

I might rate all day sucker over superstition some days

the turn in ordinary pain is so fucking great as well (and feels pretty real) it works on all kinds of levels

10/10 great album no notes

picking Saturn as your favorite track on both discs of Key is some megacontrarian ish

― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 9 February 2023 16:28 (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol it was a first-listen kneejerk, am sure something else will emerge. all so good it's hard to say anything's the best tbh, that one absolutely slayed me tho

just staggered by how good the album actually is

Still my least favorite of the classic Wonder-ful run, but that's like complaining you sit in the outskirts of heaven.

Feeling 'Ordinary Pain' very much this morning.

masochistic fool

The changes in "Saturn" are almost as surprising as the ones in "Sir Duke"

Still my least favorite of the classic Wonder-ful run, but that's like complaining you sit in the outskirts of heaven.

otm. I posted this on another thread after I saw Stevie play this album in 2014, but after he played "I Wish" I thought, ok, nap time. WRONG. The live performance really turned me around on this album. It's still not my favorite -- that'd be Innervisions -- but I started to appreciate it a lot more after the show.

And while "Contusion" on the record is fine, this performance is one of my favorite things he's ever done (at 5:40):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZmJ3Q7SfHE

Yeah, "Contusion" in studio has the feeling of overworked MOR dough

I'd rate the classic run:

Innervisions
FFF
SITKOL
Music of My Mind
Talking Book

Hotter Than July isn't typically included in there, but it'd go in between FFF and SITKOL.

rate schmate they're all gold

contusion is great its stevie doing prog! its all part of the soup you can't take away any ingredient

that live version is wild though

how do we feel about the plants one?

It's mostly marvelous, actually.

One of Pitchfork's best reappraisals: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/stevie-wonder-stevie-wonders-journey-through-the-secret-life-of-plants/

I think somewhere I did a re-rack of the songs in pop album-friendly format, and it's a killer album also

Ah yes, here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Z69745FY6FXJe3lGaUSmi?si=7451e7976911485b

A little ballad heavy, but so is Talking Book

lj, i envy you first listenings of this album for real for real
you'll want to make your way to the rest of his catalog shortly

for real also that plants playlist is another great album

is there a good album/comp/playlist for pre-70s stuff? I barely know it except for a couple of singles

Those pre-auteur singles are great to incredible.

like Marvin Gaye, Stevie could've died in 1970 and still been remembered as a great singer

If you can find this compilation on vinyl, get it. It's got all the highlights.

ty I don't have a record player but I can find the audio

Honestly, a lot of the album cuts from those early albums are great, too. The more James Jamerson, the merrier!

"If It's Magic" and "Have A Talk With God" both deserved votes, but with such wall-to-wall excellence some things had to get overlooked

“knocks me off my feet”

damn I love this album

I've always assumed saturn was a nod to sun ra (fellow auteur / synth pioneer) but I haven't seen any confirmation. they had to be aware of each other. the lyrics a characteristically more cuddly but feel like a spin on an outer spaceways / we'll wait for you type thing

as much as i love sun ra and stevie wonder, this seems highly dubious. sun ra was pretty obscure back then (and now, honestly) and his private press record label even moreso

besides, outer space / ufo imagery is pretty common in pop music. marvin gaye did “funky space reincarnation” the same year, and this was around the time that norman whitfield was getting heavy into ufo stuff, though his all-time-great ufo believer anthem “space machine” (from undisputed truth’s “smokin”) was still a couple years away (1979). there’s other examples but you probably get the point

this album has more excellent songs than most manage in their entire lives

big fan of "saturn" myself as well

dunno if it would be my #1 pick on here but top 5 sure

"Pastime Paradise", "I Wish", "Knocks Me Off My Feet"

There are just sounds that are inherently euphoric and this album is those

honestly saturn is prob my least favorite song on here. and it's still a very good song!

Pastime Paradise was my favourite for years until Sir Duke overtook it in recent years.

Secret Life of Plants is indeed excellent.

Am I the only person on earth whose favourite Stevie song is from the 90s? (Chemical Love)

You might be. "Feeding Off the Love of the Land" is my '90s Stevie pick.

"Chemical Love" is catchy as hell.

Around 2011 I used to annoy a student at the office by playing "Chemical Love," a cut from Agharta, and Disco Inferno.

Three of my favourite things right there

I used to annoy my college roommate with Basement Jaxx's "Being with U"

I definitely think the Jungle Fever soundtrack is his best album post-Hotter Than July.

you and I, dear, are unusually aligned this morning -- killer to killer

Yeah it's fantastic. Just this week I encouraged my friend to hear it.

Cover band nailed it last night. 15 people, horns, backing vocalists, etc. My buddy (50) and me (hovering under 50) were impressed that we were not only still among the youngest ones there, but surrounded by so many people that knew every single word by heart. My friend figured it out fast. "Dude," he said (he starts a lot of sentences with dude), "I was born in 1973. A lot of these people are 10 or more years older than me, which means Stevie was hitting his stride right at their childhood sweet spot. This is their formative music." And he was right. So many joyful people, fun to watch the way Stevie's songs just lit them up.

The trivia of the night was that three people on stage (mostly session players and the like) had actually shared a stage with Stevie before. One was in the choir for the local "Songs in the Key of Life" tour stop. One played in the band at Aretha Franklin's funeral. One played with Stevie Wonder at the Kennedy Center back in 1999.

Etsy has the T-shirt btw

https://images.app.goo.gl/FGXA3PGe8sq6qoc16

Gah. It’s on Etsy anyway.

Tracking this thread and going down Stevie rabbit holes, I am realizing that there are exactly zero Stevie live releases between 1970 and 1995! How on god's green earth did that happen??

Supposedly a live Stevie/Stones album was planned in 1972, but was obviously never released, likely owing to the complexities of navigating how Motown's (or Atlantic's) biggest act could appear on another label.

Also, there was tons of friction between the two acts at the time

Natural Wonder is so fuckin' good though, especially "Ribbon in the Sky" at the Sky Fallin' section at 6.07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHETurMoVVo

Even though it's not a patch on the decades prior, i will also rep for a great deal of Conversation Peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tI8j6Ma394

Was listening to the previous album today and enjoying it! Really great spiky keyboard style, feels very unusual and even experimental for such a huge act. Sorry to repeat what everyone's known for 50 years lol

what is "the previous album" in that sentence?

for pre-70's stevie: Uptight, Down to Earth, I Was Made to Love Her, For Once in My Life and My Cherie Amour are all chockablock full of necessary tracks and only rare missteps. Plus you get to hear him cover "Light My Fire" on harmonica!

Fulfillingness' First Finale I mean

Summer Soft and Ordinary Pain also ones to not overlook

Fulfillingness is solid gold stuff

Maybe it's covered somewhere in one of the books about his career, but it's still a huge mystery to me that "As" and "Another Star" underperformed so much as singles (both stalling out in the 30s).

Most listeners already had the album by the time those singles came out, nearly a year after the album.

That's plausible. Also, if neither song was cut down from their 8-minute fullness, that'd be tough to slot.

"Another Star" was, according to Aletti, a pretty massive disco DJ hit.

"As" was part of enough childhoods for Mary J. Blige and George Michael to cover it.

That's what sort of spurred the question, the fact that their cover may have been a bigger hit overall than the original

Which, as much as I love GM and MJB, seems like a historical wrong

I’m just hoping Alfred has reconsidered his untenable position on “Summer Soft” over the past decade.

I do not fuxx with anyone who can't get with "Summer Soft"

I’m just hoping Alfred has reconsidered his untenable position on “Summer Soft” over the past decade.

― Naive Teen Idol,

if it's magiiiiic

If it's boring

I've reconsidered my untenable position