Stevie Wonder of the 1970's... Classic/Dud

This doesn't compute at all for me. If you do like someone, then what - you know they're crap and you don't buy the records?

Anyway, classic. Motherfucking stone classic.

i have a bunch of his records = i stole them from my parents

HE DIDNT USE NO DAMNED ASS SYNTHS ON SUPERSTITION. THEY DIDNT HAVE SYNTHS WHEN SUPERSTITION CAME OUT.

?

From the credits to Talking Book: "Stevie Wonder uses the Arp and Moog Synthesizers." Although the main keyboards on "Superstition" are clavinets, the bass is played on a synth (a Moog by the sound of it).

http://www.gti.net/junebug/clavinet/clav.html

define "early 60s"

If by "similar" you mean an electric (as opposed to electronic) keyboard, yes. But the clavinet uses a string and plectrum arrangement similar to the harpsichord, while an electric piano -- whether Rhodes or Wurlitzer -- uses tone bars and hammers.

the beatles had a moog in early 60s

define "early 60s"

Actually, it was 1969. George Harrison used a Moog for his Electronic Sounds album in early 1969, and the synth was brought into Abbey Road for the Beatles in August of that year. (This from The Beatles Recording Sessions.)

I think "Overjoyed" is one of his best tunes and "Part-Time Lover" is underrated, but then there is dreck like "I Just Called To Say I Loved You."

Can't think of anybody since who's hit such a hot streak -- Prince in the mid-80s and Nirvana in the early 90s seemed like cult artists gone massive by comparison. Off The Wall and Thriller were huge, but so far apart that there was no sense of the dominant momentum that Stevie established.

B) And yes, we have net access in Canada.

C) Why on earth would someone pretend to be me? It isn't that interesting a gig...

who knew?

Why on earth would someone pretend to be me? It isn't that interesting a gig...

i think many here would disagree with you on that!

Talking Book > Innervisions
Songs In The Key Of Life > Innervisions
Fulfillingness' First Finale = Innervisions ?? I need one of those "greater than or equal to" signs. Okay maybe Innervisions is top 3, but I'm not sure. I'll have to give them another listen..

As for 70s Stevie (classic), my own ranking of the "big four" goes TB > SitKoL > I > FFF.

And, yeah, startrekman was joking with that "all guitars" line; but dig how Stevie uses Clavinets (I think) in "Big Brother" to accurately approximate the sound of fingerpicked acoustic guitars, for that full protest-song vibe!

No i wasnt, He did use guitars. Well i thought he did.

Perhaps you have conflated the original Superstition with the cover by Beck, Bogert and Appice? In any case, Wonder does not play guitar (or bass guitar); he plays only keyboards, harmonica and drums. And the only other musicians listed on that track are saxophonist Trevor Lawrence (who is listed as "Trevor Laurence") and trumpeter Steve Madaio. In fact, the only guitar at all on the album is on "Maybe Your Baby," on which Ray Parker, Jr. is the guitarist, and "Lookin' for Another Pure Love," which features Jeff Beck and Buzzy Felton (misspelled as "Feton").

There's an interesting twist on which was the original - SW promised to write a song for JB in return for a guest spot by JB on one of his albums (presumably "Looking For Another Pure Love"). SW duly wrote "Superstition" for Jeff. The record company told Stevie they couldn't let him give away a song with that kind of commercial potential so he ended up recording it himself. I don't know if Beck ever got as far as recording the song but if he did there may even be an argument that his is the original.

I talked to my dad later, and told him the only record I found that I really liked was Innervisions and he said "Oh, I never really liked that record, it's too weird for me". Which made sense. So I stole it.

I'd say Innervisions is the best, but only because SITKOL drags in places and the God songs piss me off if I'm not in the right frame of mind.

I've never really listened much to FFF. I should.

I've never really listened much to FFF. I should.

FFF seems to have the most God songs of any of the major mid-70s albums. However, it rules.

It wasn't "a late decision to record it himself." According to the Billboard Book of Rhythm & Blues Hits, Beck had wanted a Wonder song called "Maybe Your Baby," but Wonder didn't want to give it to him. Malcom Cecil (half of Tonto's Expanding Headband and an engineer at Mediasound Studios) recalls it this way; "Stevie says, 'OK, I'll write a song for you.' He asks, 'Mal, are the drums up?' He goes in and plays that drum track, then the clavinet tracks, and from that he says, 'Let me have a mike,' and star5ts singing, 'Very superstitious...'" According to Cecil, Wonder was initially willing to give Beck the song but not the track, but didn't deliver lyrics. Ultimately, Wonder decided, "[Beck] can't have it, I'm going to keep it. It's too good."

So Wonder didn't make a late decision to record the song; his recording was the original version. The BBA version must be considered a cover.

Stevie Wonder's Guitarist

Also:
A Spiritual Journey With Michael Sembello

Fair enough, I stand corrected. That's a more complete (and by the sound of it, more authoritative) version of what happened than I've read before. But the version I previously understood to be correct is pretty widely believed - I've seen versions of it in print more than once.

ppp I still think it did matter whose version came first. When, eg, Carole King decided to record her own songs I don't think that made the original records covers, even though she wrote them *FIRST*. Whether her own versions were covers is more debateable.

me too, i realise he is great but i just don't like his voice at all.

not that it matters all that much, but when you record your own song, whether you record it before you write it, the minute you write it or a decade later, it's still your song, not a cover. there really isn't anything to debate there. it may not be the original version, but it ain't a cover.

This guy is my hero...

dayum

I could listen to that break down of the clavinet parts all freakin day

Super Classic?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPFB-z2ezXk

holy shit, @ 5:29 - 5:30 sounds SO MUCH like rush 2112

uh, 5:29 - 5:32, repeats @ 5:46 - 5:50

since "superstition" is p short here (less than 3 min!), here's the epic live version from sesame street in '73:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE

much more familiar video & a much shoddier tube, but still a fucking jam!

kid @ 0:39 & 4:12 OTFM

probably my favorite live TV performance of anything, ever

b/w funky on the talkbox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDCjA9_-tM

note same tall backup singer w/ glasses from the '74 video

more stevie love! that live show NT2 posted is insane.

holy shit, @ 5:29 - 5:30 sounds SO MUCH like rush 2112

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Friday, June 10, 2011 1:58 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

uh, 5:29 - 5:32, repeats @ 5:46 - 5:50

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Friday, June 10, 2011 2:01 AM Bookmark

GET THEE ONE SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T5q7BzpEe4

Man, John Swenson wasn't kidding when he said the live versions of "Contusion" walked all over the SITKOL recording.

yeah, i really should. love 70s stevie and own most of the rest. i mean, i have heard "confusion" before, but not often, and now wonder why i never caught the super-obvious "2112" connection. great song!