Did I Hear You Say HOTTER THAN JULY Poll?

Only undeniable dud track for me is "Happy Birthday." Really totally torn between "Did I Hear," "All I Do," "Rocket Love," "Do Like You" and "Lately." And then the other four are really great too.

you might want to try this on ilm.

Oops.

shouldn't this be an ILM?

Anyway, "Do Like You" and "Cash In Your Face" blur together. You're right about "Happy Birthday." The rest is pure craft, and damn proud of it. I can vote for "All I Do," "Master Blaster," or "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" (which is still underrated for being one of his biggest hits).

Mod request filed.

I don't expect too many who weren't exposed to this album before grade school as I was would have as much connection to "Do Like You," but there it is.

"Lately" is the one here that is up on par with his brilliant 70s work.

Master Blaster...so spooky and perfect.

Any answer is right, short of "Birthday" and maybe "Cash in Your Face."

I WOULD-NOT-DO-THAT-TO-A DOOOOGHHHHHHHHHG

Actually, I take that back and vote for "Lately", but damn I think this may be my secret favorite Stevie record. Alf otm about this being his craftiest album. There should have been seven singles off of this.

Wow, looking at the tracklist this really does look like one of his absolute best! I should put it on more often. Um um. Really tough to choose between:

Rocket Love
I Ain't Gonna Stand For It
Master Blaster (Jammin')
Cash In Your Face

"Master Blaster" is probably stuck in my head more than any of the others, but I really really love the hook on "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It"... Can't decide.

It's like, yeah I know the whole point of this album, so critical history has written it now anyway, was to reiterate his pop chops after Life of Plants. Calculation never sounded so good, tho.

Doesn't help that I adore disco and post-disco dance music.

Sorry, doesn't HURT

Wow. I'm stunned at the "Happy Birthday" hatred. Would that all message songs were so funky, soulful, and ebullient (see also "Don't Drive Drunk"). It's like "Master Blaster (Jammin')" trying to pass into that universal, authorless state of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" and the no-longer-authorless-just-ask-the-stormtroopers-at-Warner-Chappel-Music "Happy Birthday to You" (you do know it's sung at tons of birthday parties right after the Warner Chappel one, right?). The USA Govt. Inc. should hire Wonder to rewrite various national anthems and holiday favorites (oh don't worry, Warner Chappel - all performance and synchronization rights will revert to you).

I don't disagree with that. "Dud" might be a bit harsh. It's just not quite up to the rollicking standards of the rest of the album for me.

I don't mind the sentiment behind "Happy Birthday," but even for 1980 the arrangement is incredibly dinky.

'happy birthday' is awesome you fools, the dinkiness of the track, sounding like a bontempi preset, is all part of the charm!!

cant believe no one voting 'as if you read my mind'

between that and rocket love, all i do and master blaster

'lately' wins my vote tho

I'm actually looking forward to the results of this one (I mean, assuming that more than 8 people vote) because I don't presume either "Master Blaster" or "Lately" will just run away with it to the extent that "Superstition" did the Talking Book poll...

cant believe no one voting 'as if you read my mind'

-- deej, Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:23 AM (Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:23 AM) Bookmark Link

oh, I love it, but you can only choose one

Bump

Lately easily.

Five votes for "Happy Birthday"? Disappointed that my two strongest runners up for my vote -- "Did I Hear" and "Rocket Love" -- were the only two that racked up zilch.

Boy, have I never been able to get into this. And I've tried.

it's his most easily get-into-able album!

Five votes for "Happy Birthday"? Disappointed that my two strongest runners up for my vote -- "Did I Hear" and "Rocket Love" -- were the only two that racked up zilch.

Permalink
― Eric H., Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:25 PM Bookma

yaah wtf

Kind of amazed nobody went for "Rocket Love," such a great hook, or maybe I just can't separate it from the interpolation on GZA's "Cold World."

Those "Happy Birthday" votes still burn.

About time to initiate another year of spinning this for 3 months solid.

heatwave music

alll iiii doooooo

isthinkaboutyouuu

Did I Hear You Say You Love Me 0

this is outrageous

Rocket Love at 0 votes also a crime.

total Brad music

The amount of votes this one got ... also a crime.

This is a 100 vote album, you monsters.

The correct song topped the poll. Great album, though - still bizarrely underrated by some.

feel like this one might have been during a service outage or sandbox period or something? or we'd done it recently?

All I do is think that All I do is the best track on here

Happy Birthday!!!! 5 votes!!!! FFS

I remember throwing a bbq back in the pre-streaming days, and I thought it was safe to just leave my iPod on shuffle as a playlist.
Then "Happy Birthday" popped up on the shuffle, and everyone stopped mid-conversation to demand "wait, what the fuck are you playing?" It was like I tried to spin the teletubbies theme song or something.
I think it was after that that i started curating my party playlists.

happy birthday is good jfc

ok brad, i'll give 'hotter than july' a spin today with fresh ears. i don't think i've actually listened to 'happy birthday' since that ipod shuffle debacle.

I have always been a huge fan of Lately. The cover Jodeci did for MTV Unplugged in 92 was the first time I ever heard it, since Hotter than July came out before I was born. I remember being 10 years old and hearing the Unplugged version on the radio, and immediately taping it onto whatever cassette I had in my boombox at the time. I wasn't able to tape the whole song, but I played the hell out of the part that I was able to get. I know Stevie is king, but I stilly actually prefer the Jodeci version to TBH.