The Stevie I mainly think of though is not the young kid, but the man. The kid wasn't that impressive for me, yes he was a prodigy but prodigies are nothing more than great imitators, in fact it is well known that uptight was a copy of Satisfaction that he heard on tour with the Stones.

Proof?

And no, i didn't mean that his first album was as a twelve year old, I really meant his first album was the one that he created "Music of My Mind" , after his 21'st birthday when he fought for creative freedom and got it. But you must remember and not minimize, Marvin Gayes break throughs at motown and how they left room for stevie to do the same. I know people love Stevie and I do to, I adore him, but that shouldn't get in the way of objectivity. And I still say Sly is the true father of funk, I know there were other contributers but Sly is the genius behind it. James Brown is just as great but I've always thought of him as doing his own "my thang" and I don't think anyone has ever stole as much from him as they did from Sly. Sly was revolutionary and I'll be damned if he's forgotten about.[/quote]

Sly deserves his props,but if anybody is forgetting about Sly, and believe me,I'm not,Sly's degeneration is partially responsible for this!! He definitely was revolutionary, but there were others before him and their contributions should not be forgotten.[/quote]

It's been fairly well documented that stevie got uptight off of gigging with the stones, there is no better proof though than to just listen to it. Once when someone was claiming how white rockers ripped off black music stevie put the guy in check and stated that it worked both ways, he did this because the artist knows better than anyone.
Yes I know Sly is a ghost, that's no excuse, if we can celebrate Hendrix after he killed himself it has always mystified me that we wouldn't do the same with Sly, who was just as great in my opinion. Also, I am an Injun, so I know that it is not easy for any minority in this country to deal with the ambivalence of success in this country and it's ramifications and implications, as sly said on riot; "Dyin' young is hard to take, selling out is harder". His endpoint shouldn't diminish his greatness, just as Ali's horrible performances as he got older should in no way reflect upon what he once was.

Stevie's stuff was getting very funky from around 1967, when the clavinet was used more and more and the Funk Brothers, quite simply, funked.

1968's "For Once In My Life" album is extremely funky. The style was continued later on his 1970 album "Signed Sealed Delivered". "Where I'm Coming From" bridges the gap from this material and "Music Of My Mind". These two albums are in some ways the most interesting of all of Stevie's since they represent a fascinating time during which Stevie was just finding a new direction. Both often sit on the shelf for far too long while we (Stevie fans) break out "Talking Book", "Innervisions" or "Songs In The Key Of Life". They always sound fresh, enigmatic and interesting, more so perhaps for this very reason.

Note: James Jamerson has a fair shout at being considered the funkiest bassest of all time, no question.

Note: James Jamerson has a fair shout at being considered the funkiest bassest of all time, no question. [/quote]

No doubt, the greatest bassist ever in my opinion.

I think his most Stevie-sounding song is "My Love Is Forever". It wouldn't sound out of place on Innervisions.

The remix of "The Future" has that very Superstition-esque bassline but I din't know if Prince recorded that or if it was added by William Orbit and Mark Moore.

okaypimpn said:

Not so much the media as Berry Gordy...cuz he played all the instruments on "Prince" I believe. They tried to make him a...ahh, wait a minute. Got to go get the book on the man

TheBoostress said:

OK, can't find it, cuz it's at my momma's house (hopefully). It was in the liner notes to something because he was such a young-un on For You.

okaypimpn said:

My Moms graduated high school in '65, was kinda militant and did not appreciate Inner Visions (that's the one w/Jeff Beck, right?). (Let me explain, I LOVE Stevie. My Mom's friends tell me some of my first sort of words from the crib were, "Sye sye sye I yours"...and he wrote "It's a Shame" for The Spinners, which is an all time fave til this day. I always felt Steveland Morris ....I was born in '68 by the way)

So after worship Stevie for all these years, taking Moms word for some things, imagine my surprise when a friend played for me "Maybe Your Baby". Uh, is Camille in 'da house? And this is after pouring over Songs in the Key of Life...learning Braille in case I ever met him (which I did in church)!

I feel really blessed to have seen these 2 powerhouses...and yeah, Strange Relationshp is quite Stevie-ish...kinda Ordinary Thangish. I'd love to see them together...with Sly to do If You Want Me To Stay

mozfonky said:

Oh, most definitely! I never said that Sly was not an innovator in pop-soul music because he was!!! I'm just making the point that he wasn't the first soul artist to use the clavinet and I seriously doubt that Stevie was inspired to use it more in his music because of Sly. Plus the fact, Stevie predominately used the clavinet from his music of '69-'73, but most of his music during this period was incorporated with the Moog and Arp Synths.

BTW, which first Stevie album are you referring to that you didn't like?

TheBoostress said:

Good point! It was discussed in another thread that Prince was probably influenced to use the Camile voice from listening to Sly's "If You Want Me To Stay," but I would argue that it was Stevie's "Maybe Your Baby" that influced Prince to speed up his vocals.