Stevie is one of the rare artists who's respected by people in all walks of life. 1970-1980 the man was in the ZONE!!! So many hits, So many album cuts that are classics, the top notch songwritting, great musicanship, what more can I say?

namepeace said:

I completely agree

Marrk said:

Nope,'Hotter Than July' was released in the fall of 1980.

psykosoul said:

Didn't Stevie win the "Best Album" Grammy four years in a row? In 1975,the Best Album Award was given to Paul Simon,who actually thanked Stevie for not releasing an album that year

I love Stevie to death, but the greatest run by a solo artist? That gotta be James Brown from 1960 - 1970, the most successful black entertainer in music history.Just have a look at the album releases alone (singles would make another list). Don't forget that in the 1960s, albums were rare, singles were the thing. But the material on these albums is the nucleus of African American music culture.

1960
- Think

1961
- The Amazing James Brown
- James Brown Presents His Band Night Train

1962
- Shout and Shimmy
- JB and His Famous Flames Tour The U.S.A.

1963
- Live at the Apollo
- Prisoner of Love

1964
- Pure Dynamite: Live at the Royal
- Showtime
- Please Please Please (K909 reissue of K610)
- Grits and Soul
- Out of Sight
- The Unbeatable JameslBrown/16 Hits (King K919 reissue of K635)

1965
- Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

1966
- I Got You (I Feel Good)
- JB Plays JB Today and Yesterday
- Mighty Instrumentals
- JB Plays New Breed (The Boo- Ga-Loo)
- It's A Man's Man's Man's World
- Christmas Songs
- Handful of Soul

1967
- The James Brown Show
- Raw Soul
- JB Plays the Real Thing
- Live at the Garden
- Cold Sweat

1968
- JB Presents His Show of Tomorrow
- I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)
- I Got the Feelin
- JB Plays Nothing But Soul
- Live at the Apollo
- JB Sings Out of Sight (Smash S67109 reissue of S67058)
- Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things
- A Soulful Christmas

1969
- Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud
- Gettin' Down To It
- The Popcorn
- It's a Mother

1970
- Ain't It Funky
- Soul on Top
- It's a New Day - Let a Man Come In
- Sex Machine
- Hey America

And the first few years of the 1970s were groundbreaking as well:

1971
- Super Bad
- Sho Is Funky Down Here
- Hot Pants
- Revolution of the Mind

1972
- Soul Classics
- There It Is
- Get on the Good Foot

1973
- Black Caesar
- Slaughter's Big Rip-off
- Soul Classics, Volume 2

1974
- The Payback
- Hell

1975
- Reality
- Sex Machine Today
- Everybody's Doin' the Hustle and Dead on the Double Bump


Gotta say it .. can' beat him!

Ubiquity,what would you say is James Brown's masterpiece? You know....the album that captures him at the peak of his powers?

jacktheimprovident said:

The way I think of it is that Stevie Wonder, in commercial and artistic terms, released an equivalent of Purple Rain or SOTT or Low every year from 71 to 74 and in 76. He didn't just release one or two masterpieces surrounded by interesting but erratic albums. Every album was ambitious and perfect. Bowie and Prince had great runs, but they didn't match the consistent heights that Wonder did.

I think you could make a stronger case for the Stones 67-72 (or 71? when was Exile released?) or, of course, the Beatles.

GangstaFam said:

Listen to Stevie's 70s albums! I'm sure even Prince and Bowie would agree with Namepeace

Stevie Wonder '72-'76
David Bowie '71-'77
The Beatles '65-'69
Prince '82-'88
Kate Bush '78-'05

They're my fave runs.

Cloudbuster said:

TheFrog said:

During the Grammy's(I forget the year), I believe Paul Simon won for Best Album. He thanked Stevie for not making an album that year. That's how badass Stevie was.

uPtoWnNY said:

It was 1975.Stevie didn't release an album that year,but if he had,he surely would have won yet another "Best Album" Grammy.Paul Simon should be grateful

Cloudbuster said:

MJ... '78-'82?

1978: Destiny
1979: Off The Wall
1980: Triumph
1981: -
1982: Thriller



Nah, but for real... Stevie's run to me is the most incredible from a single artist. I listen to those 70's albums all the damn time ('Hotter Then July' too... some tracks). So many great songs.

WildStyle said:

To be fair, I do actually like all his solo studio albums from Off The Wall onwards. Even tho' I like your fave the least, it's still a good album.

stop it! Do not turn this into another MJ thread

Yeah, It'd have to be Stevie, considering not only output and critical acclaim but commercial acceptance--and Looking at both the Pop and R&B charts over a decade....Steveland Morris/Judkins Hardaway would be the one....





...
[Edited 4/22/05 8:02am]

GangstaFam said:

Well, I wouldn't say I know enough to say you're dead wrong. But I'll say this:

I think once you get to know Stevie better (and I get to know Bowie better) we will each be fully informed.

But I mean "prolific" in the sense of official releases, and Prince's outtakes are more well-known. Lord only knows what Stevie has in his "vault."

I don't think you can say Bowie has the edge per se. Stevie won every Grammy out there in the 70's (back when the award meant something) and I think you'll find that the critics gushed over him the way they buzzed about Bowie.

As for sales, maybe Prince outsold them both, but he had what neither Bowie nor Stevie had: a monster album paired with a hit movie.

Again, the argument can be made for Stevie. But I'm glad we're drawing Bowie into this as well. And as I said earlier, due to my bias, I tried hard not to include Prince in the initial arguments.

andyman said:



This kind of info is why I posted this thread, to draw others into the convo. It's a hard debate to have, and impossible to objectively measure. But on the basis of prolific output, consistent excellence, sustained commercial success and sustained critical acclaim throughout any given decade, it's hard to argue with Stevie (especially vis-a-vis Springsteen and Costello) . . .

But not impossible,

calldapplwondery83 said:


Well put. This is kinda like arguing about the greatest teams of all-time, and who woulda beat whom.

namepeace said:

I completely agree, but the artists that separate Stevie from towering over "virtually" everyone else to "without a doubt everyone else" are David Bowie and Prince, in my mind. I'm not slating Stevie or his output at all. I just feel that he has some competition. An argument can be successfully made for all three, I'd say.
[Edited 4/22/05 9:56am]

Moonbeam said:

Good points, which illustrate why I love this discussion!

P.S. -- From a purely artistic standpoint, I'd say that Beck and Me'Shell Ndegeocello have had stellar runs over a 10-year period as well.

Stevie's run of artistic and commercial success is quite amazing, Surely that will cement his status as an all-time great.
Another great run - Led Zeppelin (1969-1980)- essentially their entire career, with no major missteps.

It just seems that sometimes an artist has a hot streak , where nothing can go wrong :
Stones (1968-1972), Prince (1980-1988), Elvis Costello (1977-1983)
Jimi Hendrix (1967-1970), Bob Dylan (1964-1968) James Brown (1964-1974)

namepeace said:

And Bjork's having one right now.

namepeace said:

Actually, if you think about it, there's loads.

GangstaFam said:

I think she dipped with the last album, to be honest. I don't dislike it, but it's no way near as good as her previous work. From Debut through to Vespertine she was brilliant, tho'.

Cloudbuster said:

And when I think about the criteria of the thread, she doesn't have the prolificness or the commercial success to be a contender.

GangstaFam said:

Depends where you look, man. All of her studio albums have hit the top 10 in the UK.

damosuzuki said:

Again, I don't know Stevie's work well enough to say.

But I do know Bowie inside and out. And I think that Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Station To Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger and Scary Monsters are as near perfection as you get. Hunky Dory, Diamond Dogs and Young Americans are a bit more wobbly, but still pretty stellar. He never had quite the commercial success as Prince and Stevie, but certainly can hold his own creatively. What he lacks in pure musicianship, he makes up for in ideas.

And with Prince, I'm a big fan of some of the albums that most would consider uneven: ATWIAD, Lovesexy, Batman, etc. So I really can't find fault with anything he did in the period discussed. Well, maybe "Ronnie Talk To Russia".

Cloudbuster said:

That's true. And she's had quite a few big singles there too.