NDRU said:

Funny you should mention Elton John.Around the same time that Stevie released 'SITKOL',Elton released a 2-LP set of his own,'Blue Moves',but it wasn't nearly as creative and inspired as 'SITKOL'.

uPtoWnNY said:

Prince in the 80s was alot like Stevie in the 70s.Both of these guys were at the top of their game,creating one classic album after another.

SoulAlive said:

It could not have been....one was talking about, not only the blackman's experiences in America, but other minorities as well. The other was just an album of songs with no particular theme. SITKOL, was and still is a history lesson of sorts from many different perspectives. Just as a side note, Stevie's song, "I just called to say, I love you", was written for SITKOL, but he decided to leave it off cause it would not have fit. Years later, he was going to give it to, Julio Englasis, but their sched's did not connect. He ended up doing it more than 20 years after it was intended....go figure.

shorttrini said:

yeah,I had heard that "I Just Called To Say I Love You" was originally recorded in 1976.If he had released it on 'SITKOL',it would have sounded drastically different than the 1984 version....more organic,like "Knocks Me Off My Feet".

SoulAlive said:

But a few years earlier he released a 2 lp album called Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which (while not touching as deep an emotional place as Stevie) is great from beginning to end.

I have not listened in a while and don't know if it aged well.....but this was the ALBUM 2 have when it was released. Really good lyrics and music. Stevie was in TOP form on this one.

Graycap23 said:

It hasn't really aged at all.

lofimofo said:

It doesn't touch the big 5 of the '70s albums IMO, but I love Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants! It's a shame the album is out of print now.
[Edited 9/14/06 16:18pm]

NDRU said:

Someone might have the answer to this...Stevie thanks a whole lot of people on SITKOL, and as a Zappa fan I've always wondered why he was mentioned... any idea?

bc

PeteZarustica said:

Maybe Stevie just liked his music. Contusion is kinda Zappish. He seemed to thank people he admired as much as people he knew (just a guess) but maybe he knew Zappa?

NDRU said:

That's probably it. It's an impressive list of thank you's, and that one just sort of stuck out...

Thanks!

PeteZarustica said:

You're right, though, I've never seen so many names on a thank you--Sublime's audio thanks on 40 oz to Freedom (which also thanks Zappa) may compete, though.
[Edited 9/14/06 17:05pm]

Graycap23 said:

For me,the album hasn't aged one bit.Great music is timeless.Also,the lyrics throughout the album are just as relevent today as they were in 1976!

NDRU said:

yeah,Stevie pretty much thanks everyone and their brother.

NDRU said:

Agreed.That's actually my favorite Elton John album,followed closely by 'Captain Fantastic...'.Eventually,we'll have to do a thread on his 70s albums

AlexdeParis said:

After all these years,I am still trying to understand that album

'Secret Life Of Plants' is a hard album to digest.I honestly don't know what to think about it.

NDRU said:

Very much so.

Cloudbuster said:

to me,that song sounds alot like Santana's mid-70s work

speaking of Santana,he loved this album so much that he dedicated his own next album,'Festival',to Stevie Wonder.Also,in the 90s,he frequently performed the song "Another Star" at his concerts and even talked about recording a cover version.

SoulAlive said:

Me neither. It's all very nice but it just doesn't really work for me.
It's kinda like The Rainbow Children in that the artist gets so lost in the concept that they forget to write some truly memorable songs.

Cloudbuster said:

That's exactly it.The album is very artistic,experimental and creative,but it just doesn't hold together as an album.I know that many fans consider it a classic though.I do love the songs "Send One Your Love" and "Outside My Window",two tracks that are as good as anything on SITKOL.

SoulAlive said:

They're my two faves on the album, too.

Cloudbuster said:

lol,those are the only two "commercial" songs on the album,and also the only singles released from that project

SoulAlive said:

My all time favorite song from that CD is, "Flower Power". It is a beautiful song with a great melody...I found it and placed it on my Ipod. You guys should check it out.

SoulAlive said:

Another Star is very Santana

Justin1972UK said:

Co-sign.

Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome album but extremely overrated.

Not his best collection of creative work, IMO.

Justin1972UK said:

That is soooo sick man especially since i am due to have one of
those things later this year.
I do agree that songs in the key was among his best if not the best.
I also like hotter than july and skeletons. Songs in the key is just
timeless. Look at all the tracks off the cd that other artists have
covered like as,sir duke,and she knocks me off my feet. That in itself
speaks volumes. I remember being in the 5th grade and my mom bought the
album. Hell i played it more than her. I also remember it having a bonus
45 with the double album with saturn and all day sucker. This album is
just timeless. Period.

great record except the engineers on many of the tracks made them very muddy sounding.

shorttrini said:

I love all three of those. I also find "Ecclesiastes" and "Come Back As a Flower" beautiful as well. "Earth's Creation" and "Finale" are excellent bookends IMO. I really love this album. Part of me will always find it a shame that Stevie doesn't sing more (since his voice was perfect at the time), but it's so interesting/weird/trippy that I don't mind much.

AlexdeParis said:

One of the reasons that he did not sing on the CD, was due to it being the score for a film of the same name. I don't remember if it was ever released, though.

shorttrini said:

It wasn't. That's a shame, because I'd love to see it. You just know it's weird.

I got innervisions today, sounds really really good.