I gave this a thorough listen after 7 years of owning it, and its beyond me how a flawless album like this got criminally overlooked.



I don't know if its the disco phase,,,,or maybe the public's anxious for Stevie to release another "Songs In The Key Of Life"(Which in my opinion, way less powerful than Talking Book, Innervisions, FFF and MOMM).

The sad shit is, he didn't re-invent his musical statements after that album. I don't know if its the public reject that got to him,,,since he invested alot of hardwork into that album. He just didn't bother to push the envelope musically, after that.

damn good album, one of the most underrated of all time.

It's not THAT bad. I recommend it. If you like Stevie's work, it is worth a listen. You will probably like (at least) 80% of the album (like I did).

I think it just surprised a lot of people who expected another SOTKOL. I think it's great that he did some more experimental stuff at that time. And hidden inside are a few great pop tunes.

NDRU said:

It was a revolutionary musical statement. According to Wikipedia:

With Journey's international rhythms and melodies it is also credited to be the first New Age recording and his use of digital recording influenced the very digital 1980s sound.

Harlepolis said:

But where's Isn't She Lovely II?

It was a huge discovery for me after hearing people make fun of it for years.

It is THAT good.

Fantastic and one of my favs.

It was overlooked, because it was different, and nearly every song is about plants. The critics ripped it apart. Word has it that its' negative reception upset Stevie so much, that he intentionally made 'Hotter Than July' an accessible, short, pop album.

Peace.

~G
[Edited 1/30/08 14:30pm]

Giovanni777 said:

That's too bad. Not that Hotter than July is bad, but it kind of signals the end of Stevie's growth.

Giovanni777 said:

Obviously!

I mean all you have to do is, compare the 2 albums if you wanna figure out Stevie's aim.

Its like when Aretha released Hey Now hey(The Other Side Of The Sky). The project was so prolific, it confused everybody. She was doing a Funk/Rock project right after that but when she saw how bad the reaction was, she scrapped the whole project and went on to make a safe RnB project; Let Me In Your Life(The one with Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing).

Giovanni777 said:

That album is great! "Power Flower," "Send One Your Love," "Outside My Window," "Come Back As a Flower," "Black Orchid," "Ecclesiastes"...

I first got this when I was a kid...after watching the TV special that the music is based on. I loved it then and I love it now....My favorite tracks are "Outside My Window", "Power Flower", (which to me is one of the best songs that he has EVER done), and "Send One Your Love, both versions.

I've only listened to it once, a couple months ago, but I really enjoyed it.

I love the title track and Come Back as a Flower. They are my two favorite songs on the album. I like Send One Your Love but it just does not fit on that album. It's like he put that on there just so he could have something on the album that would get radio play. Good Album.

shorttrini said:

I wanna see that documentary

I remember Janet talking about the album and playing it for an interviewer in the car during the Janet. era. Was interested in hearing it to pick out influences, but never got a chance. Someday I'll get it.

Harlepolis said:

My brother and I were talking about it, lastweek. It first appeared on our local PBS station here in NY. I have not seen it in a very long time. The director choose Stevie because he knew that only he could add that special "vision" to the documentry.

It's like Michael Jackson's Invincible. Compared to his previous run of albums, it's not that good. But isolated, it's pretty decent actually. Life of Plants seems bad because of the masterpieces that came before it. But on its own it's pretty decent.

As a matter of fact, I just realised how much Stevie's career parallels Michael's. Music of My Mind is like Off The Wall. The first realisation that he was definitely something else. Talking Book is like Thriller more in terms of how it sounds that the success of it. Then you've got a couple more albums that are both well received and them comes along Songs in the Key of Life and HIStory, which fans recognize as their greatest works ever. Then on a creative high, Stevie makes Life of Plants and Michael makes Invincible. Both tried to be different, be more like themselves. The only difference is the obvious record company influence on Invincible. But I'm talking about the songs like Speechless and The Lost Children. That's Michael just making the music he really wanted to make, like Stevie did on Life of Plants. But the reception wasn't exactly what the expected on both accounts. So Stevie made "Hotter Than July" a down right pop album, and a pretty good one at that. It appears Michael is doing exactly the same. He's making sure that after Invincible he wont fail again in terms of success and reception.
[Edited 1/31/08 3:54am]

I have to admit,I still don't "get" this album.I'm trying,though

Harlepolis said:

Funny you should mention SITKOL.For the past several weeks,I've been thinking that it's time for another SITKOL appreciation thread That's my favorite album of all time,and I never get tired of discussing/analyzing it.

...

It just really bothers me that Stevie took it so personally that the album didn't sell that well. Maybe the general Pop/R&b audience (and many Pop critics) weren't quite ready for it, but it also got it's share of critical raves in the media. I keep bringing up the great reviews in Downbeat, Washington Post, Stereo Review, etc., as well as Musician Magazine's predictions that Stevie might go on to be like Ellington and do Classical and Jazz suites. Instead, the negative reaction stung him so much that he retreated back to only what he thought would be commercially accepted. Like NDRU and Harlepolis said, it seemed to be the end of his growth, and to date he's never tried anything else that adventurous.





...
[Edited 1/31/08 6:57am]

I think it had more to do with the old mentality of having to pick out a few works in an artist's catalogue as "ones to avoid" than anything. I remember in the 80s and 90s they used to publich a lot of rock'n'roll reference encyclopedias and they always listed the "recommended" albums by the featured artists, and also the "ones to avoid". It was almost as if it was commonly decided that certain albums were inexcusably bad and nothing could change that view, as it obviously was based on some kind of an abstract, common agreement!

But people are far more open these days to judge things by themselves. One of the positive aspects of the internet is that we do not need to be pinpointed a made-up negative reference point on everything. I don't know if anybody who really likes music these days believes in the "most of the records by this artist are really great, but he has this ONE album that is just incredibly bad" -frame of thinking anymore.

paligap said:

When you get called a genius since the tender age of 11 all the way to 26 and then get accused of losing it ALL of a sudden,,,,,that will bound to put a deep hurt on you.

Stevie really bared his soul in that album,,,,,and got scorned in return. I understand his attitude,,,It bothers me too but I see where's coming from.

He could've been the next Duke Ellington indeed

paligap said:

It's kind of strange, too, since it's so obviously different from anything he'd ever done. It's actually a soundtrack, isn't it?

I would think he'd expect it to be received differently from a regular pop album, and expect most people to not get it.

I guess he hadn't really experienced a bad reception for a loooong time, if ever!
[Edited 1/31/08 10:46am]