My Uncle still has Songs In The Key of Life and Hotter Than July vinyl in his closet think it's time for me to pay him a visit

I've always had a soft spot for "Yester You, Yester Me, Yesterday." Not sure why. It's in the melody though.

JamFanHot said:

I listened to SINTKOL the other night (on vinyl)...start to finish. I just kept shaking my head.

THIS was his "victory lap" after layin the preceeding 4-5 joints on us......who DOES that????? I mean really...in the history of popular music......THAT was some next level shit.

Boggles the mind....from conception, to musicality, to diversity, to raw talent & artistry. It's frighteningly gorgeous even 35 years on. One musical "fastball" after another....never slips.

Essential.

Its not really frigtening but definitely incredible essential.... i wonder why the beatles are dubed more essential then him...are anyone else for that matter....

101 said:

JamFanHot said:

I listened to SINTKOL the other night (on vinyl)...start to finish. I just kept shaking my head.

THIS was his "victory lap" after layin the preceeding 4-5 joints on us......who DOES that????? I mean really...in the history of popular music......THAT was some next level shit.

Boggles the mind....from conception, to musicality, to diversity, to raw talent & artistry. It's frighteningly gorgeous even 35 years on. One musical "fastball" after another....never slips.

Essential.

Its not really frigtening but definitely incredible essential.... i wonder why the beatles are dubed more essential then him...are anyone else for that matter....

Easy, the Beatles left the stage while they were still at or near their peak while Stevie has continued to make music long after his peak. Unfortunately to a lot of people the defining image of Stevie Wonder is "I Just Called To Say I Love You" which whether you like the song or not is not really representative of Stevie at his best. Still, even if you compare Stevie's peak years (say 1971-1976) with the Beatles they still clearly come out on top. They were much more popular than Stevie ever was and they had and still have a much wider appeal. Stevie has been pretty influential but he is nowhere near as influential as the Beatles were. Plus The Beatles is a much better double album than Songs In the Key of Life.

I would be interested to hear you make a case for Stevie being as or more essential than the Beatles.

rialb said:

101 said:

Its not really frigtening but definitely incredible essential.... i wonder why the beatles are dubed more essential then him...are anyone else for that matter....

Easy, the Beatles left the stage while they were still at or near their peak while Stevie has continued to make music long after his peak. Unfortunately to a lot of people the defining image of Stevie Wonder is "I Just Called To Say I Love You" which whether you like the song or not is not really representative of Stevie at his best. Still, even if you compare Stevie's peak years (say 1971-1976) with the Beatles they still clearly come out on top. They were much more popular than Stevie ever was and they had and still have a much wider appeal. Stevie has been pretty influential but he is nowhere near as influential as the Beatles were. Plus The Beatles is a much better double album than Songs In the Key of Life.

I would be interested to hear you make a case for Stevie being as or more essential than the Beatles.

well, STEVIE i think reached people in africa much more than the beatles... i would say the same thing as michael jackson. i read an article once on the very thing you're speaking of... people were like, 'the beatles who?' i suppose it depends on perspective. has STEVIE reached more people globally? he definitly appears to have impacted more people with his message, particularly after being banned in south africa after his demand for mandela to be let out of prison. STEVIE also was one of the artists to put himself out there to get the government to acknowledge MLK. i cannot say the beatles necessarily reached black and brown communities in the same way as STEVIE.

i just saw an article on the beatles in relation to the black liverpudlian community... it's pretty clear to see how the beatles were influenced by, in particular, black music in the states; as the rolling stones, the animals, etc. were. i haven't seen too much on how black people felt about the beatles, so i can't really answer that. all i know is that i never really saw black people talking about the beatles like that.

i think STEVIE had as much influence as john lennon, moreso than the beatles as a whole. black people love them some john lennon.

MJJstudent said:

rialb said:

Easy, the Beatles left the stage while they were still at or near their peak while Stevie has continued to make music long after his peak. Unfortunately to a lot of people the defining image of Stevie Wonder is "I Just Called To Say I Love You" which whether you like the song or not is not really representative of Stevie at his best. Still, even if you compare Stevie's peak years (say 1971-1976) with the Beatles they still clearly come out on top. They were much more popular than Stevie ever was and they had and still have a much wider appeal. Stevie has been pretty influential but he is nowhere near as influential as the Beatles were. Plus The Beatles is a much better double album than Songs In the Key of Life.

I would be interested to hear you make a case for Stevie being as or more essential than the Beatles.

well, STEVIE i think reached people in africa much more than the beatles... i would say the same thing as michael jackson. i read an article once on the very thing you're speaking of... people were like, 'the beatles who?' i suppose it depends on perspective. has STEVIE reached more people globally? he definitly appears to have impacted more people with his message, particularly after being banned in south africa after his demand for mandela to be let out of prison. STEVIE also was one of the artists to put himself out there to get the government to acknowledge MLK. i cannot say the beatles necessarily reached black and brown communities in the same way as STEVIE.

i just saw an article on the beatles in relation to the black liverpudlian community... it's pretty clear to see how the beatles were influenced by, in particular, black music in the states; as the rolling stones, the animals, etc. were. i haven't seen too much on how black people felt about the beatles, so i can't really answer that. all i know is that i never really saw black people talking about the beatles like that.

i think STEVIE had as much influence as john lennon, moreso than the beatles as a whole. black people love them some john lennon.

I won't get into a debate about who influenced which race more than the other although I suspect that you are correct and Stevie had more influence on black folks than the Beatles did. However, blacks are not the only race on the planet and while I can't prove it I suspect that if you factor in all races that the Beatles influence was greater than Stevie's. They were a global phenomenon in a way that very few artists ever were or will be and I don't think that you can say that Stevie was ever as popular as the Beatles were at their peak.

They do have an advantage over Stevie in that the Beatles as a group "died" young and at or near the peak of their creativity. It seems very likely that if they had gone on together for another thirty years that the quality of their work would have gone down but by breaking up when they did they left behind overwhelmingly great music and did not taint their legacy by releasing mediocre music.

rialb said:

MJJstudent said:

well, STEVIE i think reached people in africa much more than the beatles... i would say the same thing as michael jackson. i read an article once on the very thing you're speaking of... people were like, 'the beatles who?' i suppose it depends on perspective. has STEVIE reached more people globally? he definitly appears to have impacted more people with his message, particularly after being banned in south africa after his demand for mandela to be let out of prison. STEVIE also was one of the artists to put himself out there to get the government to acknowledge MLK. i cannot say the beatles necessarily reached black and brown communities in the same way as STEVIE.

i just saw an article on the beatles in relation to the black liverpudlian community... it's pretty clear to see how the beatles were influenced by, in particular, black music in the states; as the rolling stones, the animals, etc. were. i haven't seen too much on how black people felt about the beatles, so i can't really answer that. all i know is that i never really saw black people talking about the beatles like that.

i think STEVIE had as much influence as john lennon, moreso than the beatles as a whole. black people love them some john lennon.

I won't get into a debate about who influenced which race more than the other although I suspect that you are correct and Stevie had more influence on black folks than the Beatles did. However, blacks are not the only race on the planet and while I can't prove it I suspect that if you factor in all races that the Beatles influence was greater than Stevie's. They were a global phenomenon in a way that very few artists ever were or will be and I don't think that you can say that Stevie was ever as popular as the Beatles were at their peak.

They do have an advantage over Stevie in that the Beatles as a group "died" young and at or near the peak of their creativity. It seems very likely that if they had gone on together for another thirty years that the quality of their work would have gone down but by breaking up when they did they left behind overwhelmingly great music and did not taint their legacy by releasing mediocre music.

i suppose i am biased here, since i happen to not think STEVIE'S career waned. i happen to enjoy all of his work, from 1968 to currently. i don't really like the beatles at all.

and of course there are many ethnicities in the world. my point was though, that artists like STEVIE and michael have more impact in predominately black communities because they see a reflection of themselves, and there is a pride in their success. we can go into u.s. music history and speak about how artists like bo diddley were rejected here in establishments, etc. due to the institution of racism; and yet artists like the beatles, presley and the rolling stones (artists directly influenced by ellas mc daniel and chuck berry) were accepted by white america as if nothing happened. there's variations in this of course... but to hear bo diddley tell the story. he was ANGRY.

i think the connection to artists like STEVIE and michael are dealing with the more institutional issues in this country. that is a whole other conversation though. for a black artist like michael to reach the four corners of the globe though? that's phenomenal. i can't really answer to how far-reaching the beatles got.

it seems to me, due to his socio-political impact, lennon was more influential. again, my bias on the issue happens to be speaking. i think lennon made the greatest impact, due to his anti-nuclear and anti-war work. to me, that work has more far-reaching impact, cross-culturally. in relation to the beatles, i happen to like ringo. but collectively, i don't really like the beatles at all. they don't do it for me.

This is about Stevie...

Just saying.

Timmy84 said:

This is about Stevie...

Just saying.

hee hee... there's gotta be some variations to erry'thang, you know? STEVIE is the greatest artist on the whole planet, so i'm all about it. i was just responding to the comment about the beatles though. okay... back to our regularly scheduled STEVIE.

MJJstudent said:

Timmy84 said:

This is about Stevie...

Just saying.

hee hee... there's gotta be some variations to erry'thang, you know? STEVIE is the greatest artist on the whole planet, so i'm all about it. i was just responding to the comment about the beatles though. okay... back to our regularly scheduled STEVIE.

I know but these type of topics start out okay, then one mention of another artist and it's like what the thread originally was about become lost. I've seen too many threads do that.

Timmy84 said:

MJJstudent said:

hee hee... there's gotta be some variations to erry'thang, you know? STEVIE is the greatest artist on the whole planet, so i'm all about it. i was just responding to the comment about the beatles though. okay... back to our regularly scheduled STEVIE.

I know but these type of topics start out okay, then one mention of another artist and it's like what the thread originally was about become lost. I've seen too many threads do that.

hee hee... i wonder if there is a site where long dialogs can be had. because that's me, i'm the queen of the long dialogs. they're hard to have in this instant world, so it makes me sad a lot. i'm sure you've seen my posts here already; i write a whole lot. a WHOLE lot. i get a lot of grief for it. i love to write, that's what i do.

if you know of a site where people can have long dialogs, i'd love to know where that site is. particularly about socio-political issues, michael or STEVIE.

about STEVIE, when he is without glasses, it's one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. his presence is such a gift to us.

MJJstudent said:

Timmy84 said:

I know but these type of topics start out okay, then one mention of another artist and it's like what the thread originally was about become lost. I've seen too many threads do that.

hee hee... i wonder if there is a site where long dialogs can be had. because that's me, i'm the queen of the long dialogs. they're hard to have in this instant world, so it makes me sad a lot. i'm sure you've seen my posts here already; i write a whole lot. a WHOLE lot. i get a lot of grief for it. i love to write, that's what i do.

if you know of a site where people can have long dialogs, i'd love to know where that site is. particularly about socio-political issues, michael or STEVIE.

about STEVIE, when he is without glasses, it's one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. his presence is such a gift to us.

You seen his 1980 documentary when he's seen without them? Even his eyes (or lack of them) had a mystique to it, can't tell what but it does.

Timmy84 said:

MJJstudent said:

hee hee... i wonder if there is a site where long dialogs can be had. because that's me, i'm the queen of the long dialogs. they're hard to have in this instant world, so it makes me sad a lot. i'm sure you've seen my posts here already; i write a whole lot. a WHOLE lot. i get a lot of grief for it. i love to write, that's what i do.

if you know of a site where people can have long dialogs, i'd love to know where that site is. particularly about socio-political issues, michael or STEVIE.

about STEVIE, when he is without glasses, it's one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. his presence is such a gift to us.

You seen his 1980 documentary when he's seen without them? Even his eyes (or lack of them) had a mystique to it, can't tell what but it does.

ooh! which one??!! i know he is seen in the 'secret life of plants' without glasses... i may have seen the documentary. what is it called?

Timmy84 said:

MJJstudent said:

hee hee... there's gotta be some variations to erry'thang, you know? STEVIE is the greatest artist on the whole planet, so i'm all about it. i was just responding to the comment about the beatles though. okay... back to our regularly scheduled STEVIE.

I know but these type of topics start out okay, then one mention of another artist and it's like what the thread originally was about become lost. I've seen too many threads do that.

Yeah, I know what you mean but it sort of was on topic. 101 asked (probably rhetorically) how the Beatles could be considered as essential as Stevie and I just had to answer. Anyway, as far as the original topic of this thread goes I think it has run its course so the only thing left to us are wild digressions.

MJJstudent said:

Timmy84 said:

You seen his 1980 documentary when he's seen without them? Even his eyes (or lack of them) had a mystique to it, can't tell what but it does.

ooh! which one??!! i know he is seen in the 'secret life of plants' without glasses... i may have seen the documentary. what is it called?

Don't know the name of it but it was shot during the "Hotter than July" era:

Timmy84 said:

MJJstudent said:

ooh! which one??!! i know he is seen in the 'secret life of plants' without glasses... i may have seen the documentary. what is it called?

Don't know the name of it but it was shot during the "Hotter than July" era:

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! you don't even know how happy this makes me!!! i have to watch this later! i have never seen this! i have seen all the BBC ones and so forth, but not this. to see him without glasses, one of the most beautifullest things on earth. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

MJJstudent said:

Timmy84 said:

Don't know the name of it but it was shot during the "Hotter than July" era:

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! you don't even know how happy this makes me!!! i have to watch this later! i have never seen this! i have seen all the BBC ones and so forth, but not this. to see him without glasses, one of the most beautifullest things on earth. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It starts and ends with him without glasses.

Timmy84 said:

MJJstudent said:

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! you don't even know how happy this makes me!!! i have to watch this later! i have never seen this! i have seen all the BBC ones and so forth, but not this. to see him without glasses, one of the most beautifullest things on earth. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It starts and ends with him without glasses.

so AMAZING!!! i just want to cry tears of joy- or is it 'joy inside my tears...'?

MJJstudent said:

Timmy84 said:

It starts and ends with him without glasses.

so AMAZING!!! i just want to cry tears of joy- or is it 'joy inside my tears...'?

Hey, my dad uploaded that to YouTube...we're huge Stevie fans...if you can give him a sub i'd appreciate it!

NMuzakNSoul said:

MJJstudent said:

so AMAZING!!! i just want to cry tears of joy- or is it 'joy inside my tears...'?

Hey, my dad uploaded that to YouTube...we're huge Stevie fans...if you can give him a sub i'd appreciate it!

oh WOW! thank your father VERY MUCH!!! that makes my day to see this.

Hand ....glove

1970's......Stevie

rialb said:

101 said:

Its not really frigtening but definitely incredible essential.... i wonder why the beatles are dubed more essential then him...are anyone else for that matter....

Plus The Beatles is a much better double album than Songs In the Key of Life.

I would be interested to hear you make a case for Stevie being as or more essential than the Beatles.

"Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9..."

But really both The Beatles and Stevie are incredibly great and influential.