I've loved Stevie since I was a kid in the 60s. The first record I remember is Uptight which is just a complete ball of energy- full on Motown on steroids. His 70s albums are iconic and stand up well today. He seemed to lose his mojo around 1986 when the originality of his music had gone, replaced mostly with MOR generic mush and his cringe attempts to rap on his discs- duets with Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson saw him descend further into that MOR sticky treacle. He just seemed lost and out of ideas yet he was still in his 30s! Stevie has failed to make any significant comeback since the mid 80s and its looking increasingly unlikely as he advances into his 70s. I keep wishing and hoping for the final great album that returns him to the top. Whatever happens Stevie Wonder is a legendary artist with a fantastic back catalogue.
I wondered how long it would take before someone managed to shoehorn a Beatles reference into the thread- don't forget the Stones who he supported on tour in 1972 when he was 22
That, plus Stevie had won Best Album the previous 2 years and subsequently the following year. So 3 albums in a row in 3 of 4 years. This ties him for the most wins in this category, which Simon would also achieve a decade later (including a win with S&G).
Innervisions was one of the first albums I got back when rebuilding my album collection, followed closely by Talking Book and Hotter than July. I’ve recently been listening to a ginormous Motown anthology, 8 lp’s, where he is featured heavily. Just doesn’t get old.
Innervisions is one of the best albums ever made, by anyone, at any time. Stevie's drumming on the whole LP knocks me out, but his badazz groove on Too High is a jaw dropper. I completely believe that, had he chosen to do it, Stevie would have been a master technician and spoken of in the upper echelons of all drummers. And yet, something like "Send One Your Love" sounds like a 1-800-Flowers commercial, but there's no way that SW could ever put me totally off as a fan. Saw him live in 2007 with both Tony Bennett....and then PRINCE...sitting in. The crowd went insane. Dan
So what, Stevie Wonder wrote songs that are a bit sappy or corny. No worse then a million other love songs. Plus, That's What Friends Are For raised money for AiDS.
I've never ever heard LENNON OR McCARTNEY say they were influenced by Stevie Wonder?! They like his music yes, but influenced by him?? You're entitled to your opinion, the good thing is millions of people around the world TOTALLY DISAGREE with you about EBONY AND IVORY! It was a #1 hit for a reason, and it's also TIMELESS and will ALWAYS BE RELEVANT! In fact, it's more relevant now than it was at the time of release! It was very positively received by the BLACK COMMUNITY and introduced Paul McCartney to many of them! No, I can also agree with its great groove and musicianship, IMHO there's absolutely nothing terrible or so-called cheesy about it!
I must say I don't mind "I Just Called.." When it was new I was a kid messing with keyboard presets myself so it was amusing.
One of the greatest artists in music. It's funny the stones would delay their shows after Stevie wonder and Ike and Tina turner to let the crowd cool down. The only boxset I ever purchased besides the beatles 2009 remasters
You don’t have to hear direct quotes. There is little doubt Lennon was inspired by Stevie’s sound and grooves on “Walls And Bridges”. McCartney has directly called Stevie a ‘genius’ and songs like Listen To What The Man Said, With A Little Luck and Coming Up have traces of the 70’s funk/soul from Wonder.
Lennon was a singles artist after 1971. Everyone tries to elevate everything he did because he was a BEATLE. On a side note he is my favorite artist. I bought all the albums played them a couple of times went to better music at that time.
There is great doubt! I don't hear one lick of Stevie Wonder in any of those songs you posted, but hey that's just my ears.
Here's a quick little snippet with McCartney about What's That You're Doing... “What’s That You’re Doing” is a song from 1982 album “Tug Of War” co-written with Stevie Wonder. From an interview with Club Sandwich, 1982: Andy Mackay – “What’s That You’re Doing?” is a great track. Just the riff in the title obviously like that, linked together. I wondered whether the title came from the riff, or did you have the title… Paul – It originally just started off with Stevie Wonder jamming – Stevie is an inveterate jammer, as they say – and he was on the Yamaha CS80 synthesiser and started playing. Andy – It sounds like, you know, the way Jimmy Hendrix used to make his guitar say, “Thank you.” If you listen you can actually hear the riff saying, “What’s that you’re doing?” Paul – He’s an incredible controller. He started off on the riff and he built most of the song up actually just from a jam. ‘What’s That You’re Doing?’ is me and Stevie collaborating. He’s doing the sort of funky riff, and I’m putting the song together. My memory of that is, because he’d only just come up with the lyrics, and he was still writing them as we were recording, he couldn’t remember all the words easily. He had his manager. Stephanie – who I think is still his manager, I run into her when I see Stevie, so she still looks after him – help out. She had a copy of the lyrics. This was a great idea: she would be in an adjoining booth and would prompt him in his headphones. With each line, she would say it through to him, just before he sang.
