Happy Birthday Stevland Morris, genius since the age of 12 and hopefully for a long time to come. You’re famous, loved and somehow underrated. You released two big-hitting Greatest Hits albums by the time you were 21 and then really got going. You were brilliant before and after that miraculous mid 70s streak, and if we ever need reminding of the fact, we can always just watch Summer of Soul again.
I’ve loved your music since I discovered that the University of Sussex library had copies of Talking Book and Songs in the Key of Life. That’s what institutes of higher learning should be about. You’re also the artist that both me and Mrs Hawkfall most agree on (my better half being somehow immune to the charms of Black Sabbath and Kraftwerk). I believe you occupy this space in more than a few couples’ Venn diagrams.
Here you are as Eivets Rednow.
The aliens have landed, they ask “what is this funk and soul you speak of?”
Play this:
Alternatively play them the version he did on Sesame Street…….
Its the brass that really makes the song.
The horns are great but that clavinet riff and shuffling rhythm are really tricky to get right. Can you point me to an excellent cover version?
I can’t, no! I know Malcolm Cecil was involved with the album it came from. Is there some TONTO stuff going on, too?
So many materpieces – some major, some minor.
For some reason this song really gets to me. No-one does joy in music as well as Stevie does – I mean that (think I Wish, Uptight, Another Star) – but here he is doing melancholy.
A word about Superstition: I think that it’s quite amazing that it’s eaten the world the way it has, reaching the ultimate accolade of being a staple of wedding discos, when it’s actually a pretty dark, spooked song – in my mind it follows on from Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), not least becase it’s funkier than a bastard.
We should have an “Unlikely Songs in Wedding Discos” thread:
Superstition
Golden Brown
When a Man Loves a Woman
As he revealed in the documentary When The Screaming Stops, Matt Goss out of Bros “made a conscious decision, because of Stevie Wonder, not to be superstitious.” Excellent!
(Actually, anyone who, like me, thought Matt was a bit of a space cadet after that film, should check out this interview – he comes across as much more self-aware and likeable than depicted in the film. Indeed, the journalist writes: “the quintessentially stonewashed Eighties British pop star is – straight up – the most likeably unfiltered celebrity I’ve met in 25 years on the job.” https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/matt-goss-interview-bros-b2020639.html)
Most of the man’s 70s work is, of course, as great as pop music gets. But imagine my surprise on investigating the low-key Secret Life of Plants a few years back and finding the likes of this gem.
Maybe not as stupendous in the 80s and beyond, but still much to enjoy. “Lately” I still consider among the finest ballads I’ve ever heard.
I adore SW up to YOU KNOW WHAT, which hit me like being dumped out of the blue by a beloved girlfriend you thought you’d be with forever. SW’s career up to that point was beyond stellar. I have all the 70s albums, and still listen to them, even “The Secret Life of Plants”. SW’s work in that era delights me as much as Steely Dan’s contemporaneous output, and I never bore of hearing either.
But, other than “Lately”, “Do I Do”, “second hand lover” and “don’t drive drunk”, I have barely heard anything by Stevie Wonder since THAT SONG. What happened? Did he have illness or a drug habit that got in the way of his mojo? Did developments in popular black music undermine his confidence given it went in a different direction? Can those who know better than me post anything good after “Hotter than July” (which to me indicated the beginning of the decline, even the harmless “Masterblaster” being, frankly, of lower quality than the preceding decade and a half).
Skeletons (1987) was quite good at the time, a comment on the Oliver North saga. Sounds pretty ropey now (clunky 80s production alert)
I think that he made records that were meant to sound contemporary as he was looking for hits. He’s a Motown artist after all. So the 80s albums sound 80s and the 90 albums etc etc. I agree about Skeletons, and I also like the In Square Circle album. But you need to embrace the 80s production , I mean I even think there’s a Synclavier in there. It’s not Talking Book, but it’s not Empire Burlesque either. I don’t think he ever lost it, he just stopped being innovative and settled for making pop albums.
For a week or two I actually thought this was a Stevie track… still one of his best
You mean this track that isn’t Stevie Wonder is one of Stevie Wonder’s best?
Have we been drinking, sir?
I heard this several times on the radio and thought “Stevie’s back on form”.
Don’t tell me… Around the same time you heard Wonderwall and thought, “Lennon’s risen from the grave and put the band back together!…… It’s a bit shit though”
i can imagine Lodes thinking “Gangsta’s Paradise could be the best Stevie record since Emergency on Planet Earth!”
There’s a hoopoe on my roof who has been plaintively calling for a mate since dawn. We are as one..
Is a “hoopoe” a Yugoslavian tiler?
As ever, you are spot on
Or ..
I want one!
Your very own pterodactyl!
As we all know – if we’ve read Falstaff, Fakir’s work:
Upupa Epops-kalops
kan man propsa i en mops!
(Now try typing that into Google Translate and watch it explode…) 😀
Shame Hoopoes aren’t native in the UK, but its easy enough to make your own; catch a Jay, and put a child’s glove on the back of its head. Instant Hoopoe!
Occasional visitors though, saw one here a couple of years ago.
I’d like to see one. Twenty-odd years ago, Little Egrets were so uncommon in Somerset that twitchers would descend, but they now breed here, and you see them every day. Now have the larger version, plus Spoonbills and Glossy Ibis.
Ibises (Ibes?) are known as ‘bin chickens’ in Australia, for reasons not hard to guess at. To think they were sacred in ancient Egypt.
The first record I ever bought was Master Blaster. I worked my way back through his imperial period later, but that was his last great record., 42 years ago. Or have I missed some later gems?
Exactly.
Did that come out before or after Happy Birthday? I know some people don’t like it, but I love that song.
Same album. I like Happy birthday too.
For those looking for stuff outside of the imperial phase, it’s better to go backwards rather than forwards. Itunes has Mono Singles, which has his 60s As and Bs. Its great fun. And For Once in My Life from 1968 is a very good album. Thats the Stevie we see in Summer of Soul.
The b-side of the single was simply the MLK dream speech. It’s been totally bastardised now, but having that on a record in 1981 was quite something and a great thing to do.
I had the 12″ of that single. It had 17 minutes of excerpts from four MLK speeches:
I Have A Dream
The Drum Major Instinct Sermon
Dr. King’s Desired Eulogy
I’ve Been To The Mountaintop
A brilliant idea for a B-side!
Since there is a thread lauding ‘Rock’s masterpiece’, a double album, let’s big up Songs In The Key Of Life. Every track is wonderful. Side Two is the best side two in Rock/Pop/R&B. As is a pinnacle of human achievement to compete with the Taj Mahal, the Mona Lisa and the Ritz Hotel (I once had the privilege of staying there at someone else’s expense – it was like staying in heaven). Even Isn’t She Lovely makes perfect sense after you’ve had kids of your own. All the filler is politely set aside on an EP. It totally flummoxed the CD. Where do you put it all?
It was bought for me on my eighteenth birthday and is the only gift I remember from that day. I’m off to listen to it again. It’s magic.
You’re right about the EP, except Ebony Eyes is great.
Moose is right about Ebony Eyes. Tigger is right about the rest of the album.
Pools Panel verdict: Score Draw
Stevie’s filler is another act’s masterpiece.
Wait, we’re not fighting. This world was made for all men.
Finally got my albums out after 30 years under the stairs and checked on the missing gems that I somehow didn’t buy in my youth. This was the first of the new tranche. Boy – what a purchase. Somehow even greater now than I remembered.
For those looking for evidence that he still has a bit of a mojo to mine…. This is terrific and came out only a couple of years ago… Can’t Put It In The Hands of Fate:
My own favourite underpraised Stevie track is the beautiful Visions from the album Innervisions:
I rate his most recent album “A Time To Love” (2005 FFS). Particularly the single “ So What The Fuss”. What a groove, so funky. I play it as much as the imperial classics when I’m in a Stevie mood.
I never hear it discussed anywhere, seems to be disregarded. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
Worth popping this in, for interest.
https://www.covermesongs.com/2022/05/the-best-stevie-wonder-covers-ever.html
I like the song IJCTSILY. I also think SITKOL is one if the greatest LPs ever released. These two opinions are not mutually exclusive.
My theory is that I Just Called would be regarded as a syrupy but not hated Stevie song if it wasn’t for the little ‘dink dink dink’ notes at the end.
You’ll need to explain that a bit more clearly! Exactly which rinky dink dink notes are you talking about?? Do you mean.. “I just called…” DINK DINK DINK “… to say….” DINK DINK DINK “… I looove you…” DINK DINK A-RINKY DINK DINK ?
They don’t help. He was always prone to a bit of schmaltz though wasn’t he?
I seem to remember the original video had a huge piece of toast in it. Youtube tells me I’ve imagined this.
My guess is it was between you and the TV.?
Not for long it wasn’t….munch-munch-munch
Over on the Steve Hoffman site, I read good things about Stevie Wonder’s double live album from 1995 “Natural Wonder – Live in Concert”.
I must say, I’d never heard of it.
Is any Afterworder familiar with this album? Is it any good?
This is the track listing:
1-01 Dancing To The Rhythm 7:07
1-02 Love’s In Need Of Love Today 6:02
1-03 Master Blaster (Jammin’) 3:36
1-04 Stevie Ray Blues 2:27
1-05 Higher Ground 3:59
1-06 Rocket Love 4:47
1-07 Stay Gold 4:21
1-08 Ribbon In The Sky 8:37
1-09 Pastime Paradise 3:22
1-10 If It’s Magic 3:34
1-11 Ms. & Mr. Little Ones 4:17
1-12 Village Ghetto Land 3:26
1-13 Tomorrow Robins Will Sing 4:20
2-01 Overjoyed 3:59
2-02 My Cherie Amour 3:20
2-03 Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours 2:45
2-04 Living For The City 4:26
2-05 Sir Duke 2:46
2-06 I Wish 4:06
2-07 You Are The Sunshine Of My Life 2:21
2-08 Superstition 5:37
2-09 I Just Called To Say I Love You 4:38
2-10 For Your Love 5:06
2-11 Another Star 5:55
Now, there are quite a few absolute bangers among those 24 songs. I would imagine that it’s a pretty decent listen…
I remember it being released after Conversation Peace, but I’ve never heard it. I couldn’t afford double CDs in 1995.
Look at disc 2. Imagine getting to listen to that if you were at the concert. Though maybe Vincent would leave after Superstition.
I saw him at two concerts around that time, in Berlin and, on the following day, in Hanover, and the band was absolutely fantastic. The gigs were also quite different – in Berlin he had quite a few crowd participation passages, where he used to teach vocal harmonies to different parts of the audience. These went on a bit, but then, it was a three-hour-and-a-half concert! The next gig had a different song selection, and they played a tight, rocking’ set focused on the Superstition/Innervisions era. And Stevie made daft jokes throughout – during the band introduction he was pretending to be »looking« for certain guys (»Where’s the bass player? – Oh there he is: why are you not in the right spot??!«).
(Didn’t know there was a live album from that tour…)
I’m not sure if I could survive an onslaught of the 8-banger run before the cheese, so retreat might be the best option anyway.
These days I do wonder if gig encores are worth it. I prefer concert finales, as the encore regularly seems perfunctory. Better to get away from the car park before the civilians.
Stevie wrote this beautiful tune for Jeff Beck.
Jeff is on Talking Book. Can’t remember which track.
This one.
Wasn’t there something about Superstition being inspired by Jeff Beck messing about on the drums with Stevie Wonder in the studio ?
I think it was Danny Baker years ago who observed just how strange it must be to be Stevie Wonder (putting aside his disability & musical genius for a moment). For almost as long as anyone can remember, literally everybody is knocked out thrilled to see or meet him ‘ We love you Stevie!’ called out sincerely by devotees & casual admirers alike, without fail *every* time he goes anywhere. He really is making everybody’s day, just by a fleeting appearance & his experience must be like riding a permanent magic carpet of love wherever he goes.
I don’t think anybody else alive generates this, not even Macca. He’s universally respected, adored & admired & yet somehow still underrated!
Anyhow, when I need that unique SW life affirming vibe, this is always my starting point
I remember the mighty Howard Goodall taking some of his tunes apart on one of his doccos, and if anything it made me think that some of the songs are even better than we think they are.
EDIT. ooop! Here he is!
Given that musicians seldom retire and often continue to record later in life these days, the fact he hasn’t released an album in 15 years is interesting.
Re Moose’s mention of the Goodall analysis, I think he said that, in as much as you could measure these things, Steve’s music was technically more accomplished than Maccas.
A surefire banger that’s hard to stay still for. It’s got disco, it’s got R&B, it’s got Latin and it’s got Jazz in it.