Is it possible to dislike Stevie Wonder?

[PopCulture]

Listening to "I'd Never Dream You'd Leave in Summer." How could anyone dislike this.

 

[sparkling]

There's a reason it's in the charity shop.

It's mostly instrumental, and mostly meandering and washy. The handful of vocal tracks are slow ballads. "Venus Flytrap and the bug" is a conversation between the two organisms, fed through a horrible vocoder, on top of a cheesey stepping bassline lift music "jazz" and is one of the worst things ever recorded.

There's some nice bits, but they're very much in teh minority.

I remember loving Songs in the key of Life being wonderful and then desperately waiting for the secret life of plants to be released, rushing out to the shops to buy it and then being hugely dissapointed.

 

[ska invita]

I was thinking about Stevie Wonder tonight, and not sure where its all going, but heres what i was thinking - hope its not too babbley:

- heres a man who lives and breathes music. He was playing from pre-school age, and has been making music his whole life long. He never quit, hes always at it, and he's been very consistent considering his age. He understands the mechanics of music inside out. So how come he never tried to go down a more arty, jazzy, orchestral or dark route? He's more than capable.

Maybe he did a stab at it with Secret Life of Plants and got his fingers burned. But I dont think thats it. I think he loves pop music, and he loves being accessible. I got to thinking about 'I just called to say i love you'. To a lot of people, including diehard Wonder fans, this track is a bit of a facepalmer, i know i've always cringed when i've heard it. But it was his only number one in britain (so people really responded to it), and the thing about that track is its absolutely sincere. Theres no irony in it. He really does 'mean it from the bottom of his heart'. And that is true for absolutely everything he does, not just love songs.

When he gets political its not like anyone elses political material, theres a kind of zen optimism in Higher Ground, Living for the City is about as gritty as he has ever got, but is still quite up in feel, and the brilliant Big Brother is almost cheery, and if you think about Happy Birthday (which helped establish Martin Luther King Day as a public holiday in the States) it says so much about the mind set - pop power in the face of adversity.

---

by the way the film for secret life of plants has been pulled off google vids, but is up on youtube - the first 6 minutes is the best - catch it before it gets pulled too! sound quality is a bit shit unfortunately
*remember timelapse was still a novelty then, and there was a lot of acid

 

[discokermit]

I got to thinking about 'I just called to say i love you'. To a lot of people, including diehard Wonder fans, this track is a bit of a facepalmer, i know i've always cringed when i've heard it. But it was his only number one in britain (so people really responded to it), and the thing about that track is its absolutely sincere. Theres no irony in it. He really does 'mean it from the bottom of his heart'. And that is true for absolutely everything he does, not just love songs.

exactly. i had the same opinion of that tune until i saw him live and realised the honesty of it and everything he does.