Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Original Musiquarium

Random thought for today is to wonder how anyone won a grammy in the seventies in a category that Stevie Wonder was competing in. The aptly named Mr. Wonder put together a string of albums in the seventies that may never be matched by a solo artist ever again. From 1972's "Music of My Mind" through 1980's "Hotter than July", Stevie put out masterpiece after masterpiece. From "Superwoman" through "Lately" it was a period of creativity that frankly boggles the mind. There were some fine singer/songwriters at work during the time from Paul Simon to Bruce Springsteen to James Taylor to Billy Joel, to Elton John but none of them can match what Stevie did for pure artistry and consistency.

Stevie hasn't been quite the same since and doesn't put out music very often and has even produced some downright terrible songs like "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just called to say I love you" (which was one of his biggest hits and actually won an academy award), but all transgressions can be forgiven for the absolutely stunning body of work that was completed in that ten year, six album span. I'll put that run up against anybody including the Beatles or the Rolling Stones or anyone else who has toiled in the Rock and Roll era.
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5 comments:

Tim said...

See, the power of POT..
let's those creative juices flow.

Mycue23 said...

I'm not sure what gets the credit, but we should all be so lucky.

SJ said...

But don't forget, "Overjoyed" is also from his sucktastic 80s period and it's a masterpiece...
and hey, who can forget "Part Time Lovers"
-SJ

SJ said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUP8OoF5EDU

Stevie Wonder is a musical genius.

SJ said...

Actually, this is the best performnace of it I know of, from his appearance at SNL in '83:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5wRjFGCO6o