"What are you listening to right now?" thread | Page 608 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

“I glove dig”

Is that beam emanating from the heavens meant to be Stevie’s beloved God /Jesus smiling down on him? Is it meant to be the sun, a frequent source of lyrical inspiration (as noted in “Talking Book” writeup), warming his closed eyelids? Maybe either, but it seems more logical that it represents the man’s “inner vision”, as it were. It’s interesting how many lyrical references there are to colours and “seeing” and “looking in your eyes”…and how much visual imagery he puts into the more ambitious lyrics here. Also much emphasis on the sky, sun, reaching upward to a “Higher Ground”, either spiritual or socioeconomical. This one is considered Stevie’s finest album by many people, possibly because of the increased lyrical emphasis on the political/social/spiritual, and the de-emphasis of romance – only three real love songs, or maybe two if “Golden Lady” is actually about the sun again. (As critic Robert Christgau suggests.) I think it’s no higher than #3 – the second side is a bit laid back and repetitious. But that first side is solid right from track one: “Too High” (…but I ain’t touched the sky”…aha!) is a cautionary anti-drug tale of a girl who goes from pot to acid to heroin, and eventually dies, of course. The leaping Moog bass line, the delectable jazzy chords and vocal scatting, the psychedelic phasing on the lead vocal: heavenly, even if some of the words are typically a bit silly. (And it’s pretty funny that some of the best stoner albums of the 70s were made by a guy who smoked pot twice in his life! ) Also jazzy is the yearning “Visions”, with backing by two lone guitars (electric and acoustic) and standup bass; atypically, Wonder just sings here. The epic “Living For The City” is a tragic (but funky!) tale of attempted/thwarted Black upward mobility; the bridge features a synthesizer melody that’s pure British pomp rock in effect, if still bluesy in melody. (Also notable for an odd midsection where the music all but disappears, and actors act out the melodrama, as our poor Mississippi boy takes the bus to his new life in NYC – “Skyscrapers…and everythang!” – only to be immediately falsely arrested for dealing, and delivered a 10-year sentence. Side closer, “Golden Lady” is less spectacular, but the addition of guest musicians on acoustic guitar, conga, and organ gives it a nice “What’s Going On”-style groove. As with the previous LP, only three tracks are entirely solo. The addition of different voices, and instruments the man hasn’t mastered himself, here as always, give an additional sonic richness to the electric keyboard-dominated sound. (Here I should credit Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, synthesizer programmers and engineers, a crucial component in Wonder’s 1972-1976 output.)

Anyways, excellent album (not his best!), it produced three hit singles, and the Grammy Awards committee temporarily established some credibility for themselves k=by giving him his first (of three) Best Album awards. And a few days after its release, Stevie is a passenger in a car following a logging truck; an unsecured log falls off and smashes through the windshield. Stevie is struck in the head, and lies in a coma in hospital for four days; he also loses much of his sense of smell.

Was gonna post earlier that today’s afternoon toons was someone’s 1963-4 Spotify playlist, when “…Hold Your Hand” came up for play. And now that I’ve finally gotten around to typing it, “Twist & Shout” is playing! 

(“Standing There” and “Please Please Me ” have also come up in the interim.)

PUNK AS FECK

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=…..qL1mFpMg60