Eighth Wonder
By Mitch Berg
In my never-ending quest for new music, I’ve been trawling through the seventies.
And finding some interesting stuff.
For example – I’ve always known Stevie Wonder was an amazingly talented guy. A top-notch multi-instrumentalist and one of Motown’s greatest talents from the sixties to the eighties, and – this is rare – an artist whose “mega-sales” period came after he’d been an artistic trailblazer for a couple of decades, he’s one of those musicians who I just know I’m supposed to like.
As, indeed, I do – having worked at a slew of oldies stations during my radio career, I always liked his Motown output, as well as his stuff from the early to mid seventies – at least, the stuff that made it on the radio. And that’s all notwithstanding the fact that by the time I discovered him he was well into the least interesting but by far most profitable part of his career – his “Ebony and Ivory” / “That’s What Friends Are For” / “Part Time Lover” phase of his career.
So poking around the web the other day, I found this; a mini concern from French TV from 1974, when Wonder was 24 and had already been a star half his life. It bounces around through a bunch of styles, jams a lot, and is…
…well, just listen.
By the way – the black guy with the Les Paul? That’;s Ray “Who Ya Gonna Call?” Parker, Junior.
July 17th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Don’t just go back to the 70s in your quest – go back to the 1600’s! That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but check out the group Fleet Foxes (and Mr. D will bear me out). It’s new music that harkens back a bit to really deep roots folk with excellent musicianship and production. Some of it kind of reminds me of Steeleye Span or Fairport Convention back in the day, but without the long, drugged-out jams. I had to listen a couple of times to this new stuff to get my ears around it since it isn’t easily categorized, but it’s good stuff.