Degiorgio

I haven't heard it but I think this track is a great example of how Stevie achieved greatness in this period. Superwoman is much covered (the Quincy Jones version is killer) and is well loved by millions. But listen again to the original... this is not some of Chuck's 'nostalgic, warm, crap' - this is not an average pop structure or easy listening. The vocal harmonies are quite harsh reflecting the lyrical content (I believe this is about marital strife - 'she tries to boss the bull around') the chords are just beautiful and what about that breakdown?! a string section created by multi-layering stacked oscillator tones into chords and a electronic 'techno' style bassline - predating Headhunters by a year or so... The daring experimentation on these albums is sometimes overlooked IMO due to the familiarity of both the material and the artist (who admittedly perhaps hasn't helped himself lately).

"Now if you know Andrew's music and rep;( at the time his own label was putting out a lot of records ) he is no pansy." no pansy indeed if the Andrews Music albums I have heard are the same Andrew White. (Smilin Jane is a fave of mine from one of these series). Interesting quote... but I wonder what context to take it. As a musician or lyricist - sure Stevie is no genius. BUT - take the next point: "Wonder was one of several over the course of a decade or so who advanced pop music, sometimes in huge steps" I agree. I would place Stevie alongside Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell for the artists I most admire and who managed to make great art which also advanced pop music. But even SD required the most skilled LA sessionists to flesh out their creations - and likewise Joni used top sessionists and arrangers for Court & Spark, Hissing, etc. At the age of 21(?) with engineering from Margouleff & Cecil, Stevie managed to self-produce, arrange, write and exclusively perform a hugely successful solo album using very unorthodox instruments rarely used in pop.

I nearly missed that one...

so I'm learning... I'm still trying to tie together Chuck's comments about pop and an album as uncommercial and downright weird as Fulfillingness' First Finale!

well the debate I hoped to spark was purely whether there was much chance of this material being revisited 'deluxe edition stylee'... I certainly never expected to debate whether Stevie Wonder is a genius or not... maybe I'm wrong.. maybe its just a 'vision in my mind'

considering Stevie's age when he wrote, arranged, played every instrument on and produced those albums and it becomes even more staggering.

yes, I have no problem with that... the Marvin deluxe sets do have the original album programme and then follow it with additional stuff.. that format seems the best way... I suspect you are right...

Just based upon just those 4 albums it wouldn't be 'over the friggin' top'. But factor in Songs In the Key of Life, Hotter Than July, songs of utter originality and beauty for artists like Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Smokey Robinson, Syreeta, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack and despite all the cheesy abominations of late I still think Stevie is up there with the greatest musical talents of all time. Easy...

"So this is where all that sound comes from?" yep - that's TONTO. Belonged at that time to engineer/producers Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil (British jazz-bass player). I believe Stevie first heard it on a visit to Electric Lady studios in 1971 when it was being used on a Richie Havens session (which must be 'In These Flames' on The Great Blind Degree as its the only Havens song I know with TONTO credited). TONTO was basically an expanded Moog Modular with added ARP and Serge modules. With programming by Margouleff & Cecil, TONTO enabled Stevie to play all basslines, brass, string lines, etc on Music Of My Mind. This setup stayed until Fulfillingness' First Finale - after which Margouleff & Cecil ceased working with Stevie and went over to engineer the classic Isley Bros albums of the mid-70's. For me - the 4 albums Stevie made with this setup represent the pinnacle of soul-pop of any era.

well, exactly - so the real question is WHY haven't the vaults been raided by Universal for this material? Expanded editions of any of those TONTO era albums would be major MAJOR sellers so I'm sure its not lack of willingness on behalf of the label... does Stevie have approval rights?

based upon that earlier era rather than his more recent output... (that was in reply to Chuck)

So many great artists have had their greatest albums re-issued on deluxe CD editions or lavish box-sets. As one of America's - if not the worlds - greatest musical talents, I find it very frustrating that none of Stevie's classic albums have recieved this treatment. It's a known fact that there are many unreleased songs from the classic TONTO period (72-74) - some of which Stevie has performed live or given to other artists (eg. Roberta Flack's 'I Can See the Sun In Late December'). The beautiful ballad 'Feeding Off the Love of the Land' was finally released in the early 90's on a B-side of one of Stevie's singles for Jungle Fever - this came from the TONTO era and if the quality of the other unreleased songs is this good then surely they MUST be released. Does anybody know if its a contractual issue preventing these albums being revisited, say in the same way What's Going On, Let's Get It On have been done in deluxe editions by Universal? A box set of the TONTO era with unreleased/concert material would top my wish list for a future release. Is this likely??

thx for the info.... how about the JRVG mini-sleeve editions? Bonus tracks or no? KD

do these new budget priced 24bit Japanese editions not have bonus tracks/alt takes? KD

Yeah - its nice that Sam Suffy is available on Blue Note... Moulin is signed to Blue Note/EMI France so I guess if he had the rights he just signed it to them for a re-release... wish they'd do the sam with the Placebo albums... I'm lucky enough to have originals of Ball of Eyes and Placebo but I don't have 1973... (when I visited Marc to do the sleevenotes for the Counterpoint compilation he had kindly found us a mint copy but the label owner who was doing the comp had first refusal so I missed out lol)! Bartz - The Shadow Do... is one of my fave Mizell projects... Bartz isn't a great singer (!) but the sunny uplifting nature of the music carries it off... one of those real 'feel good' Mizell productions... KD

Sam Suffy is definitely a little more 'abstract' and experimental than the Placebo sessions... the Placebo albums are defo worth having though - there are tighter arrangements as you suspect - nice horn lines, the same deep funky drums as on Sam Suffy and great rhodes/synth work from Moulin. There is still some experimentation on the Placebo's - some odd time signatures for funk tunes, etc... but it doesn't get as 'out there' as Sam Suffy which is a phenomenal album IMO.

great.. the backing music is nutz... if that's Herbie... well.... somebody *really* needs to find the masters to this... KD

it doesn't look much like an ear - a small hand drawn squiggle basically.. you can't miss it though - quite distinctive... KD

I've had a couple of BN vinyl albums with the New York address label on one side and the Liberty label on the other.. they are all from just after Liberty took over so yes, they obviously used up any surplus labels before making their own. The Blue Note labelography reckons they are quite uncommon: "This mixing of labels, however, is not common, and these records are rare. Though oddities, they should command higher prices than the same record with identical labels on both sides." (Labelography: http://ronpenndorf.com/labelography.html) KD

All 3 Placebo albums are genuinely scarce. Although this is the most I've ever seen this one go for (its slightly less rare than the other 2: "BALL OF EYES" & "1973"). They usually go for between £150-£300 GBP... especially mint copies of course. Marc Moulin's SAM SUFFY also goes for a lot of money. Although Moulin doesn't seem too impressed by them now, they remain cult electronic jazz albums - especially to beat collectors (great, sparse funky drums). Great moog and horn arrangements... and of course Moulin's electric piano playing. KD

yeah - HEAD ON is pretty free stuff... not my fave Hutcherson by any means but I'd still love to hear the unissued tracks. All the stuff that Hutcherson recorded but that wasn't released at the time has turned out to be superb: MEDINA-PATTERNS-SPIRAL-OBLIQUE are all classics IMO. I was also really surprised at the quality of the previously unissued FUNK tracks from a Dec' 1971 Hutcherson session. 3 tracks came out on Blue Note comps in the UK - not sure if they have ever been issued in the US. I was expecting some weak innappropriate funk on the level of the NATURAL ILLUSION album as Cuscuna had described them to me from memory as a 'trainwreck' but 2 tracks: covers of BROTHER RAP and INNER CITY BLUES are actually pretty solid and definitely worth having - the cover of FAMILY AFFAIR is less successful IMO but still OK. They work cos Hutcherson brings his serious no-nonsense approach to them... they have great drums and guitar work too... I was pleasantly surprised so would like to hear the rest of the session. Shame the Mainstream stuff is off-limits - I love ODE TO ANGELA and the title track from A NEW SHADE OF BLUE and some of CHOMA. THE PEACE-MAKER on Cadet is another fave Hutcherson/Land pairing too... if they do compile a MOSAIC SELECT I hope they include the Japanese only INNER GLOW from '75.

I would like to see a CONN of Bobby Hutcherson's difficult HEAD ON album including the UNISSUED tracks from the same sessions. Bobby Hutcherson - Harold Land Orchestra Oscar Brashear (tp, flh) George Bohanon (tb) Willie Ruff (frh) Fred Jackson (picc) Harold Land (ts, fl) Delbert Hill, Charles Owens, Herman Riley, Ernie Watts (reeds) Bobby Hutcherson (vib, mar) Todd Cochran (p, arr) William Henderson (el-p) Reggie Johnson, James Leary (b) Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Nesbert "Stix" Hooper, Woody Theus (d) Donald Smith (vo) a.o. Los Angeles, CA, July 1 & 3, 1971 At the Source: Ashes and Rust / Eucalyptus / Obsidian BN BST 84376 Many Thousands Gone BN BST 84376 Mtume BN BST 84376 Clockwork of the Spirits BN BST 84376 * Bobby Hutcherson - Head on (BN BST 84376) Bobby Hutcherson - Harold Land Orchestra same personnel Los Angeles, CA, July 2, 1971 Togo Land BN unissued Jonathan BN unissued Bobby Hutcherson - Harold Land Orchestra same personnel Los Angeles, CA, July 3, 1971 Hey Harold BN unissued -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Herbie Hancock Nonet Melvin Lastie (cor) Julian Priester (tb) Stanley Turrentine (ts) Pepper Adams (bars) Herbie Hancock (p) Billy Butler, Eric Gale (g) Bob Cranshaw (b) Bernard Purdie (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 19, 1966 1 track from this was released on the Complete Blue Note Sessions Box-set (DON"T EVEN GO THERE). A rather standard slice of soul-jazz which the title rather sums up. But anybody else like to see this released? The other takes sound more interesting: 1770 tk.12 untitled ballad rejected 1771 tk.14 untitled blues - 1772 tk.15 Soul Villa - 1773 tk.17 untitled blues, No. 2 - 1774 tk.21 Don't Even Go There BN CDP 7243 4 95569-2 1775 tk.26 You Know What to Do rejected KD

me too. I like pretty much everything Herbie did up to and including FUTURE SHOCK. I know some have slated Herbie for his disco era and ridiculed his vocoder usage but this is the period that I first heard. I was heavily into disco and tracks like I Thought It Was You, You Bet Your Love and Tell Everybody always stood out as having something a bit 'deeper' than most other disco cuts. So this led me to investigate the albums and tracks like COME RUNNING TO ME from SUNLIGHT, TRUST ME from FEETS DON'T FAIL ME NOW and JUST AROUND THE CORNER from MR. HANDS were the tracks that got me into jazz. (Herbie's solo on the latter track is still one of my fave e.piano solo's ever). Haven't really listened to Dis Is Da Drum. Heard Future2Future a couple of times - and know some of the guest artists involved but I was disappointed. The concept of getting Herbie together with the current crop of electronic dance producers sounds good in theory but I'm not sure it worked out that well. KD

if you liked THE PIANO don't overlook the Japanese only album DEDICATION from '74. Side One is entirely solo acoustic piano versions of Maiden Voyage and Dolphin Dance. Immaculately recorded too. KD