VH1 Classic occasionally show a few Stevie Wonder songs (Mistra Know It All, Superstition) recorded in a studio from the early 70's. Stevie is wearing a denim outfit and is backed by the coolest band ever assembled. The show might be Beat Club or Musicladen? Is this full show available on DVD?

"I am the DJ, I am what I play". I can't see your screenname without being reminded of that awesome song. Love it.

JumpingKentFlash

Check out the whole Lodger album. It'll knock your socks off!

Way ahead of you dude. I've had it for years. I love it. One of my faves with Bowie (My faves being everything from Station To Station up until, and counting, Scary Monsters. And add Heathen as well).

JumpingKentFlash

Nice name for a thread. Just my regards to my Jutlandic cozmic friend Kent!

How did this go from Stevie Wonder to Bowie?

BTW, Ollie Brown is Stevie's drummer on these.

"No Anchovies, Please"

Stevie is in town this Friday, I think. Anybody seen him in concert before?

Contract On Love from 1962....A Stevie gem....



ROCKMAN

In 1972, I was fifteen and I got to witness in person a great moment in rock...
when the musical paths of the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder crossed.

Philadelphia...
Stevie joined the Stones onstage for their encore of Satisfaction/ Uptight.
It had become a completely faded memory for me, until the 90s...
when I finally bought the bootleg cd.

Go see Stevie. He tours rarely and his show in L.A. this summer was brilliant. I'm seeing him again in L.A. on Dec. 15; not yet clear on whether this appearance will be his traditional holiday benefit with guest stars or more like the shows he has been performing since his tour opened in California this summer.

But go, go, go see Stevie if you get a chance.

Elmo Lewis Wrote:
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> How did this go from Stevie Wonder to Bowie?
>
> BTW, Ollie Brown is Stevie's drummer on these.

Just struck me too?

Baboon Bro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Elmo Lewis Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > How did this go from Stevie Wonder to Bowie?
> >
> > BTW, Ollie Brown is Stevie's drummer on these.
>
> Just struck me too?


Now that you mention it,
I've never even SEEN Aerosmith.

Why did this thread veer sharply into a discussion of Bowie?

'Cuz the guy who started this thread has a screen name that quotes a line from a Bowie song. If his screen name had been Misstra-Know-It-All, Sir Duke or Isn't He Lovely?, the thread would have stayed on topic.

Is he playing Jungle Fever?

That's a semi-guilty pleasure.

Speaks to barriers of race or whatever else.

Catchy, sing along



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-12 11:28 by Send It To me.

But hey, as long as he does the classics (especially I Was Made to Love Her) I'm good, also liking Part Time Lover, Queen in the Black, Gotta Have You, For Once In My Life, etc.

Gotta go to bed or I will be in really bad shape at work - Geez, I've been so unable to sleep.

Odd.

Hope that doesn't make me too beligerent - whoa, kinda frightening

iamthedj Wrote:
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> Check out the whole Lodger album. It'll knock
> your socks off!


Lodger is my favorite Bowie record. Would live to see Red Sails instead of Rebel rebel next time he goes out on tour.

Check out this one:

yes i also saw steve wonder and wonderlove warm up for several stones shows on the eastern seaboard in '72. His set was astounding display of virtuoso multi-instrumentality and incredible singing and wonderful songwriting; really thrilling. extremely powerful, wondrous performance. classic brilliance; i feel very graced to have seen those shows. and so did the crowds...there was no booing or 'we want the stones' chants, or hanging around the bathrooms waiting for the main act. It was more than clear that the great Rolling Stones working the sf and eoms albums was the headliner, of course, but the audience seemed to fully recognize it was being treated to one of the best loved and most important american artists ever giving his all with a top notch band. and stevie was given tremendous response and appreciation every time that i saw various tour stops. i also saw wonderlove and the rolling stones merge together for encores in new york, and it was one of the biggest thrills of my life, to this day. stevie is an international treasure. he was also an astounding drummer, and he covered a lot of ground in these shows, from instrument to instrument at one point.
also one of th most original and immediately recognizable harmononica stylists ever...
the guy oozes brilliance. what an amazing blessing stevie is...i mean fingertips parts 1 & 2 were hits for him when he was how old? like 12 or something??? he was all over the radio all the time and the world was a better place for it. great writer too. real open heart and ears. his version of beatles 'we can work it out' (and dozens of other examples of brilliant originals and covers leaves an unequaled legacy imo.

Great post BeelyBoy. Many of us are happy just to hear the bootlegs and see the clips on youtube etc. Please tell me these if you read here....

How was the sound amplification?
Could you hear as well as today at live shows?
What was the average ticket price to see these shows in 1972?
Off topic sorry but what was seeing Keith Richards in 1972 like for you?

dixiecup Wrote:
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> Great post BeelyBoy. Many of us are happy just to
> hear the bootlegs and see the clips on youtube
> etc. Please tell me these if you read here....

thank you for asking. these are just my personal impressions; oh dixiecup, don't you know it's dangerous to ask me a question as i'll go on and on trying to remember everything and express it accurately? oh well, long timers here can skip this, and will heh heh, but i am very glad to respond to you and ty for asking.

i see the same clips that we all see; and sometimes it looks like the 1930's or some ancient event, but it was visceral, exciting, extremely unified and informed audiences and a lot of absotlue clarity; visually, soncially, and even, dare i say it, almost spiritually.

>
> How was the sound amplification?

stadiums it was a dull roar, as could be expected as those things were never built with any consideration for acoustics. i will almost always skip a stadium show because of this.

Areneas like msg, very good amplification and definition; plenty of amp power on the stage; all those huge ampegs etc...great sound. very exciting; and you could feel it too; very loud and clear.
very impressive to me...i had never seen so many huge amplifiers on stage previous to this...

the p.a. had a very exciting sound, very clear, very loud...very in your face...top notch. every snare beat, every hi hat hit....very moving powerful bass response and clarity throughout the frequency spectrum on horns and all instruments; drums were right in your face...great sound, great mixes...i don't think they do any better today in any arena that any group plays in...those engineer guys could MIX and they knew what they were doing at the console...

> Could you hear as well as today at live shows?

absolutely; the best of today's live shows try their hardest to reach the standard that was set back then, and often fall short imo.

oh yeah without a doubt. it wasn't covered wagons or pioneer days tho it was 35 years ago. it was huge speaker rigs placed carefully; probably in some cases the same classic mikes miking the same classic amps that groups use today, or try to replicate with equipment designed or reverse engineered, to be that good.

i would guess that modern p.a.'s are still pretty much good stacks of crown or whatever mega powerful amplifers driving quality speakers and horns.
i think probably the best of what's available today not only stems from this equipment and mikes and amps and speakers, but would lucky if they could get close to emulating it.

dig it, the riggers & crew were there for ONE reason; to fly the speaker rigs with careful placement. it was all about the MUSIC

> What was the average ticket price to see these
> shows in 1972?

i think i paid $60.00 bucks, a fortune at the time, not a tank of gas now...
for FOUR tickets...maximum spent for really great floor seats at msg did not exceed $15 usd. per seat. i think the stadium shows were much cheaper if memory serves me well. i had to send in postcards to win the right to buy a four ticket batch. i probably sent in at least a dozen or two and scored. some friends send in a hundred and did not.

> Off topic sorry but what was seeing Keith Richards
> in 1972 like for you?

very very exciting; keith had a determination and sense of purpose and control that was ferocious and you could feel it. he was all business and he was naturally graceful and exalted in very precise crisp and authorative rhythm;
he was certainly fascinating visually but never seemed like he was 'working' it...he was just a natural; and he was also very obviously the general on the stage.

i must also say that even tho bill just stood there...as did mickt; they counter-balanced each other very solidly visually and held things down, even tho the music was totally soaring...bill's presence as a player and as a physical presence is never talked about except sorta to make fun of how he just stood there, but there was an alertness about him; and he was the one always looking right out into the crowd, facing them down, and it was impactful.
now he might have been scouting for chicks as the legends and claims go...but i didn't care or think of that. i saw him making contact with the crowd in his quiet way. the chemistry was amazing.

keith gave 100% and more. i hope i'm not romanticizing this too much but it really seemed like he LIVED for this moment, there was a knowingness and a no bullshit vibe from him; no looking at the crowd and smiling or waving or any of that stuff...but he was giving every ounce of his presence, spirit and soul into the performance it seemed to me. he was spell binding. as amazingly delightful a dramatic and graceful front man like mick is, keith was every bit his equal. he didn't move around too much; stayed on his side of the stage, just moving toward charlie and only came all the way forward to sing a harmony line into the mike, but every step he took was fascinating. it was incredible seeing a master like that just concentrate so intensely and put out with so much crispness and purpose. and he was totally beautiful, angels with dirty faces, all that kinda vibe...he was wiry and all business. but a natrual sense of grace. it seemed like jagger was the only one actually working the crowd, which is his job, but keith and the rest of them, other than bill, seemed to ignore the audience entirely, in a pandering or showy sense...but that made them doubly more fascinating to me; because you weren't getting bullshit; you were getting people leaning into the job very very seriously, and that was respected and appreciated and there seemed a great sense of unity between the music, the players and the audience; there were no stagey distractions or screens or fireworks; just standard stage lighting, so you could really just get into the players and the music; and not be manipulated or wowed by spectacle; it was very moving and changed everybody in the room who was there i think; mick was the only theatrical element, and was great at it...i appreciated the reality of the presentation and the opportunity to really watch, (while standing up dancing and shouting with everyone else, watching nicky and stu were in the background, and were not smiling and waving to the crowd or any of that stuff. it was serious business and not so much a 'show' as an opportunity to see this amazing wildlife exhibit; only they brought their natural habitat with them, with the guitars and drums...bobby and jim stayed in the background too; i dug the reality aspect. no costume changes ala cher or any bullshit at all; hold on to your ass, you were gonna get seventy minutes of sterling purposeful brilliance and you were going home amazed and happy.
it was a privilige to be there. ty for asking.

again, i was super impressed by the gift of what i perceived as quite a gift of REAL presence & committment. there was no clowning around on stage; zero show biz baloney, except for some theatrical stuff from mick on rambler.
you could smell the sweat and feel the pain power and great joy of it all; the energy was incredible...and keith was undoubtedly the core of the experience...
tho i really dug how taylor just stared at his guitar the whole time and created universes of texture and melody. i think he would look up at keith for a second now and then to make when they were ending something, and that was it.
it was the rolling stones sans b.s. and zillion dollar souvenir stands and alla that. the event was the MUSIC not the hype or history. keith was stunning.
yeah it was serious but it was also a joyous and a great release.

stevie and wonderlove were as much a cultural and musical event. they were touring, as they had in '69, with the very best. they were fearless and would follow these deservedly superstar acts no problem.
i guess once that t.a.m.i. thing was over and they got out alive after following james brown, it must've made them totally fearless.

these experiences are sometimes why i long for a more b-stage or stripped band to this day. a lot of fans don't think they could cut it. i think they could and should.

I should thank you, Beelyboy. I saved your post. As you so rightly pointed out, they were pioneering/dealing with a less exact science (large scale sound engineering) than today. The skill of the placement and balance of the sound must have been exacting with less digital tricks to rely on. Same for musicians today.

A day at the office: I get it. No unnecessary moves or anything that detracts from the sound of the moment. The music from that period stands testament to the absolute commitment to the form and its progress. Its undiluted in conception, execution and public performance. Its all those outside of the band that add to the 'flavour' of the experience but overall has nothing to do with the sound. Very different from the demands of today. The Stones could do a B Stage gig and should. Choose one album and cover it completely in release order. I vote Sticky Fingers.

Thanks for that brilliant post.

back in 72 he was great. I loved that guy

Stevie is the King!!
That's all I can say. I am happy to say that I have seen this genious live.

So Cal Stones fans: Stevie is performing on Saturday at the Nokia Theatre. It's his annual House Full of Toys Benefit, but there are strong indications that Stevie will perform a fuller set than he usually does at these events. He's been on the road all fall, and in the past the guest artists at this benefit have been announced in advance.

It's an excellent opportunity to see this legend live and in full command of his talents.

Stevie Wonder is amazing, till this day, his concerts get rave reviews as being "magical" hes my second favorite artist after the stones, love ya stevie! amazzzzinggggggg singer/pianist, blessed with talent instead of eyesight, he can play the drums, bass guitar, keyboard/piano, congas, etc, wish i could see him on tour HE BETTER come out with a live DVD!!!!!

So far, John Mayer and Enya (?) have been announced as guests for the L.A. show.

John Mayer?! Groan. I guess I better pack some reading material before I leave for tonight's Stevie Wonder show. Now I'm gonna try and find out who the heck Enya is.

Hairball, let me know where you saw those announcements so I can check throughout the day and know what I'm in for. I had been praying for a full Stevie set. Guess I was praying to the wrong saint.

I heard it on K-Earth 101. John Mayer...good grief how dull! There's also some guy with a Spanish name...
forget his name, never heard of him before. Hope there's something more "special" than that tonight.