Backtracking

Recently I had a discussion with a friend, who was introducing me to some new-old music. I'd played on our radio show a track by Stevie Wonder - "If You Really Loved Me", and he asked me if I'd heard the track "As". I confessed that I had not (or thought I hadn't) and admitted that I was pretty unfamiliar with Stevie Wonder as a whole. He played "As" which it turned out I had heard, but never associated with the braided, cheesy slightly cliched Pop/R&B artist I knew in the 80's. He suggested that I become familiar with Stevie Wonder's back catalogue, something which I'm getting great pleasure out of doing at the moment.

This made me think of 2 things which have been rattling around in my head lately. The first being; the methodology of going back to find out more. OK so that sounds pretty boring, but there's a huge reward to be had by starting at a point in musical history and tracing its roots. Theres obviously a huge number of ways about going about this - hitting wikipedia, checking out similar artists, stylistic roots, tracking down the music (god bless itunes) and giving it a spin. Going to a record labels website and finding out what they do. That probably works better in the case of smaller record labels, but I'm hoping that if you're reading this you're musical interest extends beyond what SONY/BMG is pumping this month.

There's always the old fashioned "recommendation" but apart from brief encounters with the few people I know who KNOW music, thats a pretty mute point personally. Maybe you know people who give a shit about music. Maybe you are one - in which case... any suggestions?

My tastes are eclectic, even by modern standards. I'll listen to (this mornings selection for example) Emerson, Lake and Palmers "Brain Salad Surgery" album, followed with Christian Prommer's Drumlession, Radiohead (Airbag/How Am I Driving EP in case you're wondering) Atmospheres "Strictly Leakage" which you can get here, and finally Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key of Life". I love all of those records, all for their own reason, and no, I don't have a problem with that. So if you've got something you think I might like or should listen to, PLEASE feel free to offer something.

I think this is my point here - I'm pretty hard to recommend stuff to unless you know your shit, because I've probably either heard it and given it a place in my heart (or on my ipod) or already have a pre-disposition to it. Which brings me on to the 2nd thing I want to crap on about - the bad ol' 80's and the way that my opinions are jaded or shaded by artists recording then.

As it turns out, Stevie Wonder is a prolific cat. He's been making pretty damn good music since 1962. When he was like 12 or something. At the ripe old age of 21 his contract with motown rolled to a close, so this dude went out on his own, recorded "Innervisions" an album so damn fine that, (remember that I've only just gotten into him so I don't have a pre-formed opinion to his early material. Mostly I haven't heard it before) to me this sounds fresh, funky, exciting and considerably better than todays piss poor excuse for R&B.

Arguably, anyone who had never heard a Michael Jackson record from the early 80's might think the same, but my issue here is that I grew up in the 80's, so my first impressions of a lot of artists (Jackson excluded because I don't think anyone will deny the brilliance of "Thriller" or "Off the Wall") was them floundering with stylistic and technological changes that took place in the 80's pop scene.

In the instance of Stevie Wonder, we're left to consider "Ebony and Ivory", a trite cliched duet with another seasoned artist trying to find relevance, Paul Mcartney. It seems that a swag of musicians got swept along in this trend. I can cite most established rock and pop acts here. Music just started doing its own thing. Sure, many artists did well, but they were almost universally artists who performed within the new styles, having never recorded previously. Shit, the entire GENRE of jazz turned into a pale mockery of itself.

Its been true since too. Veterans struggle to re-invent themselves and thus remain relevant. Madonna, an 80's superstar floundered in the electronic pop scene of the 90's. I can scarcely even think of a 90's artist that's remained relevant through until today.

That doesn't exclude their previous body of work. In fact I'm suggesting quite the opposite - that back catalogues CAN be relevant today, and could indeed be more so if it weren't for that particular artist tarnishing their output by getting too carried away but whats current.

Anyway, thats enough rambling for today - heres some Stevie, sounding amazing.