At 07:35 PM 4/7/2003 -0000, stevedurben2000 wrote:
>Dave, I did the same thing with BMG!  Only I went for 4 discs by 
>Stevie (INNERVISIONS, MUSIC OF MY MIND, TALKING BOOK, FULFILLINGNESS 
>FIRST FINALE).  I'm with you on this being great and essential stuff. 
>If I had to pick I might pick FFF as my fav but it's really 
>interchangeable for me with INNERVISIONS (I just don't like the lead 
>track on Innervisions) & TB.  It's "weird" how he was at such a peak 
>and followed with SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE. Then churned out SECRET 
>LIFE OF PLANTS,  which I have not heard but understand it is dreadful 
>(true ?). He never seemed to regain what he once had (if I'm mistaken 
>about that someone please let me know).

That's not at all true about SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, which I really enjoy.
The crappy reviews I think were due at the time to people misunderstanding
the point of the album, that it was a mostly-instrumental, jazz-leaning
score to a documentary film.  Stevie hadn't released a new album since KEY
OF LIFE some three or four years previously, and when this album came out,
a surprising number of people didn't twig that SECRET LIFE wasn't really a
"proper" Stevie Wonder album.  I'm not going to claim that this is a
masterpiece or anything, but it's better than its reviews would lead you to
believe.

HOTTER THAN JULY wasn't entirely useless either.

S