Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder Edition

When he burst on the scene in the early ’60s, he was called “The 12-year-old Genius,” an obvious nod to another blind soul singer, Ray Charles. Amazingly, Stevie Wonder managed to grow into the genius label. After a string of ’60s hits that established him as a pop singer of the highest order, as he reached adulthood, he took charge of his music. In the early ’70s, he unleashed a run of albums that President Barack Obama told Rolling Stone magazine, might be the best five album sequence in the rock era. Obama knows what he’s talking about. Albums like Talking Book and Songs Of The Key of Life, just to name two, are multi-dimensional works that fuse R & B, pop, rock, jazz and funk all propelled by stellar songwriting and musicianship. Wonder is still an amazing performer and tireless advocate for social causes. Let’s give Stevie a birthday shout out by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that pop up.

1. Jay Reatard — Screaming Hand (Matador Singles ’08): One of my favorite songs from Reatard’s final singles compilation, which was my introduction to his recorded work. I had seen Jay play in the rain at Pitchfork, where he played an intense set that belied the increasingly fizzier touch of his recordings. What I loved about Reatard was how he could go from loud garagey power chords to breezier stuff in the vein of Buzzcocks, The Undertones and LMNOP. This song is about having a crazy father, and is typically hook filled.
2. Kevin Tihista — Situation Vacant (MOJO: The Modern Genius of Ray Davies): This comes from a MOJO Magazine CD that paid tribute to Ray Davies of The Kinks. Chicago’s very own Tihista does a fairly faithful rendition of this great piece of sprightly pop from the classic Something Else album. This would be a hard song to rearrange, as Davies did such a great job of tying the lyrics to the rhythm of the song.
3. The Jesus Lizard — Until It Stopped To Die (Blue): On the latter day Jesus Lizard albums, the band sometimes toned down its approach, while still constructing songs where the rhyhtm section and guitar parts interlocked in sophisticated post-punk fashion. This song has a bit of a jazzy gloss, but also touches upon some of the spy movie intrigue of bands like Portishead. Of course, with David Yow singing, it can’t be anyone but The Lizard.
4. Little Richard — Keep A Knockin’ (The Georgia Peach): This song was a staple in the repetoire of countless garage bands during the ’60s. It’s careening rhythm and Little Richard’s manic piano playing take what is a New Orleans styled romp and turn it into primal rock ‘n’ roll.
5. Ed Kuepper — It’s Lunach (The Butterfly Net): After Ed Kuepper left The Saints, it eventually became clear that the reason he and Chris Bailey could not co-exist in the band was not because of major artistic differences so much as they each had too many of their own ideas to comfortably pursue in the same band. That being said, compare Ed Kuepper’s solo work with the latter day Saints, and they aren’t too far apart. Both Bailey and Kuepper are rooted in R & B and then add pop and rock elements, with a seething intenstiy always present. I could hear Bailey sing this elegant swirling number.
6. Tahiti 80 — Memories of the Past (Wallpaper For the Soul): Before Phoenix became all the rage, I thought this French pop band might hit it big. A great mix of ’60s pop influences, ’70s R & B and modern dance music, with a photogenic and talented front man, I don’t know how they didn’t grab the brass ring. This is a slower number from the band’s second, and, in my opinion, best album. This is a lush tune with faux strings and a mellotron that is sunny ’60s styled pop bliss.
7. Fugazi — Promises (13 Songs): Logically, since Ian McKaye founded Dischord Records, his band defined the classic Dischord sound. They flew the post-punk flag for years, always probing new wrinkles in their style. That being said, I don’t know if they ever topped their earliest work, where the playing is so good, the songs are so focused, and they announced themselves as a force, while only charging five bucks a ticket to see them live.
8. Lyle Lovett — She’s No Lady (Pontiac): As in “she’s no lady/she’s my wife.” On his second album, Lovett quickly shed the confines of country music to incorporate jazz, blues and pop for his skewed look at life and love. In some respects, he balanced country’s love of clever turns of phrase with observational songwriting in league with Randy Newman and John Prine. This is a nifty mid-tempo jump blues effort with superb horns.
9. The Stone Roses — I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses): When Brits are polled about the best British albums of all-time, this album consistently lands in the Top 10. And American writers consistently question this. While the Roses didn’t end up having a career on par with other legendary Brit bands like The Jam and The Smiths, they built on their work and pushed it forward, with epic scope (as on this classic album opener) and by mixing it with dance elements. There are so many classic songs on this album, and its influence was tremendous.
10. Fujiya and Miyagi — Uh (Lightbulbs): Krautrock is an adaptable form, as this British band demonstrates, mixing the repetition and tonality of the form with low key funk rock. At times, they remind me of a friendlier Shriekback. This song is one of the best on the fun Lightbulbs album.