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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Stevie Wonder

  • They Put Me In The Mix – JSlow 6: A New Beginning

    JSlow 6 means one thing for me. It means the birth of my first son Brian. The year was 1999. This was also the first JSlow that wasn’t recorded on audio tape. My wife at the time bought me a CD recorder.

    But back to Brian for a second. As I reflect back to when he was born, it really seems fantasy-like. It’s like he was born, and now he’s 9 years old. Where did all the time go? We have a pretty special relationship and he always knows how to put me in the right mood. I hope I do the same for him.

    Who knew Lark Voorhies was in this video?

    JSlow 6: A New Beginning (circa late 1999)

    1. Crazy Over You – 112
    2. One Day You’ll Be Mine – Usher
    3. My Love Is Your Live – Whitney Houston
    4. Silly Man – Tony Rich
    5. Don’t Rush (Take Love Slowly) – K-Ci & JoJo
    6. Right Here Waiting – Monica featuring 112
    7. These Are The Times – Dru Hill
    8. If You’re An Angel – Tony Rich
    9. Angel – Sarah McLachlan
    10. Ex Factor – Lauryn Hill
    11. When A Woman’s Fed Up – R. Kelly
    12. Never Say Never – Brandy
    13. Show Me The Way To Your Heart – Brian McKnight
    14. Ribbon In The Sky – Stevie Wonder
    15. Half On A Baby – R. Kelly
    16. To Zion – Lauryn Hill

    It’s funny looking back at these tapes and seeing what I was listening to back then. I’m not sure that I’ve listened to Monica’s version of Right Here Waiting in years. And that might’ve been the last Whitney Houston song that I liked.

    • Two Tony Rich songs? Dude was talented, but still, two Tony Rich songs?
    • Usher would go on to cut at least 10 slow jams that were better than this one.
    • That Sarah McLachlan song threw me for a loop. I forgot I had some SM on my slow jam tapes.
    • Man, when do the R. Kelly songs end on my tapes?
    • But at least I found a way to add some more Stevie.
    • Look at your career they said, Lauryn baby use your head, but instead I chose to use my heart.

      To Zion – Lauryn Hill (Featuring Carlos Santana)

    The next JSlow was a Jodecidal JSlow.

    Previous JSlows
    Jam Slow
    JSlo 3
    JSlow 4
    JS5 (JSlow 5)

  • They Put Me In The Mix – JS5 (JSlow 5)

    When I starting creating these slow jam tapes, really, they were to be about slow and inspiring music about love and relationships. I think I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque. This is the wackiest JSlow I’d ever done and probably will ever do. There are many songs that don’t make sense at all as to why they are on here. But away we go.

    JS5 (circa 1999)

    1. Could – Brian McKnight
    2. Say It – Voices Of Theory
    3. It Seems Like You’re Ready – R. Kelly
    4. They Don’t Know – Jon B.
    5. Do Your Thing – 7 Mile
    6. Your Body’s Callin’ – R. Kelly
    7. Brick – Ben Folds Five
    8. Gone Till November – Wyclef Jean
    9. All In Love Is Fair – Stevie Wonder
    10. And Our Feelings – Babyface
    11. I Don’t Want To Ever See You Again – Uncle Sam
    12. Never Is A Promise – Fiona Apple
    13. When Can I See You – Babyface
    14. I Don’t Wanna Go On – Innerlude
    15. The Only One For Me – Brian McKnight
    16. Sweet Thing – Mary J. Blige
    17. The Sweetest Thing – Lauryn Hill
    18. Baby You Are – Uncle Sam

    Why were there two R. Kelly songs on there were like 4 years old? No clue. Looking back, I think I just wanted to put another tape together and just found any slow song that I hadn’t already used, even those that weren’t about love or heartbreak. And this was before my ban on R. Kelly music.

    • I was definitely in Brian McKnight fan mode at this point and The Only One For Me still does it for me.
    • Whatever happened to Voices Of Theory?
    • Whatever happened to 7 Mile (one of Mariah Carey’s first and only signings on her now defunct label)?
    • I loved Brick and while it’s not the typical love song, I still enjoy it.
    • The shades and shadows undulate in my perception – enough said Fiona, enough said.
    • Even though All In Love Is Fair is the most depressing Stevie Wonder song ever, I still had to add it
    • I was buying everything during this time, even Uncle Sam, who was a once protege of Boyz II Men
    • Innerlude? Don’t ask.
    • Remember when Lauryn Hill used to be The Sweetest Thing?

    JSlow 6 would be my first since my oldest son was born, so you can imagine what’s on that one.

    Previous JSlows
    Jam Slow
    JSlo 3
    JSlow 4

  • Friday Throwback: All in Love is Fair

    I had no clue what I was going to use when I told GG I would take care of the Friday throwback in his absence. Hell, I was absolutely stunned to actually see this You Tube performance footage.

    I go back and forth between Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions and Prince’s Sign O’ the Times as my favorite album of all time.

    Innervisions was one of the first albums-maybe even THE first-that I ever owned. I played the grooves off of that record, even though I wasn’t able to appreciate the poetry of the songs-everything from Higher Ground to Golden Lady -until I was much older.

    All in Love is Fair is by far my favorite song on Innervisions, and is one of the best written love songs in history.   I was stunned to see video footage of Stevie singing this that wasn’t taken from a recent concert or television performance. In the thirty-five years since Innervisions’ release, the song has become a standard, rerecorded by everyone from Cher to Streisand. I believe Sinatra may have taken a crack at it too. Still, no one tops the original.