"Poll question: Sly Stone vs. Stevie Wonder (Who is the better artist?)"
Now, I know Sly Stone had a band but he was still the man behind the music. So when you add songs and albums, who between these two guys is the better artist? And why?
18. "Sly wasn't much of a drum player." In response to Reply # 10
In that "For the Record" book, Cynthia explains that drumming was the one thing he really didn't train on and wasn't best at, which is why Gregg Errico and later Andy Newmark were so important to the band.
Gregg Errico played drums on the earliest Riot tracks before he quit, Gerry Gibson (his interim replacement before Andy Newmark was hired a year or so later) and studio musicians did whatever other tracks needed live drums.
13. "Well, I ''like'' Sly more..." In response to Reply # 12 Fri Jan-25-13 08:02 PM by Jakob Hellberg
His music is more appealing to my sensibilities overall and I think he was a more "interesting" artist as well. And he made at least one album stronger than Stevie's best...
The fact remains though that Stevie in the 70's from "Where I'm coming from" to "Songs in the key of life" delivered such an incredibly strong sequence of amazing, full-formed, perfect well-balanced albums that I find it impossible to vote for Sly-sometimes, sheer *craft* wins, not often but in this particular case it does...
EDIT:In rock, sheer craft NEvER wins for me... I guess I impose different standards on different genres. Stevie is just an all-round genius. Sly was a genius too but more a ''rock''-type genius-someone who comes up with a killer style that's dope but clearly not a songwriter/artist the way Stevie was. I WANT to say Sly but I can't... Yet,I'd pick Stooges, Stones or Sabbath over Beatles without any hesitation. Quite interesting for me personally in terms of how I view genre-music (which Stevie transcended which is rarely a plus for me but in this case is) even if I doubt anyone else care
17. "i'm the only one who went w/ sly. i like his music way more" In response to Reply # 0
i never got into stevie wonders music like that. even had 4-5 albums on wax too. but the dope sly songs? the joints i'm really cutting for? those are hard to touch.
These are only some of my favorite songs. These are just the ones I think you might dig. I think Sly's music is much more genre-less than Stevie's, and the only reason he's classified as an R&B artist is the color of his skin. If we really look at his catalog, songs like "Stand", "Everyday People", and countless others (especially the "Life" album") aren't R&B at all. He had to walk the line to appease radio in order to get played. Interesting stories about this are in the liner notes of his albums. But I digress...
Luv N Haight If This Room Could Talk Poet Dynamite Crossword Puzzle (early version) Remember Who You Are Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back Color Me True In Time If You Want Me To Stay (you probably already know that one) Time Just Like A Baby