'call Me' Is Not An Exceptional Al

There Is Something Complete About Stevie Wonder, And One Senses That He Is Not Only Exceptionally Important Today, But Will Continue To Be For As Long As He Chooses.

The Modern Recording Studio, With Its Well-trained Engineers, 24-track Machines And Shiny New Recording Consoles, Encourages The Artist To Get Involved With Sound. And There Have Always Been Artists Who Could Make The Equipment Serve Their Needs In A Highly Personal Way - I Would Single Out The Beatles, Phil Spector, The Beach Boys And Thom Bell.

Bob Dylan May Be The Charlie Chaplin Of Rock N' Roll. Both Men Are Regarded As Geniuses By Their Entire Audience. Both Were Proclaimed Revolutionaries For Their Early Work And Subjected To Exhaustive Attack When Later Works Were Thought To Be Inferior. Both Developed Their Art Without So Much As A Nodding Glance Toward Their Peers.

Soul Was The Music Made By And For Black People. For Most Of The Sixties It Was Thoroughly Divorced From White Popular Music, But By The End Of The Decade Several Artists With Their Roots Firmly In Both Soul And R&b Traditions Had Crossed Over.

Barry White Seemed So Filled With Self-parody At First That It Was Easy To Dismiss Him. But It Is Becoming Increasingly Obvious With Every Additional Release That He Is A Very Talented Man.