Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
This one is yet another purchase for a ridiculously small sum in Harborough Market. Widely regarded as a stone cold classic, it's only taken me 50 years to get round to enjoying Stevie Wonder's 1976 double album.
By 1976, Wonder had enough clout, enough knowledge of the industry and enough courage to dictate his own musical journey. Despite being only 26 when this was released, he had a decade of hits behind him.
This album isn't just the hit singles (although there are plenty of them), it's a fantastic medley of all styles of black music. Originally released as a double vinyl album with a bonus 7" single, my version is a double CD, and it's a fantastic listen of the spiritual, the religious, the political and the joyous.
There isn't anything on the first CD that's anything less than great. Opener Love's In Need Of Love Today is a solid soul ballad, followed by an electronic hymn, Have A Talk With God. Village Ghetto Land is a string quartet backed lament on street poverty, Wonder being political without being obvious. I'm particularly taken with the jazz funk instrumental Contusion. The first hit single is the fantastic Sir Duke, a tribute to Duke Ellington, who had died a couple of years earlier, and hot on its heels comes I Wish, a wistful look back at a very unusual childhood. Knocks Me Off My Feet, is perhaps the most ordinary piece in the first half, a decent enough ballad, followed by Pastime Paradise, which until hearing I hadn't realised was the 'original' of Coolio's global no 1 hit Gangster's Paradise (devoid of profanity, unusual for Coolio's songs, as a precondition for Wonder allowing its use). Summer Soft felt like a throwaway at first, but has grown on me as I've listened, particularly the imaginative key changes, while Ordinary Pain is a gentle close to the first half.
I'm not sure I find the second CD as convincing, but there's still plenty to enjoy. Isn't She Lovely, dedicated to his baby daughter is still a great song, followed by the slow ballad Joy Inside My Tears, and the upbeat and funky Black Man, Wonder's political response to the US Bicentennial. I find the middle songs, Ngiculela and If It's Magic quite ordinary, but not unpleasant, while the single, As, is a solid love song before the finale, the extended funky Another Star featuring George Benson.
The four tracks on the bonus single are all songs recorded in the sessions for the album, but not originally included. As you'd expect, if they were world beaters, they'd be on the album. All are listenable, but their inclusion doesn't really enhance the album, with perhaps the lazy instrumental Easy Goin' Evening being my favourite
This is a great album, although not really from genres I tend to frequent. I think it will be an occasional treat in the future, rather than a regular standby, but there's nothing wrong with that.
4* - a great album, rightly viewed as Stevie Wonder's master work.
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