Product Description

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE is a milestone in Stevland Morris'career and a masterwork of American popular music. Releasedin 1976, this double LP spent 14 of its 80 charting weeks at number one. From his sharp commentaries on American socialhistory and pro-peace supplications to some of his most intimate professions of love, witness Stevie Wonder at a prolific point in his career, casting his music further beyond R&B, funk, and disco than ever before.
Present here are someof Stevie's greatest hits in their original context: the widely-sampled horn swirls of "Sir Duke", comical baby-noise-laced jamming of "Isn't She Lovely" and fiercely poetic declaration of "As" still shine as brightly as ever. Perhaps lesswell-known are tunes like, "Joy Inside My Tears", a slow, entrancing, synth-vamp on love's redemptive powers, or the fast-grooving funkout, "Black Man", a compelling salute to America's pioneers of colour. The keyboard sounds are as variedas ever, the bass as waggish as Bootsy, the arrangements a consummate preparation of melody and harmony. KEY OF LIFE isan inspired work in which Stevie marvels at life's unexpected miracles.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Love's In Need Of Love Today
2. Have A Talk With God
3. Village Ghetto Land
4. Contusion
5. Sir Duke
6. I Wish
7. Knocks Me Off My Feet
8. Pastime Paradise
9. Summer Soft
10. Ordinary Pain

Disc 2:

1. Isn't She Lovely
2. Joy Inside My Tears
3. Black Man
4. Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing
5. If It's Magic
6. As
7. Another Star
8. Saturn
9. Ebony Eyes
10. All Day Sucker
11. Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #912 in Music
• Released on: 2000-05-08
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Double CD, Original recording remastered
• Running time: 103 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Songs in the Key of Life was the highest high-point of Stevie Wonder's career. More sprawling than Innervisions and Talking Book, this 2 LP-plus-EP was also less of a consistent stunner than either of those masterworks. That Songs retains an enormous amount of visionary relevance, though, is demonstrated not only in Coolio's borrowing of "Pastime Paradise" as a template for "Gangsta's Paradise", but in the cold-as-ice synthesized string quartet of "Village Ghetto Land". This is Stevie, so naturally that cut's anger is balanced by the ultra-buoyant "I Wish," "Sir Duke", and "Another Star". --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

"Wonder" ful
Have the vinyl. Now got the CD and its still timeless. I have many favourites. Love "I am singing" this sums up stevies life in music.
The song writing is 1st class. in my view far better than Lennon/Mccartney ever were. This guy does the lot himself. This album should be in every collection. best selling double album of all time, i believe. Well justified.

Stevie's Best
Somehow it seems uncool to rate an artist's most succesful album as their best, but I make no apology for doing so in this case.

By 1976, Stevie Wonder had established himself as perhaps the first black artist who could consistantly sell albums in all markets around the world, winning awards, including best album Grammys. It is amazing to think that he had been around for over a decade, but was still only 26 years old. He wrote, sang, played and produced with the maturity of a much older man.

My favorite tracks are 'As' which was the third or fourth single so didn't do too well, but the lyrics are worthy of Smokey. It is the last word in love songs. It was revived a few years back by George Michael and Mary J Blige. I also like 'Village Ghetto Land', a biting social commetary. Then there is 'If It's Magic' a stunningly simple track with just Stevie's voice and a harp. It calls for a wider universal love.

As a teenager, I saved pocket money for weeks to buy the vynil, and replaced it on CD as soon as it was released. Now here it is remastered for next to nothing! People don't realise they are born today!

Absolute genius
All of Stevie Wonder's output in the 1970s (up to 'the Secret Life of Plants') should have a place in your record collection, but this should be right at the front so all you friends can see what great taste you have when they come and visit.

There's track after track of absolute pop genius and, although there are a few duffers, they only serve to give you time to catch your breath before Stevie's off with another classic. This is probably the one record I would grab if my record collection decided to spontaneously combust.