Stevie could sometimes veer towards a fine edge of the annoyingly poppy or cheesy but because of that little dash of Wonder magic he is able to sprinkle over he ends up triumphant. It leads the way to the second US chart-topping single from the album (it reached #2 in the UK, his highest chart position for over 6 years) and is perhaps one of his most commercial tracks ever. Next up is the bruising, funk instrumental “Contusion” (contusion/bruising see what I did there?) which is not exactly vital to the existence of the album. There’s a majestic synthesized neo-classical orchestral opening, courtesy of the Yamaha- GX1and this is counterposed with some pretty hard-hitting lyrics of poverty and crime “Families buying dog food now/Starvation roams the streets”. He’d done this before on tracks like “Living For The City” and here again. One thing Stevie Wonder always does well is to dress up protest into something that sounds really good. It’s the third track where things really crank up a gear when Stevie takes on his social commentator role on “Village Ghetto Land”.
#STEVIE WONDER SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE ALBUM TORRENT FREE#
Lyrically rather heavy-handed “ He’s the only free psychiatrist that’s known throughout the world” this has never been one of my favourite tracks on the album. The insidious funk-lite of “Have A Talk With God” has not weathered the passing of time and sounded better on release than it does now. Michael’s version seemed to me to breathe a bit of new life into this original and I think as a track it has dated quite well. I didn’t think it stands out especially amongst other tracks really until George Michael (who said “Songs In The Key Of Life” was his all-time favourite album) began performing it on tour and as a B-side to his chart-topping “Father Figure” single. Album opener “Love’s In Need Of Love Today” is certainly a pleasant enough track but is an early example of a track which would have benefited from having a minute or so lopped off the end as it all gets a bit rambly and noodly. It contained two UK Top 5 singles and 1 Top 30, two US number 1’s and two Top 40 singles and a handful of tracks which although never released as singles are all-time classics and rank amongst the best of Stevie’s output.įor an album which had such a big fanfare it has a rather muted beginning and does take a while to get into its stride. It was very much Stevie Wonder’s statement on the mid 70’s which came exploding through the speakers like a torrent. The list of the Greatest Soul Albums of the 1970’s voted for by thousands on the website has it at number 3 behind Earth Wind & Fire’s “That’s The Way Of The World” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”. It is not the highest ranking Stevie Wonder album on my list but it is still an essential purchase. I do feel, however, that it could have benefited from a little editing, in the length of a couple of the tracks and I think there’s another couple that could have been dropped together without compromising this album’s status or reputation. I do acknowledge the common perception that this is one of the greatest Soul albums of all time. On its CD release the 21 tracks fitted easily onto 2 discs.ĭespite the tongue-twisting title Stevie’s previous album had topped the US Charts and been a Top 5 success in the UK in 1974. I know that I couldn’t afford to buy it until I found it much cheaper after it had been out a few years. A double album and a bonus extended play seven inch single made it an expensive proposition.
In September 1976 the album appeared and it was a biggie in very sense. Potential release dates came and went and there was actually a mini-fashion explosion in “Stevie’s Almost Ready” t-shirts. It had been two years since his US chart-topping “Fulfillingness First Finale” and the leaks emanating from his record label was that this was going to be an extremely special follow-up. There was a huge amount of anticipation surrounding the release of this album. Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder (Motown 1976)
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