I don't know if this has been discussed before, as I rarely check this forum and am too lazy too search for it, but does anyone agree (I know you do, just wanna hear it!) what a fantastic album Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder is?
I think "As" and "Another Star" back to back are 15 minutes of perfection! Really cool that Prince played Another Star on the ONA Tour.

I think Prince even acknowledged this Album on the Essence Awards when was given an award by Stevie.

One of my all time favorites!

Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant...Love that record as well as some of his others that seemed perfectly crafted. That voice singing such beautiful written lyrics~ ((Wow)) Its easy 2 B in awe and moved by Mr.Wonderful~

It's no New Power Soul!

youngworld said:

He sure did acknowledge it. He mentioned that he was trying to get his wife (Mayte, at the time) familiar with that album and Stevie's other work, so she could appreciate what an amazing songwriter Stevie is. This is definitely a classic. Stevie's lyrics are wonderful.

Yes, would certainly agree. Beautiful collection of work. Always is one of my all time faves.

Peace

Hahahaha, you purchased "songs in the key of life" just because Prince performed it? Stevie is a bad artist, listen to "Hotter than July" as well

In my opinion Songs In The Key Of Life is the best double album i've heard

classic77 said:

I would have to agree with you.It's a mindblowing album that just drives me crazy everytime I play it.I love the song "Summer Soft",those melodies,those lyrics are sheer genuis!! And isn't "All Day Sucker" truly the funkiest thing Stevie has ever done??

classic77 said:

I prefer The Secret Life Of Plants.

xenon said:

Hey there's nothing wrong with that one either. It may be less accessible but still a great double album.

calldapplwondery83 said:

As brilliant as the album is, I'm of the opinion that it's not his strongest album, simply because of the saccharine filler contained in the set: Saturn, Ebony Eyes, All Day Sucker...I think those are the weakest songs within it, and there are also some very self-indulgent aspects with a couple of other songs. But overall there's no question that it's one of Stevie's best albums.

actually it was the naacp awards.

SummerRain said:

uhm...no, I had that long before Prince even planned the ONA tour.

I tried to find "The Secret Life of Plans", but I can't find it anywhere.
Any suggestions?

The 'Journey through The Secret Life Of Plants' CD is still in print.I see it occasionally at local record stores.You may wanna try Amazon if you can't find it anywhere else.

A few years ago,Motown was planning to re-master it,but they never did.They did remaster all of his other 70s albums.
[This message was edited Wed May 8 5:02:25 PDT 2002 by DavidEye]

What's Up Calldapplwondeery83

Great thread. Yes this album will always have a special place to me. Check this previous post(cut and paste) I did in June 7's Stevie thread from a couple of months ago.....



The first album I ever owned was "Songs In The Key Of Life" back in 1977. My parents bought this album for me after bugging her on several trips to the record store. When I first saw the album cover I remember saying..." I got to have this album. I remember going into a store called the RECORD BAR. Anybody remember this music store chain in the 70's???? Anyway, they had the promo poster of "Songs In The Key Of Life" hanging up in the store. It was hung right besides a poster of Louis And George Johnson(I have a sharp memory--sorry to be so detailed). Anyway, I would pick up the album and just look at the front cover. Stevie was in the zone then. You couldn't get away from his songs being played all on the radio(pop/R&B and rock station played songs off this album--96rock WQKI-AM would play "Contusion" regularly) from one of the most anticipated album EVER!!!! I remember one time my mom told me that she wasn't going to buy the album for me. I went out to the car and started shedding tears...I wanted that album that bad!!!!! Well just as fate would have it. My grades came out for the school semester and I had pretty good grades. My parents were very happy for me. Well we went out to Richway(a Walmart type of store chain in the 70's) later that week and FINALLY my mom told me to go the record department and put the Stevie Wonder album in my bascart as a reward for my good grades. People you should have seen how happy I was. My whole trip home was so joyous!!!!! I took the wrapping off the album and started reading the lyrics from the lyric booklet. I was so ecstatic!!!

When I got home, I immediately put the album on and listen to it. My mom was in the kitchen cooking a meal. She just closed the kitchen door to the entertainment room...so that I wouldn't have any outside distraction. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN....this is the day I fell in love truly with music. Up to that point, I've heard all those great 70's songs on my medium-sized AM/FM radio, but I never had an album to just listen to besides listening to my parents stuff. When I first heard "Love's In Need Of Love Today"(this song came to mind immediately after the Sept. 11th tragedy) I cried...I can't even front about that. "Village Ghetto Land" blew me away too. "Contusion" was so awesome. Well I'm not going to ramble on about the greatness of this record. But the day I first heard this record was the day I fell in love with music. Later on my parents let me stay up(even though I had to go to school the next day) to watch Stevie rack up at the Grammy Awards for this album.( I saw him in concert in Nov of 1988(at the Fox Theater here in Atlanta) for the first time....a major highlight of my life, you can be sure of that.

More thoughts on Songs In The Key Of Life

Monumental record. "As" and "Another Star" were released at singles by the way. They didn't fare that well on the charts. I think one reason why they didn't is because people were saying "screw it...I'm buying the whole 2-record set plus bonus EP set, why buy the singles". "I Wish" and Sir Duke" both went to number #1 on Billboard's R&B and Pop singles chart. I like every single song on this one. R&B artists now-a-days would kill for a groove like "All Day Sucker" but Stevie only included it as a bonus song on an EP. Stevie could have easily pulled 3 more singles off this set. Yes one of the most greatest moments of the 70's.And yes Berry Gordy, as well as the rest of the world, breathed a sigh of relief the day this album was FINALLY released. Time didn't stand still for its' release, but it came darn close to doing so(LOL).

* Brother 9/15 aka CR3

A few random thoughts about this masterpiece of an album...


***'Songs In the Key Of Life' was one of the first albums to DEBUT at Number One.Interestingly,it was released on a Saturday in September 1976.Nowadays,new albums almost always come out on a Tuesday.

***Even though only four singles were released ("Sir Duke","I Wish","As","Another Star"),several other tracks received extensive radio airplay: "Isn't She Lovely","Knocks Me Off My Feet" and "Ebony Eyes" were popular cuts on R&B radio stations.

***Carlos Santana was so impressed with this record that he dedicated his own album (1977's 'Festival') to Stevie Wonder.These days,he occasionally plays "Another Star" during his own concerts.

***George Benson can be heard singing backup on "Another Star".In fact,if you read the liner notes,there is an impressive group of guest stars.

***In the Earth Wind and Fire "Shining Stars" documentary,leader Maurice White talks of a friendly competition they had with Stevie."We wanted to release our 'Spirit' album before Stevie's record,but Stevie and Motown rushed 'Songs In The Key Of Life' out on a Saturday.Our 'Spirit' album was already scheduled to come out that Monday,so Stevie beat us to the punch",he jokes.

***Mary J.Blige and Queen Latifah both consider 'SITKOL' to be their favorite album."Everytime I play it,I hear something new",Blige says.She recorded the song "As" with George Michael a few years ago.

***One of the former NPG bandmembers (I think it was Levi) has said that "Joy Inside My Tears" is one of his all-time favorite songs.

***And if you don't already have this CD in your collection,what the hell are you waiting for??

DavidEye said:

Yes, Stevie tapped a lot of major musicians for the recording of this album. Great stuff!!!!! Motown was supposed to be giving the 20-bit digital remaster treatment to Stevie's 80's post- "Hotter Than July" and "Original Musiquarium Vol.1" material. But nothing has developed of this project thus far.

* Brother 9/15 aka CR3

Thank you Brother915, and nice story!

This is one of the records that make you think that all that is on there has to be like that.
In fact, there's nothing on the album that I would have done differently.

DavidEye said:

The band member you're talking about that said that, I believe, was Tommy!

It's always nice 2 talk about Stevie... check this out 4 more insight:

http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=10390

"Love's In Need Of Love"...

all that i could say .... yall already said it.

songs in the key is KILLER.

fuck yeah

alx

I was listening to this CD yesterday and I came up with a few more observations...


***The instrumental track "Contusion" sounds ALOT like a Santana song! In fact,the guitar-playing sounds suspiciously like Carlos! This tune would have fit perfectly on Santana's 1976 album 'Amigos'.

***What do you guys think of the second part of "Ordinary Pain",where singer Syreeta takes over and disses her no-good man? That part is amazing...lol..

***"Pastime Paradise" is incredible!! Of course,this is the song that Coolio butchered for his 1995 smash hit "Gangsta's Paradise".

***The ballad "Knocks Me Off My Feet" sounds like a Paul McCartney song,imo.I bet Paul would have LOVED to record this song!

***To those of you who actually bought the 2-record set back in the 70s,weren't you surprised when you opened the gatefold and saw another bonus 45 attached to the inside? So you not only had the 2 albums of material,you also got a bonus 45 with FOUR additional tracks!! How cool was that?

***Speaking of those 4 bonus tracks,I REALLY REALLY dig the song "All Day Sucker".Funky as hell!! That could have easily been a single.Tell me that would NOT have been a smash hit in 1976/77;)

contusion is amazing, it always reminds me of some late 70s zappa .... he thanks zappa in the liner notes ....

all day sucker is one of my all time faves ..

ordinary pain part 2? KILLER. too funky.

"a something's extra" the 7 inch ep .. it would be cool if bands still did that. i adore the song "saturn",

i wouldn't say coolio butchered pastime paradise at all. i dug it.
alx

Songs In The Key Of Life -- a classic album by the man who influenced me most as a songwriter. There was some truly classic material on the album. 'Knocks Me Off My Feet' is one of my favorite ballads.

I highly recommend the DVD which revisits the making of the album for those who want more information. The original band members actually reunited about five years ago to discuss this classic album and remake some of the songs.

That said, I would not start here to learn about Stevie's genius. Start with what is in my opinion his best album: Innervisions. Better yet, pick up his brilliant box set At The Close Of A Century. Eight of the nine tracks on Innervisions made the box set, as well as nine tracks from Songs In The Key Of Life.

todd305 said:[quote]That said, I would not start here to learn about Stevie's genius. Start with what is in my opinion his best album: Innervisions.[quote]

Damn straight.

I think what stands out 2 me, was the BOOK...talk about a liner note, lyric & credit junkies dream! He listed every word 2 every song including the vocalists changing chords with a ~ drop 2 the second line...it was amazing. Also, his inspirational last statement, and his written signature and thumb stamp...man, he believed in this album!

DavidEye, yes! The 45 inside the album...what a surprise delight! I loved it!

Pastime Paradise (2 me) in no way resembles anything Paul could have come up with (imo). I think it's pure, beautiful Stevland. Especially the intro lyrics..."I see us in the park..." Telling us how he sees, thru the imaginings of his mind. It's the only way he can see, and he's sharing his vision with us.

This will remain my most favorite album ever, until I die...I can't see anything more beautiful ever coming out... thank u Stevie....and thank u calldapplwondery83 4 bringin' it back in2 the discussion!

well, thank you for this wonderful post!
[This message was edited Sat May 11 10:17:02 PDT 2002 by calldapplwondery83]

June7 said:

Yes,the booklet that came with the original album(vinyl version) is amazing!! To those of you have this album on CD,you need to try to find the original vinyl album,so that you can get the big,extensive book that comes with it.