Timmy84 said:

You certainly love everybody huh? Nothin' wrong with that in general.

I'm a Liberal Christian that's how we Roll....

Neversin said:

ufoclub said:

Bowie certanly has more range of musical textures, but he never made an album as great as Songs in the Key of Life.

But yes Bowie is more conceptual, I think.

I need to listen to more Stevie Wonder and Bowie.

"Songs In The Key Of Life" is overrated and not that great, just a good album with too much filler would have been great as a single LP and even then it wouldn't even be his greatest...

Bowie is endlessly more interesting and made albums greater than anything Wonder made...

Neversin.

I'm not quite that harsh on Songs in the Key of Life but I generally agree. Some of the songs go on for too long and would have benefited from some trimming. For me any two of his single albums from his golden era are better than Songs in the Key of Life. Critics/history tend to overrate double albums.

Timmy84 said:

Neversin said:

"Songs In The Key Of Life" is overrated and not that great, just a good album with too much filler would have been great as a single LP and even then it wouldn't even be his greatest...

Bowie is endlessly more interesting and made albums greater than anything Wonder made...

Neversin.

I think Innervisions was Stevie's best album.

Same here...

Neversin.

Chancellor said:

Timmy84 said:

I'm a Liberal Christian that's how we Roll....

Ha. I'm a spiritual person and I love everyone...until you give me a reason not to.

rialb said:

Neversin said:

"Songs In The Key Of Life" is overrated and not that great, just a good album with too much filler would have been great as a single LP and even then it wouldn't even be his greatest...

Bowie is endlessly more interesting and made albums greater than anything Wonder made...

Neversin.

I'm not quite that harsh on Songs in the Key of Life but I generally agree. Some of the songs go on for too long and would have benefited from some trimming. For me any two of his single albums from his golden era are better than Songs in the Key of Life. Critics/history tend to overrate double albums.

In terms of R&B double albums, Songs pales to Here, My Dear (though it's released in single disc format these days). Stevie let his ambitions get the best of him on that album.

Timmy84 said:

rialb said:

I'm not quite that harsh on Songs in the Key of Life but I generally agree. Some of the songs go on for too long and would have benefited from some trimming. For me any two of his single albums from his golden era are better than Songs in the Key of Life. Critics/history tend to overrate double albums.

In terms of R&B double albums, Songs pales to Here, My Dear (though it's released in single disc format these days). Stevie let his ambitions get the best of him on that album.

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

AlexdeParis said:

Timmy84 said:

In terms of R&B double albums, Songs pales to Here, My Dear (though it's released in single disc format these days). Stevie let his ambitions get the best of him on that album.

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

But see I think it benefited Marvin. With Stevie, he was all over the place in my humble opinion. But hey agree to disagree.

Timmy84 said:

AlexdeParis said:

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

But see I think it benefited Marvin. With Stevie, he was all over the place in my humble opinion. But hey agree to disagree.

Well, it was supposed to be all over the place. That's the "life" part.

AlexdeParis said:

Timmy84 said:

In terms of R&B double albums, Songs pales to Here, My Dear (though it's released in single disc format these days). Stevie let his ambitions get the best of him on that album.

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

To me,SITKOL is the greatest album of all time It's the sound of a genuis at his creative peak.I don't hear any filler on it at all.Every song seems to be there for a reason.I love the fact that many songs are extended...especially "Another Star".That song turns into a ferocious jam session at the end.This was the 70s,when people didn't worry about song lengths.You would let a groove go exactly where it wants to.No limitations.SITKOL is the type of mindblowing album that every artist should try to make,at least once in their careers.

AlexdeParis said:

Timmy84 said:

But see I think it benefited Marvin. With Stevie, he was all over the place in my humble opinion. But hey agree to disagree.

Well, it was supposed to be all over the place. That's the "life" part.

Exactly SITKOL is supposed to take you on a journey through life....the good and bad,the highs and lows.

SoulAlive said:

AlexdeParis said:

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

To me,SITKOL is the greatest album of all time It's the sound of a genuis at his creative peak.I don't hear any filler on it at all.Every song seems to be there for a reason.I love the fact that many songs are extended...especially "Another Star".That song turns into a ferocious jam session at the end.This was the 70s,when people didn't worry about song lengths.You would let a groove go exactly where it wants to.No limitations.SITKOL is the type of mindblowing album that every artist should try to make,at least once in their careers.

I totally agree. It's not my favourite album of all time (though it's very near), but, like you, I don't find any filler and I also love the "extended" songs. It's a fantastic and mindblowing album from beginning to end.

[Edited 5/13/13 2:04am]

SoulAlive said:

AlexdeParis said:

Gonna have to disagree with that one. I can't find any fault with SITKOL. All the songs that are extended ride some fantastic grooves and I can certainly see why he didn't want to kill the momentum. That being said, I can see why people disagree. OTOH, I definitely don't hear any "filler" on those albums. Each song is great in its own right IMO.

Coincidentally, I'd say Marvin's ambitions are what keep Here, My Dear from rising to the level of his best albums. Its greatest strength — the raw, virtually unfiltered honesty — also makes it hard to enjoy at times. As good as it is, I really have to be in the mood to spin that one.

To me,SITKOL is the greatest album of all time It's the sound of a genuis at his creative peak.I don't hear any filler on it at all.Every song seems to be there for a reason.I love the fact that many songs are extended...especially "Another Star".That song turns into a ferocious jam session at the end.This was the 70s,when people didn't worry about song lengths.You would let a groove go exactly where it wants to.No limitations.SITKOL is the type of mindblowing album that every artist should try to make,at least once in their careers.

I agree that some of the songs sound great at the length that they run. I have no problem at all with a great, long jam. The (mostly) instrumental Prince outtake "U Gotta Shake Something" is one of my favourite songs and it runs for fifteen minutes. Specifically I have a problem with two songs on Songs in the Key of Life. "Love's in Need of Love Today" is at least three minutes too long and is a terrible song to open the album with. It is a very slow and lugubrious song and it seems like it goes on forever. I have tried playing the album to people who are not fans and they find it very tough to get through that first song. The second half is extremely repetitive as he just sings the same line over and over and there is no variation in the music either. The other song that is a bit annoying is "Joy Inside My Tears" for similar reasons. It just goes on and on with little to no variation. For me neither one of those songs are particularly good to start with but when you drag them out well past the point where they are tolerable they become annoying. I don't particularly care for "Have a Talk with God" either but at less than three minutes in length it is a song that doesn't bother me because it lasts about as long as it should. Compare the two songs that I mentioned with "Ordinary Pain." It is also a relatively long song but the second half is very different than the first half. There is plenty of variety to keep the listener engaged.

For me the biggest weakness in the album is side one. "Love's in Need of Love Today"/"Have a Talk with God"/"Village Ghetto Land"/"Contusion"/"Sir Duke" The album starts with three fairly slow paced songs then an instrumental before finally delivering an upbeat song. It's just too slow of a start and poorly sequenced. I start nodding off near the end of the first track and nothing jolts me until "Contusion." The other three sides (and the EP) are sequenced much better and give the listener a much better balance of slow/fast songs.

I think it was bold of Stevie to start the album off that way This was such a massive,highly anticipated project and what does he do? Start the album off with slow songs.Totally unpredictable and surprising.Especially considering that this was 1976,a time when everyone was getting disco fever,lol.I suppose he could have opened the album with "I Wish" or "Sir Duke" but I like the way he starts things off...preparing the listener for the journey.

Once,I was listening to this album and during the middle of "Pastime Paradise",it suddenly hit me: We're in the middle of an incredible journey! It's hard to explain,but this album moves me like no other album I've heard before.I sometimes get chills when I listen to it.Elton John once said that he takes a copy of this album with him whenever he travels and for me,it's the same way.

I would add that the title Songs In The Key Of Life is excellent to reflect the album's music and lyrics. It's emotional and moving, just like being in the key of life indeed.

Not many people would agree with me, but I find the next album, The Secret Life Of Plants, also fantastic. Actually, both are my two favourite Stevie albums, followed by Talking Book.

Certainly, it's difficult to mention a Bowie album as moving as Songs. I would say Low could be the one: it's in a very different "key of life", but it's a "key" anyway.

[Edited 5/13/13 3:23am]