Songs in the Key of Life

Of all the slop I have subjected myself to by committing to actually listen to what this list has suggested (granted there have been some good albums) THIS is an actual masterpiece.

Better than Coldplay

All tunes are really fine, but this is not the music for me, it is too soft and I do not get any energy from it.

Suffers a bit from being too long winded. I lost interest after a while, but Stevie's music is fantastic all the same!

Favorite songs: Pastime Paradise, Isn't She Lovely, Sir Duke, Black Man, As, Love's in Need of Love Today, Ebony Eyes, Contusion

Least favorite songs: Village Ghetto Land, Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

3/5

Good album. Great hit songs

Obviously it’s a classic with numerous outstanding tracks … but it is too long (double albums should be reserved for greatest hits … which I suppose this is!)

A bit mixed but the highs are SO high and it feels so cohesive - 7/10

As a continued Stevie agnostic, a double album is a bit much for me to take. Still, some undoubtedly great stuff here.

3.5/5

from an album that doesn't overstay its welcome for one second to this.

isn't she lovely? isn't six minutes of the same grating musical phrase repeated ad nauseum with someone else's home movies laid over it lovely?

it's produced beautifully, that's for sure.

but the other words that come to mind are saccharine, trite, and repetitive. "love's in need of love today"? lol k. how about "if it's magic", a three minute jingle for an unmade coca cola commercial?

high points:
-the opening harmony on "love's in need."
-have a talk with god. that's a good song. stellar sounds in there.
-village ghetto land is one synthesizer that sounds like an orchestra. pretty cool. clever, real lyrics too.
-contusion. more of that would have gone a long way to breaking up smooth stevie's sugar sweet singalong.
-pastime paradise. coolio was right.
-i wish. good song. will smith and kevin kline were right.

you can keep almost all of side two. isn’t she lovely never ends or changes. "black man" has an intense groove, but just. doesn't. end. or change. right through the question and answer chanting. it's a nice sentiment, but so is the title "love's in need of some love."

stevie's never been a go-to for me. his voice has never stuck to my ribs like some others. the grooves have always pulled up short of genuinely infectious. they’re repetitive. it took me five good listens before talking book clicked. but it did click. maybe this will, too. this is a biggie in musical history and universally lauded. i'm curious to get to the bottom as to why. but not today.

Truly WONDERful album.

Старина сделал красиво, но сильно затянул

So many great songs and moments. I think Stevie ran out of steam after this. It's as if he gave everything he could to one album. He'd already done enough to guarantee his greatness, this just raised him up towards the heavens. Love's in Need.... is my favourite album opener of all time. Sir Duke is the best wedding song. Ordinary Pain, Pastime Paradise, Talk With God...... the songs keep coming one after another. An astonishing album.

Stevie Wonder has an amazing voice and I really like his popular songs. I really wanted to love this album

This album had quite a few incredible songs on it, but a lot of filler too!

Sir Duke, I Wish, Isn't She Lovely, As, Ebony Eyes - all 5 stars chefs kiss

But the album was so long and some of the songs went on for like 8 minutes. It brought my enjoyment level right down 😪

Stevie in small doses next time please

3 ⭐️

Honestly it took two go-rounds to really listen to this. And then suddenly I realized that it is gorgeous. It’s not in your face, so you can have it playing in the background and dismiss it as better than average smooth R&B. But when you sit with it, the genius is undeniable. One beautiful song after another. So few misses even though it’s a long double album.
This isn’t necessarily my favorite genre but i can’t deny this one. I look forward to sitting in the sun with this one this summer.

A lot of fun songs and sounds on here. I probably wouldn't have guessed this came from the 70's because it still sounds fresh to me. Also, who knew this is where Gangsta's Paradise came from? Not me.

One of the top albums of the 70's and Stevie's best in a series of 5 super powered albums released by him. A clear 5

Fantastic album! 4.49/5 - just because there are a few tracks that don't land for me.

This album was waaaay too long... It does however have a lot of great songs and is pretty high quality throughout, but I'm not going to listen to everything again...

This was my favorite of the Stevie Wonder albums we've gotten. I wish it wasn't a double album, it wasn't good enough for almost 2 hours of music, but I enjoyed most of it.

Honestly banger after banger