Songs in the Key of Life

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

Great funk/r&b

The most petty nitpickiest thing I could say about this album is there are some great songs that derive no benefit from being 7 or 8 minutes long. They could have been cut in half and been better. Addition by subtraction.

Other than that, fucking fantastic

4+

The man, the myth, the legend. It feels particularly a propos for Stevie Wonder. Never has a song outstayed their welcome in this album. Never have I complained about the length of the songs on here. Never has this album failed to make me smile after each song.

Darn it, I accidentally lost my notes again. And this album was so long!! But as Rihanna's tattoo teaches us, 'never a failure, always a lesson'.

Anyway, I said something about how after Stevie's last album I was excited for this one, but the first song did not live up to the hype. Things picked up after that, but I didn't love this album as much as I hoped I would (even though it's never BAD).

Highlights: 'Village Ghetto Land', 'I Wish', 'Pastime Paradise' (!), 'Saturn' (someone's gotta make a SZA mashup)

Thoroughly enjoyable listen. Sing it, Stevie!

Fantastisch.
Man merkt wie hochwertig es produziert ist. Die Musik macht gute Laune und eine tolle Stimme.
Songs der Playlist hinzugefügt: Sir Duke

As I was listening to this I started jotting down every track that stood out to me, then about half way through I had way too many tracks to add a list here. Insane hit rate on a double album - Stevie Wonder was really on fire here.

Some of Stevie's best (Sir Duke, Pastime Paradise, As, Black Man, Another Star) and some of his worst (Isn't She Lovely, Contusion, Have A Talk With God). Lose the schmaltzy ones and make this a single album, it'd be an all-timer. Still great as a double album, but too many skips.

I'm always mildly disappointed with a Stevie Wonder album. I think it's all about managed expectations. I expect something subversive or at the least artistically innovative, but my takeaway is mildly pleasant and a little too sweet. That being said, this album did unlock a little bit more appreciation for him. you can't help get sucked into his little musical world. There is substance there mixed with the song about his baby. there is quite a lot of genre bending. but it all seems so ephemeral.

Kind of a difficult one to rate. On one hand, its got some of the best songs of the 70s on here. Pastime Paradise, I Wish, As, Joy Inside My Tears, Sir Duke and the sweet Isn't She Lovely are all great tracks. On the other hand, the near 2 hours runtime with the bonus EP does really drag on, and some songs, especially on the first side, I didn't really care for. Great album but I'll probably pick out the songs I like here rather than listen to it in its entirety.

A comprehensive work and a great album by a great musician. Nevertheless, I don't really warm to it. There are a few tracks on the album that are so much a part of my musical world that I've never thought about who they're by. But I didn't get really excited when listening to them. 4/5

Songs in the Key of Life
I remember being slightly put off by the density of this when I first bought it, after I already had Innervisions and Talking Book, and being slightly underwhelmed by the lack of immediacy of the opening track.

But the truth is Love’s In Need of Love Today is an excellent track, slowly working its charms, much like a lot of the album outside of the super catchy, Sir Duke, I Wish, Pastime Paradise and Isn’t She Lovely.

There’s some many tracks and so much stuff on here, but a few highlights outside the classics above are the spacey, squelchy unusual semi ambient sounds on Have a talk with God, the gentle balladry of Knocks Me Off My Feet and melody of Ordinary Pain, the strut and racial politics of Black Man, the classic laid back Stevie melody of As, the energy of Another Star, the synthy catchiness of Ebony Eyes, the funky All Day Sucker and the melancholy harmonica of Easy Goin’ Evening.

There’s a lot to process and take in, but it is an incredible record, getting better with each listen, often songs that started out unpromisingly become favourites, and it has that same eclectic, scattershot feel of the White Album. It also feels like a final emetic burst of creativity and ideas and his high watermark, and that he was never quite as good after this, becoming more middle of the road and less interesting.

I don’t think it can be anything but a 5.
🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑
Playlist submission: I Wish

Some really great songs on here. Really enjoyable album. Will be keeping it saved in my regular rotation.

Wow, Songs In The Key Of Life was an album that i absolutely loved. Stevie Wonder was always capable of greatness throughout his career but this is where he truly brought out his A game. Sure, it was a long one at an hour and 25 minutes but it was an hour and 25 minutes of some of the most sublime soul music out there that always managed to stand out from each other despite the long length yet still heavily being products from this album. I also do find it interesting that the original version of Coolio's \"Gangster's Paradise\" came from this album, a place i was not expecting at all. Sure, this album does have problems but none of them are enough for me to give this album any lower than 5 stars.
Best Song: Sir Duke
Worst Song: Love's In Need Of Love Today

Al twee keer eerder keek ik uit naar een Stevie album. Twee maal viel het tegen. Vooral de softe nummers deden mij niets. Het was soms (vloeken in de kerk natuurlijk) wat zielloos. Waar ik eigenlijk op hoopte was dat hij zijn krachtige muzikale stijl en stem meer inzette. Ik kom er nu achter dat mijn Stevie verwachtingen wat meer op dit album waren gebaseerd. Dit is Stevie in volle glorie. Zeker, er staan ook wat minder interessante softere nummers op, waaronder enkele hits. Maar die worden goed afgewisseld met krachtigere of meer creatieve nummers. Op cd1 staat een rij heel gevarieerde nummers achter elkaar, allemaal van top-kwaliteit. Een aantal van die nummers zijn in een gecoverde versie ook een hit geworden. Als een nummer in een hele andere uitvoering overeind blijft, toont dat de basis top is.

The Good: a bunch of songs in the same key!
The Bad: only a double album.
The Ugly: it isn’t his best album…

I had a massive smile on my face when this album popped up, and I’ve listened to it 3 times since, as this album is a the soundtrack of 3 formative years of my life.

Favorite song has always been Ebony Eyes, and yet on playlists, most people will opt for As, Isn’t She Lovely, Sir Duke, I Wish, Black Man, or any of the other MASSIVE songs on this album… and then most people react to the fact that “hey, Coolio actually covered one of his songs”… makes me sad as it means all those persons had never heard about this album prior.

This is a must hear album that should be mandatory listening in school!

10000000000*

Don't get me wrong Stevie has some absolutely great songs but I just don't think albums like this deserve the praise it gets because the deep cuts just aren't very good. 2.667