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Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Motown Records
Released: 1976.09.28
Time:
 85:21
Category: Soul, Funk, R&B, Jazz
Producer(s): Stevie Wonder
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.steviewonder.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Love's in Need of Love Today (S.Wonder) - 7:06
[2] Have a Talk with God (S.Wonder/C.Hardaway) - 2:42
[3] Village Ghetto Land (S.Wonder/G.Byrd) - 3:25
[4] Contusion (S.Wonder) - 3:46
[5] Sir Duke (S.Wonder) - 3:54
[6] I Wish (S.Wonder) - 4:12
[7] Knocks Me Off My Feet (S.Wonder) - 3:36
[8] Pastime Paradise (S.Wonder) - 3:28
[9] Summer Soft (S.Wonder) - 4:14
[10] Ordinary Pain (S.Wonder) - 6:23
[11] Isn't She Lovely (S.Wonder) - 6:34
[12] Joy Inside My Tears (S.Wonder) - 6:30
[13] Black Man (S.Wonder/G.Byrd) - 8:30
[14] Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing (S.Wonder) - 3:49
[15] If It's Magic (S.Wonder) - 3:12
[16] As (S.Wonder) - 7:08
[17] Another Star (S.Wonder) - 8:28

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Stevie Wonder - Harmonica, Arranger, Keyboards, Programming, Vocals, Drums
Michael Sembello - Guitar
Sneaky Pete Kleinow - Pedal Steel
George Benson - Guitar, Vocals
Ronnie Foster - Organ
Herbie Hancock - Keyboards, Handclapping
Dean Parks - Guitar
Greg Phillinganes - Keyboards
W.G. "Snuffy" Walden - Guitar
Nathan Watts - Bass Guitar, Vocals, Handclapping
Greg Brown - Drums
Raymond Lee Pounds - Drums
Hank Redd - Alto And Tenor Saxophone
George Bohannon - Trombone
Ben Bridges - Guitar, Sitar
Dorothy Ashby - Harp
Bobbi Humphrey - Flute
Howard "Buzzy" Feiten - Guitar
Steve Madaio - Trumpet
Trevor Lawrence - Tenor Saxophone
Glen Ferris - Trombone
Jim Horn - Saxophone
Deniece Williams - Vocals
Minnie Riperton - Vocals
Gary Byrd - Vocals
Michael Wycoff - Vocals
Larry Scott - Sound Effects
Carol Cole - Percussion
Bobbye Hall - Percussion
Jay Boy Adams - Vocals
Nathan Alford, Jr. - Percussion
Henry America - Vocals
Linda America - Vocals
Baradras - Vocals
Brenda Barnett - Vocals
Khalif Bobatoon - Vocals
Starshemah Bobatoon - Vocals
Sudana Bobatoon - Vocals
Charles Brewer - Percussion, Programming, Vocals
Shirley Brewer - Percussion, Vocals, Speaking Part
Berry Briges - Vocals
Cecilia Brown - Vocals
Eddie "Bongo" Brown - Percussion
Jean Brown - Vocals
Rodney Brown - Vocals
Colleen Carleton - Percussion, Vocals
Addie Cox - Vocals
Agnideva Dasa - Vocals
Duryodhana Guru Dasa - Vocals
Jayasacinandana Dasa - Vocals
Jitamrtyi Dasa - Vocals
Vedavyasa Dasa - Vocals
Cinmayi Dasi - Vocals
Yogamaya Dasi - Vocals
Carolyn Dennis - Vocals
Bhakta Eddie - Vocals
Doe Rani Edwards - Vocals
Jacqueline F. English - Vocals
Ethel Enoex - Vocals
Al Jocko Fann - Vocals
Barbara Fann - Vocals
Melani Fann - Vocals
Shelley Fann - Vocals
Tracy Fann - Vocals
John Fischbach - Percussion, Programming, Vocals, Engineer
Susie Fuzzell - Vocals
Carmelo Garcia - Percussion, Timbales
Anthony Givens - Vocals
Audrey Givens - Vocals
Derrick Givens - Vocals
Mildred Givens - Vocals
Michael Lee Gray - Vocals
Mimi Green - Vocals
Susaye Greene Brown - Vocals
Bhakta Gregory - Vocals
Renee Hardaway - Percussion, Vocals
John Harris - Sound Effects
Jeania Harris - Vocals
John Harris - Programming
Troy Harris - Vocals
Nelson Hayes - Percussion, Sound Effects, Vocals
Terry Hendricks - Vocals
H. David Henson - Assistant Engineer
Don Hunter - Programming, Sound Effects
Adrian Janes - Vocals
Josie James - Vocals
Calvin Johnson - Vocals
Carol Johnson - Vocals
Patricia Johnson - Vocals
Madelaine Jones - Vocals
Bhakta Kevin - Vocals
Phillip Kimble - Vocals
James Lambert - Vocals
Linda Lawrence - Vocals
Irma Leslie - Vocals
Kim Lewis - Vocals
Carl Lockhart - Vocals
Gail Lockhart - Vocals
Raymond Maldonado - Percussion, Trumpet
Carolyn Massenburg - Vocals
Article May - Vocals
Charity Mccrary - Vocals
Linda Mccrary-Campbell - Vocals
Lonnie Morgan - Vocals
Kim Nixon - Vocals
Lisa Nixon - Vocals
Larri Nuckens - Vocals
Larry Latimer - Percussion, Vocals
Amale Mathews - Percussion, Vocals
Gary Olazabal - Engineer, Bass Sound
Edna Orso - Percussion, Vocals
Marietta Waters - Percussion, Vocals
Josette Valentino - Percussion, Vocals, Handclapping
Gwen Perry - Vocals
Gregory Rudd - Vocals
Rukmini - Vocals
Yolanda Simmons - Vocals, Handclapping
Keith Slaughter - Vocals
Rosona Starks - Vocals
Dennis Swindell - Vocals
Sundray Tucker - Vocals
Gary Veney - Vocals
Sheryl Walker - Vocals
Mary Lee Whitney - Vocals
Syreeta Wright - Vocals
Michael Gray - Vocals
Susaye Greene - Vocals
William Moore - Vocals
Fountain Jones - Programming
Aisha Morris - Crying on [11]

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Songs in the Key of Life was Stevie Wonder's longest, most ambitious collection of songs, a two-LP (plus accompanying EP) set that - just as the title promised - touched on nearly every issue under the sun, and did it all with ambitious (even for him), wide-ranging arrangements and some of the best performances of Wonder's career. The opening "Love's in Need of Love Today" and "Have a Talk with God" are curiously subdued, but Stevie soon kicks into gear with "Village Ghetto Land," a fierce exposé of ghetto neglect set to a satirical Baroque synthesizer. Hot on its heels comes the torrid fusion jam "Contusion," a big, brassy hit tribute to the recently departed Duke Ellington in "Sir Duke," and (another hit, this one a Grammy winner as well) the bumping poem to his childhood, "I Wish." Though they didn't necessarily appear in order, Songs in the Key of Life contains nearly a full album on love and relationships, along with another full album on issues social and spiritual. Fans of the love album Talking Book can marvel that he sets the bar even higher here, with brilliant material like the tenderly cathartic and gloriously redemptive "Joy Inside My Tears," the two-part, smooth-and-rough "Ordinary Pain," the bitterly ironic "All Day Sucker," or another classic heartbreaker, "Summer Soft." Those inclined toward Stevie Wonder the social-issues artist had quite a few songs to focus on as well: "Black Man" was a Bicentennial school lesson on remembering the vastly different people who helped build America; "Pastime Paradise" examined the plight of those who live in the past and have little hope for the future; "Village Ghetto Land" brought listeners to a nightmare of urban wasteland; and "Saturn" found Stevie questioning his kinship with the rest of humanity and amusingly imagining paradise as a residency on a distant planet. If all this sounds overwhelming, it is; Stevie Wonder had talent to spare during the mid-'70s, and instead of letting the reserve trickle out during the rest of the decade, he let it all go with one massive burst. (His only subsequent record of the '70s was the similarly gargantuan but largely instrumental soundtrack Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.)

John Bush - All Music Guide



Songs in the Key of Life is the eighteenth album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder, released on September 28, 1976, by Motown Records. It was the culmination of his "classic period" albums. The album was recorded primarily at Crystal Sound studio in Hollywood, with some sessions recorded at the Record Plant in Hollywood, the Record Plant in Sausalito, and The Hit Factory in New York City. Final mixing was performed at Crystal Sound.

An ambitious double LP with a four-song bonus EP, Songs in the Key of Life became among the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums of his career. In 2005, it was ranked number 57 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and it was preserved into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, which called it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

At the time of release, reporters and music critics, and everyone who had worked on the album, traveled to Long View Farm, a recording studio in Massachusetts for a press preview of the album. Everybody received autographed copies of the album and Stevie gave interviews. Critical reception was positive. The album was viewed as a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles and the life and feelings of the artist. It included recollections of childhood, of first love and lost love. It contained songs about faith and love among all peoples and songs about social justice for the poor and downtrodden.

On February 19, 1977, Wonder was nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, an award that he had already won twice, in 1974 and 1975, for Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale. Since 1973, Stevie’s presence at the Grammy ceremonies had been consistent – he attended most of the ceremonies and also used to perform on stage. But in 1976, he did not attend as he was not nominated for any awards (as he had not released any new material during the past year). Paul Simon, who received the Grammy for Album of the Year in that occasion (for Still Crazy After All These Years) jokingly thanked Stevie “for not releasing an album” that year. A year after, Wonder was nominated for Songs in the Key of Life in that same category, and was widely favored by many critics to take the award. The other nominees were Breezin’ by George Benson, Chicago X by Chicago, Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs, and the other favorite, Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive!, which was also a huge critical and commercial success. Wonder was again absent from the ceremony, as he had developed an interest in visiting Africa. In February he traveled to Nigeria for two weeks, primarily to explore his musical heritage, as he put it. A satellite hook-up was arranged so that Stevie could be awarded his Grammys from across the sea. Bette Midler announced the results during the ceremony, and the audience was only able to see Wonder at a phone smiling and giving thanks. The video signal was poor and the audio inaudible. Andy Williams went on to make a public blunder when he asked the blind-since-birth Wonder, “Stevie, can you see us?” In all, Wonder won four out of seven nominations at the Grammys: Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Producer of the Year.

Wikipedia.org
 

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