Our Favorite Albums #3
3. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life [1976]
Nominated by Rob of Chocolate Cake, DJ Lukey G of The Guest List, DJ Deni of Lovin’ the 70’s, Francesco Fiumara of Caffè Italia, and DJ MTSPEN of Storytime/Motivation Nation.
Rob says: A double album bubbling over with so many ideas that he had to include a bonus EP. Stevie is at the tail end of a killer winning streak here (having just released Talking Book, Inervisions and Fullfillngness First Finale). He is at the peak of his song craft here.
Francesco Fiumara says: And the discovery continues.
DJ MTSPEN says: Though many Stevie albums could be on here, this stands apart as my favorite.
By the end of 1975, Wonder became serious about quitting the music industry and emigrating to Ghana to work with handicapped children. He had expressed his anger with the way that the U.S. government was running the country. Wonder changed his decision, when he signed a new contract with Motown on August 5, 1975, thinking he was better off making the most of his career. The contract was laid out as a seven-year, seven LP, $37 million deal ($175,801,484 in 2019 dollars) and gave him full artistic control, making this the largest deal made with a recording star up to that point. Almost at the beginning Wonder took a year off from the music market, with a project for a double album to be released in 1976.
As a perfectionist, Wonder spent long hours in the studio for almost every track he recorded. He was “not eating or sleeping, while everyone around him struggled to keep up.” According to Wonder, “If my flow is goin’, I keep on until I peak.”
A total of 130 people worked on the album, but Wonder’s preeminence during the album was evident. Among the people present during the sessions were legendary figures of R&B, soul and jazz music – Herbie Hancock played Fender Rhodes on “As”, George Benson played electric guitar on “Another Star”, and Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams added backing vocals on “Ordinary Pain”. Mike Sembello was a prominent personality throughout the album, playing guitar on several tracks and also co-writing “Saturn” with Wonder. Some of the most socially conscious songs of the album were actually written by Wonder with other people – these included “Village Ghetto Land” and “Black Man” (co-written with Gary Byrd) and “Have a Talk with God” (co-written by Calvin Hardaway). Nathan Watts, Wonder’s newest bass player at the time, originally recorded a bass track for “Isn’t She Lovely” that Wonder replaced with his own keyboard bass for the final version. The same guide-track method was employed for “Knocks Me Off My Feet”. (wikipedia.org)
