Album info

• Title Songs in the Key of Life
• Artist Stevie Wonder
• Year 1976
• Genre Soul

Tracklist

Side one

1. Love’s In Need of Love Today
2. Have a Talk With God
3. Village Ghetto Land
4. Contusion
5. Sir Duke

Side two

1. I Wish
2. Knocks Me Off My Feet
3. Pastime Paradise
4. Summer Soft
5. Ordinary Pain

Side three

1. Isn’t She Lovely
2. Joy Inside My Tears
3. Black Man

Side four

1. Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing
2. If It’s Magic
3. As
4. Another Star

Thoughts

I always find it very difficult to review albums like this. Stevie Wonder is a legend, no question. You can tell he’s worked some magic when so many of the songs are covered or sampled and go on to become classics in their second life as well. This album features on so many best of lists that it felt fitting to finish the year on it.

The good stuff is great. Fantastic songs, wonderful music and great soul. But it’s long. Even for a double album, it feels really long. And sometimes it gets really self indulgent. Great songs sandwiching an unnecessarily jazzy instrumental. Or the extended version of Isn’t She Lovely with far too much harmonica and layered with clips of a baby taking a bath? I don’t need that.

So it’s a classic and I don’t want to criticise it but it wasn’t all my cup of tea.

Rating: 3 / 5