Songs in the Key of Life\u00a0*was the culmination of a historic period of creativity for Stevie Wonder. Its ambition and scope were unprecedented, and he never approached its caliber or impact again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stevie Wonder<\/a>\u2019s legacy ranks among the most powerful in pop music, though his story remains elusive. His songwriting and his voice echo through virtually all R&B-related sounds that have followed him, from Michael Jackson<\/a> to R. Kelly<\/a> to Kanye West<\/a>, yet there is no major biography, no documentary, nothing that presents the full sweep of the most dominant and defining artist of the 1970s. And make no mistake\u2014it was an era of superstar acts and chart-busting albums, but no one was as universally loved, respected, and honored as he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be sure, Wonder has done himself no favors in getting his story told. Long ago, the media figured out that his world runs on \u201cStevie Time,\u201d that schedules and deadlines don\u2019t apply to this towering genius, whether that means showing up for an interview or delivering an album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou set a goal in your mind,\u201d he told me in 2005, when the record A Time to Love<\/em> was released after many years\u2019 delay, \u201cand you say, O.K., this is what these songs need to have, this project needs to have, and you don’t really settle for anything less than that.\u201d As good as his word, Wonder has not put out a new album since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But even Stevie Wonder realized that there was one project of his that demanded to be recognized and appreciated while he was still able, and in 2014 he mounted a tour to present, in full, his 1976 magnum opus *Songs in the Key of Life, *which turns 40 next month. The album\u2014two LPs plus an additional four-song EP\u2014was the culmination of a historic period of creativity, a concentrated burst of music matched only by a handful of artists (mid-\u201960s Bob Dylan<\/a>, early \u201970s Rolling Stones<\/a>, \u201980s Prince<\/a>). Its ambition and scope were unprecedented, its power and resonance were timeless\u2014and when it was done, he never approached its caliber or impact again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1971, a decade into an already-legendary career, Wonder celebrated his 21st birthday by allowing his contract with Motown Records to expire, holding out for a new deal which gave him a higher royalty rate and creative control over his work. He responded with two albums in 1972, the breakthrough Music of My Mind<\/em> and his first true masterwork, Talking Book<\/em>. His next releases, 1973\u2019s Innervisions<\/em> and Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale<\/em> in 1974 (which followed a serious automobile accident that left him in a coma for four days) won back-to-back Album of the Year trophies at the Grammys. Wonder not only reeled off six Top Ten hits in three years and repeatedly pioneered new frontiers in music technology (he introduced the Moog synthesizer and the sampler to the public), he also established himself as a leading voice of social protest with such profound commentaries as \u201cLiving for the City\u201d and \u201cYou Haven\u2019t Done Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then came the wait. Wonder, expressing frustration with America in the aftermath of Watergate and the never-ending war in Vietnam, had started to talk about quitting the music industry and moving to Ghana to work with handicapped children. He got as far as starting to make plans for a farewell concert. Instead, though, in August of 1975, he signed a new contract with Motown\u2014a seven-year, seven-album, $37 million agreement, the largest deal made with a recording star up to that point. Though there were murmurs about an album release later that year, Wonder first took time off, then kept adding songs to the stockpile he had amassed, then decided there was more mixing and post-production required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years might not seem like a long break between records now, but at the time, it was unheard of, especially from the biggest star in the game. Motown staffers printed up T-shirts that read, \u201cWe\u2019re Almost Finished.\u201d And when the twenty-one-song set was finally released on September 28, 1976, the promotional campaign borrowed some pages from the playbook for the previous year\u2019s record-shattering movie Jaws<\/em>, which had redefined the making and meaning of a true blockbuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motown flew press and everyone who had worked on the album to the Long View Farm studio in Massachusetts for the first playback and a battery of interviews with Wonder, presenting everybody with autographed copies of the album. As it made its way to record stores, Songs in the Key of Life<\/em> (changed from the working title Let\u2019s See Life the Way It Is<\/em>) was everywhere you looked. I distinctly remember what a major event the release was, and I was only 10 years old at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet this was the very rare case in which there was simply no way to overhype the music. The sound drew effortlessly from funk, pop, jazz, Latin styles. Tracks ranged from the fusion groove of \u201cContusion\u201d to the delicate voice-and-harp duet \u201cIf It\u2019s Magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though more than 130 musicians are listed in the credits (including such stars as Herbie Hancock<\/a>, George Benson<\/a>, and Minnie Riperton<\/a>), Songs in the Key of Life<\/em> never strays from the singular, blazing vision of one artist. The sneaky pre-chorus in \u201cKnocks Me Off My Feet,\u201d the transcendent, spiraling rise of \u201cAs\u201d\u2014hooks pile on top of hooks, tucked irresistibly and unerringly into breaks, fills, and intros, most obviously on the album\u2019s two biggest hits, the nostalgic, swaggering \u201cI Wish\u201d and the shout-out to Wonder\u2019s jazz forefathers (and mothers) \u201cSir Duke,\u201d soon to take up permanent residence in the repertoire of every marching band in the country.MOST READ REVIEWS<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hat tip to\u00a0Duke Ellington<\/a>\u00a0was significant, since in some ways\u00a0Songs in the Key of Life<\/em>\u00a0most recalled that composer\u2019s classic long-form works like \u201cBlack, Brown, and Beige\u201d (or Max Roach\u2019s\u00a0Freedom Now Suite<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Charles Mingus<\/a>\u2019 \u201cPithecanthropus Erectus\u201d) in its attempt to portray the complete sweep of the Black American experience. The album\u2019s opening lines\u2014\u201cGood morn or evening friends\/Here\u2019s your friendly announcer\/I have serious news to pass on to everybody,\u201d from the almost impossibly gorgeous \u201cLove\u2019s in Need of Love Today\u201d\u2014laid out the stakes for all that would follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVillage Ghetto Land\u201d spoke of the pain and indignity of poverty and homelessness. \u201cBlack Man\u201d served as a literal history lesson, calling out examples of how all colors and cultures have contributed to global progress. \u201cNgiculela\u2014Es Una Historia\u2014I Am Singing” soared triumphantly in Zulu, Spanish, and English, with melody easily uniting all languages. Then there were the simple celebrations of love and faith\u2014on \u201cIsn\u2019t She Lovely,\u201d the magic of birth and family\u2014emotions shared by all, but never to be taken for granted in undervalued Black lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The year 1976 was, of course, America\u2019s Bicentennial year, and especially at a time of such frustration and distrust surrounding the government and the country\u2019s institutions, U.S. residents were bombarded with stories of our history and heroics. Songs in the Key of Life<\/em> functioned as a corrective, a counter-narrative, alongside such other radical, groundbreaking statements as Richard Pryor\u2019s Bicentennial Nigger<\/em> and Alex Haley\u2019s Roots<\/em>, both of which were released just a few weeks before the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost everyone understood the magnitude of Wonder\u2019s achievement, but there were some objections, mostly having to do with the length and sprawl of the record. \u201c[I]t has no focus or coherence,\u201d wrote Vince Aletti in a wildly mixed but mostly favorable review in Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cThe eclecticism is rich and welcome, but the overall effect is haphazard, turning what might have been a stunning, exotic feast into a hastily organized potluck supper.\u201d But to complain about the excess was to miss the point\u2014any great double-album (The White Album<\/a><\/em>, Exile on Main Street<\/a><\/em>) could easily be edited into something tighter and more consistent, but the all-encompassing aspiration is the whole idea, the desire to contain multitudes and to cover as much ground as possible during a revved-up creative groove. Sometimes, more is more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Posted from: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/22174-songs-in-the-key-of-life\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n