ESSENTIAL ALBUMS: (#19) : Stevie Wonder - "Songs in the key of life" (1976)

On August 15,1975, Stevie Wonder signed a $13 million contract with Motown, guaranteeing complete artistic freedom. He had stockpiled hundreds of songs, but the ensuing months saw him record 200 more, forcing Motown to clear the decks for the first of two double albums that propelled him from precocious maverick to international megastar (it was one of the first albums to enter the U.S. chart at No. 1).

At times it is close to jazz: "Sir Duke" is a big-band celebration of Duke Ellington, "Contusion" a jazz-rock instrumental in the vein of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The samba-tinged "As" features Herbie Hancock, the salsa- flavored "Another Star" boasts flautist Bobbi Humphrey and guitarist George Benson, and the blended heavenly "If It's Magic" is a duet with harpist Dorothy Ashby.

New songs constantly delayed the album. "There were times when he'd stay in the studio 48 hours straight," recalled bassist Nathan Watts. "You couldn't even get the cat to stop and eat!" Indeed, the CD's final four tracks initially came as a bonus, 33rpm seven-inch.

Songs in the key of life was much lauded, though Robert Christgau of the Village Voice thought it riddled with New Age baloney ("Saturn"), didactic lectures ("Black Man"), and soupy sentimentality ("Isn't She Lovely"). Nonetheless, it set the tone for Stevie's Rainbow Coalition politics— the booklet thanks Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan alongside Frank Zappa and Andy Williams. 

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

6. "I Wish”

7. "Knocks Me Off My Feet"

8. "Pastime Paradise"

9. "Summer Soft"

10. "Ordinary Pain"

Side three

11. "Isn't She Lovely"

12. "Joy Inside My Tears"

13. "Black Man"

Side four

14. "Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing"

15. "If It's Magic"

16. "As”

17. "Another Star"