Stevie Wonder - "Songs In The Key Of Life" (1976)

Few albums have contained with their grooves as huge an amount of energy, creativity and sheer songwriting exuberance as Songs In The Key Of Life, a vast, four-sided explosion of music released by the then 26-year-old Stevie Wonder. The songwriter’s best-selling and best-known album, at least from his classic ’70s period, Songs wasn’t merely a collection of compositions - it was a critique of America as it was in 1976 and a turning-point in the history of soul music.

The album’s background was fairly chaotic, which perhaps goes some way to explaining the feeling of expressive energy which it gives off. Wonder had been seriously considering retirement from the music industry, although he was riding a wave of huge commercial and critical approval after three hit albums - Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfilling ness’ First Finale, released between 1972 and ’74. Angered by the American government and contemplating a move to Ghana, he was persuaded to continue with his career as a musician when a new, record-breaking contract with Motown was presented to him.

The new deal, a seven-year agreement worth $37 million and the largest ever signed at the time, guaranteed Wonder full artistic control.

In this context, it’s no surprise that Wonder decided to forge ahead with his grand vision. Presented with an artistic platform of such scope, he was able to embark on a songwriting and recording spree that took up two years of his life and an enormous amount of creative energy. It was reported that Wonder would work for days on end without sleep or food, consumed by the enormous wave of inspiration that flooded over him.

The results, released after a long delay taken up by extra remixing, were astounding. The album contained no fewer than 17 songs, plus four more which were shoehorned onto an accompanying EP, curiously titled A Something's Extra. Instrumental passages of great complexity abounded (see ‘Contusion’), interspersed with perfect pop singles (‘Sir Duke', ‘Isn't She Lovely’) and smooth funk suites (‘As’) that have been endlessly sampled in the following decades.

Viewed from four decades’ distance, the sheer magnitude of Songs In The Key Of Life is perhaps its most lasting impression. A total of 130 musicians and studio personnel worked on it, with Wonder steering the ship with great charisma: among these were Herbie Hancock, who played Fender Rhodes; ace bassist Nate Watts, whose incredibly dexterous playing through ‘Sir Duke' and elsewhere gave the album huge presence; guitar legend George Benson; and singer Minnie Riperton.

The songs’ subject matter was also cause for celebration. In ‘Black Man' and ‘Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing’, Wonder discussed race, a touchy subject in America then as now.

At the same time, he wrote love songs and peace anthems reminiscent of the hippie period of a decade before, rather than the more cynical mid-’70s. Remember, punk rock w-as just around the corner in ’76, and supporters of that sound would argue that expansive albums such as this one were the reason for its arrival - and yet Songs went on to sell over 10 million copies in the USA alone, making it that rarest of records: a diamond-rated album. Clearly Wonder had touched a nerve among the record-buying public, not just among soul and R&B audiences but in the popular consciousness.

Alongside Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, all released a few years before or after Songs In The Key Of Life, this record became a must-buy throughout the Western world. Its immediately recognisable orange sleeve was seen on coffee tables across five continents, and like the aforementioned albums, it is difficult to imagine a recording of similar ambition being created today, let alone reaching as huge an audience.

Has the music aged well? Some of the more naïve love songs are showing their age a little these days, but as a demonstration of what can happen when a genius is allowed untrammeled expression, the triumph of both Stevie Wonder and Songs In The Key Of Life really is undeniable.