I'll be loving you always - until the rainbow burns the stars out of the sky

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

...with another album I've never heard.

#4 : Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder (1976)  

Months before the recording sessions for Songs in the Key of Life ended, the musicians in Stevie Wonder’s band had T-shirts made up that proclaimed, “We’re almost finished.” It was the stock answer to casual fans and Motown executives and everybody who’d fallen in love with Wonder’s early-Seventies gems – 1972’s Talking Book, 1973’s Innervisions, and 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale – and who had been waiting two years for the next chapter. “I believed there was a lot that needed to be said,” Wonder said. More, in fact, than he could fit onto a double album – also included was a bonus EP, a seven-inch single with four more songs from the sessions.

Songs, released in 1976, encompasses an incredible range of life experiences – from the giddy joy of a baby in the bathtub (“Isn’t She Lovely,” featuring the cries and giggles of Wonder’s infant daughter Aisha Morris) through tributes to his musical heroes (“Sir Duke”) to dismay about the indifference of the wealthy (“Village Ghetto Land”). Wonder pulled from every imaginable musical source — the ecstatic “Sir Duke” references Duke Elington and Ella Fitzgerald, while “As” featured Herbie Hancock on Fender Rhodes.

The album’s mastery of many styles remains astonishing, but the feat might not have meant so much had Wonder not delivered some of his most impassioned political art as well, like the autobiographical “I Wish,” the takedown of wealthy complacency “Village Ghetto Land,” and, perhaps most movingly, “Black Man,” in which he runs down a funky list of global Afro-diasporic aspirations and heroes. Songs in the Key of Life linked all this together, in Wonder’s all-encompassing innervision.

So, yesterday was Stevie Wonder's 71st birthday and in honour of this (or possibly as a complete coincidence), I listened to this album for the very first time - only 45 years after it was released.  What took me so long?  Some of tracks on the album I know well (and love), some of the tracks I know I know but have a bit of a mental blank on them until I hear them (particularly "Sir Duke" and "As") and the rest of them I've never heard - so here goes on the double album, 21 track-by-track, 105 minute breakdown...

1. "Love's In Need Of Love Today"
This sounds fantastic over headphones - maybe a bit late 70's soul cheese, but it a late 70's soul track, so I think we can forgive it.  Not the strongest track on the album to open things for me, but perfectly fine, if a bit long at 7:05.

2. "Have A Talk With God"
There are some superbly squeaky and beepy noises on this - I really like them.  It's also a fine song with a fine message (if that's the sort of message that chimes with you)

3. "Village Ghetto Land"
A serious message over an absolutely beautiful string backing track - it totally feels like it shouldn't work, but it certainly does.  A fine track indeed.

4. "Contusion"
Here, he very much decides, in the words of Paolo Nutini, to funk your life up.  Some serious keyboard skills on display.  And it's an instrumental track (except for a few backing "doo doo doos") - we've not had many of them recently.

5. "Sir Duke"
I knew I liked this track, but couldn't remember it in the slightest - it's the "you can feel it all oh-oh-oh-ver" track in case you have a similar mental blank to me.  It is really very fine indeed and might possibly be peak Stevie Wonder (although there are other contenders on the album).

6. "I Wish"
I knew this one as well, but I didn't know I knew it - and it's another one that's up there with his best.  It's got a very funky bassline (and was borrowed wholesale by Will Smith for "Wild Wild West")

7. "Knocks Me Off My Feet"
A change of tempo leaning more towards "I Just Called To Say" territory - I wouldn't want a whole album of this, but as the odd track it provides a nice bit of variety.

8. "Pastime Paradise"
Wow - I never knew this existed.  You'll either now be laughing at me now or going "huh?" - if the latter then check it out and you can to can go "OK - I always thought that was a slightly odd track and now I know where it came from".  That was a cool bit of musical education - and a fine track too.

9. "Summer Soft"
It's classic Stevie, but not one of his best for me.  Still perfectly fine though.

10. "Ordinary Pain"
More classic Stevie to start with until it gets super-funky in the middle and features some fine beepiness at the end - yeah, I liked this one.

11. "Isn't She Lovely"
This is just a beautifully joyous hymn to his daughter - "I never thought through love we'd be making one as lovely as she - but isn't she lovely?".  A wonderful track which is just what we need right now - he could have cut it down a bit from 6:34, but he's enjoying himself so I'll let him off.

12. "Joy Inside My Tears"

It's smoothie Stevie with loads of strings backing up him up again - a fine enough track, but not quite up there with the best of them for me.

13. "Black Man"
Well this is a song of two halves and no mistake - the first half being a fairly standard verse-chorus composition celebrating the achievements of non-white men - "this world was made for all men".  And the second is anything but standard - it's quite interesting and it's obviously something he felt strongly about.  He really must shake his head at how little progress has been made in some areas in the time since though.

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

Fine, but no more than that for me.  I was also distracted by wondering how you pronounce the first word of the title.

15. "If It's Magic"
A ballad with a harp-based backing for a change - not sure I'd have gone there, but it's done well enough.

16. "As"
Another one I know I know, but can never remember which one it is - it's the "I'll be loving you always" one for those of you as dim as me.  And it's an absolutely top track - and at 7 minutes, he really runs with it with a great gospel backing.  It was also covered very well by George Michael and Mary J Blige in later years, who smoothed off the rough edges.

17. "Another Star"
Another lengthy track and no mistake - 8:28 this time around.  And this one features a flute solo - he's certainly working his way through the instruments.

18. "Saturn"
This is an odd track.  Not a bad track, but definitely odd. "On Saturn, people live to be two hundred and five...don't need cars, 'cause we've learn to fly on Saturn"

19. "Ebony Eyes" 
Another style with jazz/ragtime coming to the fore here - you can't say he's not prepared to give things a try.  And he pulls it off, where others would fail horribly.

20. "All Day Sucker"
And back to some funky beeping!  Not sure this adds a lot to the album though.

21. "Easy Going Evening (My Mama's Call)"
And a slightly odd instrumental to finish off the album, featuring some quite peculiar mouth organ playing.  A bit quirky, but quite nicely so.

So - a lot of quality and variety on this album although I'm not entirely convinced there's quite enough for a double album and a 4 track EP.  Additionally, I'd say that he does have a tendency to stretch tracks out longer than strictly necessary - but unlike some of the hip-hop nonsense we've experienced where they're just doing it because no-one is going to dare to tell them to stop, you do believe he's just doing it because he loves the songs so much (and you can totally see him doing his head-rocky thing as he does).  But it definitely feels like there's more than a single albums worth - maybe he should have stuck with just the double album?  The best tracks though are very fine indeed - "Village Ghetto Land", "Sir Duke", "I Wish", "Isn't She Lovely" and "Ask" are all absolutely cracking.  And most of the rest of it is at least interesting and has something to say - there's a fine line in balancing the message and the music and I think he gets it pretty right here.

Wikipedia has scandalously little to say about the album, but before that we have a pop quiz question - what is Stevie Wonder's real first name?  And, believe me, when I tell you it's not that far off "Stevie", this information isn't as helpful as you'd think it might be.  And, if that question's too easy for you - what's his middle name?  Right - back to the album.  Basically he was on a run of great albums but he was considering retiring.  But he didn't and then he made this, that everyone agreed was even better.  It won the Grammy for Album of The Year and the critics and the general public loved it - and people still agree with that.  Unsurprisingly, R&B singers in particular have singled it out as influencing them - Prince, Mariah and Whitney are all quoted as being fans - but somewhat more surprisingly, according to Wikipedia, heavy metal singers also love it (although their evidence is limited to Phil Anselmo from Pantera saying he likes it).  It got to #1 in the US, but only #2 in the UK - kept off the top by Soul Motion (a surprisingly average collection of soul tracks which spent two weeks at #1) and Burt Weedon's 20 Golden Guitar Greats (which seems particularly random, even for the standards of the 70s in the UK).  In fact, Stevie has never had a UK #1 album which seems somewhat criminal to me (but three have got to #2) and bizarrely, two of the first three albums that charted for him in the UK were greatest hits albums (in 1968 and 1972) but his next greatest hits album didn’t chart until 1996 (having had a wheelbarrow load of hits in between).  The charts can be odd and no mistake.

So what does Wikipedia have to say about Stevland Hardaway Morris then?  The man has lived and no mistake - a #1 single in the US in 1963 at the age of 13 (the youngest ever) and he hasn't really stopped since.  He's sung, written and played for pretty much everyone - it reminded me he was the go-to harmonica player for a bit, popping up on Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (which I didn't know was a Prince track), The Eurythmics "There Must Be An Angel" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" amongst other tracks.  He won the Album of the Year Grammy in 1974, 75 and 77 - in his acceptance speech in 1976 Paul Simon "wryly noted, "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year."".  Amusingly, you can tell the man has done a lot and been recognised for it because Wikipedia doesn't even bother trying to document it fully, settling instead for "Wonder has been given a range of awards, both for his music and for his civil rights work".  Seriously, Wikipedia, that's the sort of trick I'd try and get away with.  Among his civil rights work, his part in getting Martin Luther King's birthday recognised as a national holiday gets the most mentions and it's very interesting reading up around that as how unkeen several Southern states were to get involved - it was signed into law in 1983, but 2000 was the first year that all states recognised it.

"Customers also listened to" a lot of names we've seen on the list so far, including one still to come which means that Stevie isn't the highest ranked African-American, politically aware artist on the list (hmmm - what's going on?).  I think he can be quite proud of being at #4 though - I'm not sure I'm in a position to judge its worthiness of such a lofty position on just two listens, but it's presence in the top 10 has not made me angry or roll my eyes, so that's a good start, I guess.  I would say this was my favourite of his 4 albums on the list and I will make an attempt to revisit it, although I'm not sure I'll manage to make it through all 21 tracks (but I must remember to make it as far as "As").  Stevie Wonder is another of those slightly random acts I've seen live (see also The Rolling Stones, James Brown, Neil Young, Paul McCartney) and having now experienced his albums, I wish I'd listened to them before I watched him because I think I would have enjoyed him a hell of a lot more - I haven't always "got" his albums (and I think part of that is being so far removed from the time) but there's an amazing number of fine tracks in there.  I'm also intrigued to check out his 1974 album Fulfillingness’ First Finale because it was part of his Grammy winning run but didn't merit a place on the list at all, which seems somewhat strange.  But, to sum up, thanks for the music, Stevland!

#5 - Our last visit with The Fab Four
#3 - The top woman on the list