Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A True Classic, March 15, 2007
I bought this album for what I'd consider a strange reason: Every week, I watch American Idol, and very often someone sings a Stevie Wonder song. It never sounds very good, and the judges always say "you'll never compare well with the great Stevie..." Knowing some of the major hits, and generally associating him with "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "Superstition," I decided I must not be getting the full picture. I was thinking of getting a greatest hits comp, but ultimately decided to try a different route: I'd buy two of his masterpieces. I wanted to see the whole picture, rather than just hear the radio hits. So I bought Innvervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. Holy cow did I make the right choice. It took me only one marathon listening session of both albums to hear what I'd been missing all these years.
Many critics and reviewers indicate the album has a slow start, taking a few songs to kick into gear. True, the first songs are slower in pace, but I'd hardly consider it a "slow start." More like: Stevie eases you into a place that you're going to be (and want to be) for a long time (at two LPs and an EP - this really is an epic). With so many songs, I'll only mention a few for brevity's sake: "Sir Duke" is about as danceable a song as I've ever heard while still being substantial. "Black Man" is a history lesson everyone should hear, and examples of important people in American history of many races are mentioned: black, brown, yellow, and white as well. "As" gets under your skin on first listen and never lets go.
If I could stress one thing about this album, it would be this: These songs are ABOUT something. It's not funk music about wanting to get funky. It's not R&B about sex. Sure, sex and dancing are in there. But so are IDEAS, politics, social theory, parental love, fear, hope, and much more. The music, the singing, and the lyrics work absolutely. And they don't sound "dated" at all. That is no small achievement. Few artists have ever reached this level, and few ever will.
So, as a late-comer to the cult of Stevie, I'm happy to say: Better late than never!
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55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Album, July 26, 2000
Stevie Wonder spent almost three years working on this album and the time was well spent. The music is probably the most personal and outspoken of his career. He sings about his childhood in songs like "I Wish" & "Easy Goin' Evening", his heroes in "Sir Duke", the birth of his daughter in "Isn't She Lovely" and while "Contusion" is an instrumental the title is a reference to the life-threatening auto accident he was involved in. Mr. Wonder has always been a strong voice for the civil rights movement and the struggles for his race's equality and he expresses his feelings on those matters in "Village Ghetto Land", "Pastime Paradise" & "Joy Inside My Tears". He also gives us a history lesson in "Black Man". "Love's In Need Of Love Today" and "Have A Talk With God" are pleas for togetherness and understanding. Mr. Wonder could always write great love songs and they are here as well in the forms of "Ebony Eyes", "As", "Knocks Me Off My Feet" and others. As I've just mentioned, the album broaches many diverse subjects, but it all comes together in the end. Usually on double albums, there is filler, but not here. Every song serves a purpose and help create a cohesive musical statement. Stevie Wonder has been called a musical genius and this album is further proof that the title is an appropriate one.
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70 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A huge, successful mix of styles & sounds, December 10, 1999
The [then] eargerly-awaited double-album opus "Songs In The Key Of Life" - believe this or not - is considered over-rated and over-produced to some of the most hardcore Stevie fans today. In truth, it really is an impressive statement, like earlier albums in the Wonder catalog, Stevie masters many kinds of music without ever losing his own identity. "Songs In The Key..." boasts many elements; most prominent are funk jams & delicate ballads, but there's also acid-rock, swing, latin, gospel, even Hare Krishna chants. As usual, Stevie has an exceptional gift for lyrics and this album makes no exception. There's destitude horror in "Village Ghetto Land", historical declarations in "Black Man", and biblical wailing in "As". "Joy Inside My Tears" acheives in greater effect what Stevie's "Superwoman" did 4 years earlier, it combines happiness & sadness in the same space. It's as if you can hear Stevie laughing & crying at once when this track plays. The very-familiar "Isn't She Lovely" is a beautiful valentine to his wife & daughter. "Another Star" is the epitome of 70's jazz/soul/funk, it mixes lighting voices, wailing horns, rapid percussion & Stevie's beating piano. The album is so varied that it may not have an immediate, exciting appeal to the ears. Like other brilliant music, sometimes it takes several listenings to decipher what it's all about.Some of the tracks extend themselves to 7 or 8 minutes, but you don't really notice, you could go on singing La-La-La forever. There really is a lot to swallow at once. Once again he repeatedly seems to be reaching for truth. It's as if he's always saying - of all things a blind person could say - "With love, there is always light at the end of the tunnel". It is a landmark album.
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