Songs in the Key of Life

iTunes Review

Capping Wonder’s most artistically productive period, 1976’s Grammy-winning Songs in the Key of Life was a two-LP plus 4-song EP 21-track magnum opus that overflows with shocking, forward-thinking moments of grand musical ambition and great social concern. Wonder’s natural gifts are all on full display. His chilling understatement (“Love’s In Need of Love Today”), his austere orchestration (“Village Ghetto Land”), his knack for the unforgettable hook (his tribute to the recently departed Duke Ellington, “Sir Duke,” his rapturous celebration of his new daughter “Isn’t She Lovely”) and his impeccable instrumental prowess (“Contusion”) are in ample supply. It’s no coincidence that it would take Wonder three years to follow up such an accomplishment. He’s fully invested himself throughout with his personal musical vocabulary becoming part of the larger musical community. In recent years, “Pastime Paradise” was used as the basis for Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” while the hit “I Wish” was given new lyrics by Will Smith for the theme to the movie Wild Wild West. Simply one of modern music’s most important and influential statements.