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Songs In The Key Of Life
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1976 albums
   
grammy award for album of the year
   
motown records albums
   
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  Type Album
  Artist Stevie Wonder
  Cover Songs_in_the_key_of_lifejpg
  Released September 28 , 1976
  Recorded 1975-1976 Crystal Sound Studios, Hollywood
  Genre R&B
  Length 105:04
  Label Motown
  Producer Stevie Wonder
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Robert_Christgau" class="copylinks">Robert Christgau (A) link
  Last Album '' Fulfillingness' First Finale ''<br />(1974)
  This Album ''Songs in the Key of Life'' <br /> (1976)
  Next Album '' Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants ''<br />(1979)


''Songs in the Key of Life'' is a landmark album by Stevie Wonder , released on September 28 , 1976 (see 1976 In Music ), and is widely known and confirmed as Wonder's Magnum Opus . It was the last of five consecutive albums widely hailed as his "classic period", along with '' Music Of My Mind '', '' Talking Book '', '' Innervisions '', and '' Fulfillingness' First Finale ''. A highly ambitious and experimental double LP, ''Songs in the Key of Life'' became the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of his career, even earning a rare 5-star rating from '' Rolling Stone '' Magazine.

''Songs in the Key of Life'' won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal and Album Of The Year . The album also topped Billboard 's Pop Albums and Black Albums charts for a record breaking 14 weeks out its 44 week in the Top 40 alone, and was one of the first albums by a solo artist to debut at #1 in its first week of sales ( Elton John released two albums in 1975 that entered the chart at #1). It has surpassed a total of 10 million units in the U.S. alone.www.riaa.com/newsitem.php?news_year_filter=&resultpage=22&id=6C64F37A-5B25-BCC9-D60B-BB98B6363C4B It was voted as the best album of the year in '' The Village Voice '''s Pazz & Jop critics poll.

Similarly, in 1998 ''Q'' Magazine readers voted ''Songs in the Key of Life'' the 88th greatest album of all time; in 2001 the TV Network VH1 placed it at number 7; in 2005 voters on the United Kingdom 's Channel 4 's poll placed it 74th.


TRACK LISTING


Disc one

#"Love's in Need of Love Today" (Wonder) – 7:05
#"Have a Talk with God" (Hardaway/Wonder) – 2:42
#"Village Ghetto Land" (Byrd/Wonder) – 3:25
#"Contusion" (Wonder) – 3:45
#" Sir Duke " (Wonder) – 3:54
#" I Wish " (Wonder) – 4:12
#" Knocks Me Off My Feet " (Wonder) – 3:36
#"Pastime Paradise" (Wonder) – 3:27
#"Summer Soft" (Wonder) – 4:14
#"Ordinary Pain" (Wonder) – 6:23


Disc two

#" Isn't She Lovely " (Wonder) – 6:34
#"Joy Inside My Tears" (Wonder) – 6:29
#"Black Man" (Byrd/Wonder) – 8:29
#"Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing" (Wonder) – 3:48
#"If It's Magic" (Wonder) – 3:12
#"As" (Wonder) – 7:08
#"Another Star" (Wonder) – 8:28


''A Something's Extra''

#"Saturn" (Sembello/Wonder) – 4:53
#"Ebony Eyes" (Wonder) – 4:08
#"All Day Sucker" (Wonder) – 5:05
#"Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)" (Wonder) – 3:56

The ''A Something's Extra'' 7" EP was included with the special edition version of the original LP. These tracks are also on most CD versions of the album, either split between both discs, or appended to the end of the second disc.


PERSONNEL



COVERS AND SAMPLES


Several songs of Songs in the Key of Life have been Covered and Sampled .

; "Love's In Need of Love Today" : Later recorded by Dave Hollister in 2002 ; also by Joan Osborne on the cover album ''How Sweet It Is''.
; "Have A Talk With God" : Sampled by Snoop Dogg for his 2006 song ''Conversations'', which featured a re-recorded vocal by Stevie Wonder himself.
; "Contusion" : Later chopped up and melded with other jazz samples for the Venetian Snares song "Banana Seat Girl" (2002).
; "I Wish" : Later recorded, with different lyrics, by Will Smith as the theme song for the film '' Wild Wild West ''. Sampled and remixed by Ben Leibrand for inclusion on his 1990 album ''Styles'' and featuring the rapping talents of (Miss) Nasty Chat. Sampled by Digital Underground for their song "No Nose Job." Sampled by The Black Dog for their song "Ambience With Teeth".
; "Isn't She Lovely" : a UK top ten hit for David Parton in 1977.
; "Pastime Paradise" : Later recorded by Ray Barretto and reworked into "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio in 1995, whose version was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as "Amish Paradise" in 1996. Sampled again as the basis of "Curtain Falls" by the boy-band Blue on 2004. In 1999, the song was covered by the Finnish humppa band Elakelaiset as "Paratiisihumppa". Also recorded by Patti Smith on her 2007 cover album ''Twelve''.
; "Knocks Me Off My Feet" : Later recorded by Luther Vandross in 1996 and then by Donnell Jones in 1996.
; "Village Ghetto Land" : Covered by George Michael . Later sampled on Warren G 's "Ghetto Village", off his 2001 album ''Return of the Regulator''; in this version, the melody is slightly accelerated and the song is retrofitted with Warren's signature brand of G-Funk .
; "As" : Later recorded by Michael Bolton in 2001, also a successful duet between George Michael and Mary J. Blige in 1998.
; "Another Star" : Covered by Kathy Sledge and included (twice) in the 1995 Ministry Of Sound ''Sessions 4'' double CD. Later recorded by Caron Wheeler of Soul II Soul in 2002.


CHARTING SINGLES



Album



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