Maps of Music

Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

Where the lyrics of Songs in the Key of Life take you, and where it was really made.

Wonder had seriously planned to quit music and move to Ghana, and a farewell concert was in preparation, until he signed a new Motown contract in August 1975.

Key places

Main recording studio (1976)

Recording site Crystal Sound (Hollywood) — The album was recorded mainly at Crystal Sound in Hollywood, and final mixing was also done there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Some sessions at Record Plant (1976)

Recording site Record Plant — Some sessions were recorded at the Record Plant studios in Hollywood and Sausalito, the Sausalito location being one of them. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Six weeks in New York (1976)

Recording site The Hit Factory — During a Crystal Sound scheduling conflict, the production team worked for about six weeks at the Hit Factory in New York City, but used only one basic track. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Songs in the Key of Life: eighteenth studio album by Stevie Wonder
• Double album that includes an extra EP; released September 28, 1976
• Released by Tamla Records, a division of Motown
• Regarded as the culmination of Wonder's "classic period" of recording
• That period began in 1972 with Music of My Mind
• Augmented double album with 17 songs
• Themes include religious beliefs, love, romance, nostalgia, parenthood, inequality, music as a language and racial discrimination
• Genres include funk, jazz, R&B, progressive soul, classical and pop

Background

• By 1974, Wonder was one of the most successful figures in popular music
• Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale were top five successes
• In 1975, Wonder became serious about quitting the music industry and emigrating to Ghana to work with handicapped children
• He had expressed anger at the way the U.S. government was running the country
• A farewell concert was considered; Wonder changed his mind and signed with Motown on August 5, 1975
• The contract covered a seven-year, seven-album, $37 million deal with full artistic control
• It was the largest deal made with a recording star up to that point
• Wonder took a year off from music after signing
• Release was first scheduled for around October 1975 but was delayed for further remixing
• The working title was "Let's See Life the Way It Is" before Wonder settled on the current title

Recording

• Recorded mainly at Crystal Sound in Hollywood
• Some sessions took place at Record Plant in Hollywood and Sausalito
• Final mixing was done at Crystal Sound
• During a Crystal Sound scheduling conflict, the production team spent about six weeks at the Hit Factory in New York City, but used only one basic track from those sessions
• 130 people worked on the album
• Herbie Hancock played Fender Rhodes on "As"
• George Benson played electric guitar on "Another Star"
• Wonder spent long hours in the studio on almost every track he recorded
• Bassist Nathan Watts recalled being called back to the studio to help with "I Wish" after getting home at 3 am

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Stevland Hardaway Morris, known as Stevie Wonder, was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, and became blind shortly after birth.
• He signed with Motown's Tamla label at age 11 in 1961, receiving the name Little Stevie Wonder.
• His single "Fingertips" topped the Billboard Hot 100 when he was 13, the youngest solo artist ever to do so.

Career

• Music of My Mind and Talking Book (1972) marked the start of his classic period, moving away from the Motown sound toward synthesizer- and keyboard-driven music.
• Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life (1973–1976) won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, and he is the only artist to have done so.
• In the 1980s he campaigned to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday and scored several number-one hits, including "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
• He has sold more than 100 million records and won 25 Grammy Awards, the most by a male solo artist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critical reception was immediately positive at release
• The album was seen as a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles
• The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll voted it the best album of the year
• It won Album of the Year at the 19th Grammy Awards
• It was the favorite of many critics to take that award

Reappraisal

• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums ranked it number 89
• Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ranked it number 4
• It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002
• In 2005 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant
• Wonder's own later remark was that he is most happy about this album

Records

• It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart on October 8, 1976
• It was only the third album in history to debut at number one on that chart, and the first by an American artist
• It topped the RPM national albums chart in Canada
• It spent thirteen consecutive weeks at number one in the US
• It was the album with the most weeks at number one in 1976
• It was the second-best selling album of 1977 in the US
• It was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005
• "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" both reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• At the 18th Grammy Awards, Paul Simon jokingly thanked Stevie for not releasing an album that year
• Wonder missed the 19th Grammy Awards ceremony because he was visiting Africa
• At the 19th ceremony, a poor video signal and inaudible audio left the audience seeing Wonder only at a phone
• David Parton's cover of "Isn't She Lovely" gave him a top 10 hit in the UK in early 1977
• In 1995, Coolio reworked "Pastime Paradise" as "Gangsta's Paradise"
• In December 2013, Wonder performed the entire album live at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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