Songs in the Key of Life was the highest high-point of Stevie Wonder's career. More sprawling than Innervisions and Talking Book , this 2 LP-plus-EP was also less of a consistent stunner than either of those masterworks. That Songs retains an enormous amount of visionary relevance, though, is demonstrated not only in Coolio's borrowing of "Pastime Paradise" as a template for "Gangsta's Paradise", but in the cold-as-ice synthesized string quartet of "Village Ghetto Land". This is Stevie, so naturally that cut's anger is balanced by the ultra-buoyant "I Wish," "Sir Duke", and "Another Star". --Rickey Wright
Track Listing
Love's In Need Of Love Today Have A Talk With God Village Ghetto Land Contusion Sir Duke I Wish Knocks Me Off My Feet Pastime Paradise Summer Soft Ordinary Pain Isn't She Lovely Joy Inside My Tears Black Man Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing If It's Magic As Another Star Saturn Ebony Eyes All Day Sucker Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)
