We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: Songs in the Key of Life
Year: 1976
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“As” is one of those songs that takes a while to get going, but by the time it ends, it’s reached such a peak that I think it’s my second-favorite Stevie Wonder song — after “Living For The City” — and is absolutely my favorite Stevie Wonder love song. Of which, you might have noticed, there are a shit-ton of.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2511: Stevie Wonder – “As”
Album: Songs in the Key of Life
Year: 1976
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While Songs in the Key of Life is always lumped in with the three (or four) albums that preceded it, it’s actually somewhat different, at least in its execution. While the 1972-1974 albums recorded featured the TONTO synth — and the guys who invented it, Robert Margouleff & Malcolm Cecil as the co-producers — as well as Wonder being responsible for the lion’s share of the instruments and vocals, Songs in the Key of Life was a more inclusive affair.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2510: Stevie Wonder – “Sir Duke”
Album: Songs in the Key of Life
Year: 1976
. . .
Songs in the Key of Life was such a monster that Stevie Wonder didn’t even release its first single until two months after the album came out. Apparently, they waited to see which songs radio played prior to actually releasing singles, and even then, they never actually released “Isn’t She Lovely” as a single, believe it or not.
That said, they did release “I Wish” as the first single, which turned out to be a good call, as “I Wish” was an instant grabber, hooking you from the moment Nathan Watts started his impossibly funky bassline, which provided a throughline to a song that went a lot of different places.
At first, that bassline is accompanied only by Wonder’s keyboards and drummer Raymond Pounds’ (which is both a perfect drummer name and a perfect pornstar name) dead-in-the-pockets drumming as Wonder sings about a lost childhood.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2509: Stevie Wonder – “I Wish”
Album: Songs in the Key of Life
Year: 1976
. . .
One of the things I never fully thought about until I started writing these posts is that there is an absolute mountain of material that Stevie Wonder recorded in the first half of the 1970s that has never been released.
Think about that for a second.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2508: Stevie Wonder – “Have a Talk With God”