>>127884393
Sadly, Stevie Wonder is overdosed in hopium and cannot tackle these themes correctly. SITKOL sanitizes both hope and love, topics which are inherently bittersweet, this sanitization makes this albums depiction of these two things to be very lame and superficial. This version of hope and love is utterly inhuman and worthless, for a record that aspires to transcend time and be this piece of pure humanity, it feels very false and alien; to me, it definitely hasn't passed the test of time in any way whatsoever; the time of recording doesn't matter, it'd be equally as terrible in any year. It will still hit as "woohoo optimism humanity yay!!" and "war is bad you know? we should stop le war." The year does NOT matter, as this record's disgusting pretension and messiah complex will always remain as a truly fraudulent and terrible concept.

To write this review, I had to listen to Songs in the Key of Life again, and then I remembered why I hate this record so much.

What do you see when you go outside? I personally see conflict, horrible people, rape, a world crumbled by inept leaders, alienation, the decrepit and horrible spirit of humanity, poverty, death, sickness, late-stage capitalism, apathy, aggression, and all types of inhuman shit that tell me that life is essentially horrible, that there's no hope for humanity, that society is alienating, and that it's not worth it to live—yet Stevie Wonder tries to gaslight me into this toxic optimism and faux hope that is just not genuine. This album is thus, no more than a mere mask of shallow ideas; escapism in the form of a record, ridiculous and completely utopic, pretending that human love holds this potential to change the world is an ultimately asinine ideology.

Songs in the Key of Life has an irrational trust and admiration for hope, humanity, and its own capacity. It is this egotistical belief in human capacity to always improve itself that makes me roll my eyes when it is so blatantly false.
(2/14)

>>127884395
I just can't see the "transcending" aspects of this album that are so admired, as it is the absolute contrary to me. This album is completely bloated yet totally worthless; it feels like the type of person who would label themselves as empathic but then, they would deliver nothingburger phrases worthy of a "motivational quotes" Google search and obvious shit to then pretend like they helped you and feel good about it. False empathy, that's a good way to describe this album, it reeks of messianism.

Stevie Wonder seems addicted to mask and represent something that is intrinsically linked to tremendous pain—life, essentially—as this wonderful thing that you have to live to the fullest, that you need joy and laughter and hope!!! As if life were a cartoon or something. It is completely ridiculous and eye-rolling, warm and soothing to a mawkish point. That you need to love, laugh, dance, whatever, it is like a danse macabre of tryhard hope that honestly disgusts me; it completely ignores the miserable human condition and its ability to fuck and wreck itself constantly. To rape the innocent and abuse those with less power, of excessive capitalism and apathy; it's just horrible. Songs in the Key of Life might as well be as useful as a microscopic bandaid in a planet-sized laceration.

It seems so overtly, clearly shallow & fraudulent to me, yet it has this grandiloquent pretension. I hate everyone and everything that tries to compel me with the belief of how "happy" and "joyful" life is, as it's so clearly and obviously NOT true at all; and, sadly, Stevie does not do a good job at changing this belief; granted, it's deeply rooted within me, but still, I expected just a bit more. Optimism and hope are weird things to me in general, but toxic optimism and hope that ignore reality are actually infuriating to me. Stevie Wonder does this for MORE THAN TWO HOURS. Now, with that out of the way, let's go with the actual songs themselves.-
(3/14)

this wasnt funny the first time around dog

>>127884402
Some albums have a great opener; Talking Heads' live Stop Making Sense starts with the incredible Psycho Killer performance by David Byrne, establishing a quirky and dancey atmosphere quickly; you've got Joy Division's Closer with the amazing "Atrocity Exhibition," which sets a moody and sombre tone in a very effective way, or The Clash with the rebellious and energetic "London Calling" for the album of the same name; instead, Stevie Wonder, with "Love's in Need of Love Today" sets the album up for corniness and eye-rolling shenanigans straight out of the bat, with some of the most ridiculous lyrics that I've ever seen.

Is this a Guinness record of ruining an album? I'm not sure, but it could be feasible with lines such as "It's that love's in need of love today" or "The force of evil plans to make you its possession" which sounds straight out of a bad JRPG that got overshadowed by Final Fantasy in the early 2000s. Or even semi-messianic shit like "If love and peace you treasure // Then you'll hear me when I say, woah-oh," like, oh yes, for sure, we'll hear you, messiah Wonder, and fill the world with love and joy!!!!

No. Sometimes hostility and aggression are needed; violence isn't the answer, but it is a question. Some people will insist on violating your private space and identity and are determined to fuck you up nevertheless, and no amount of love will fix their unlovable hearts—there are a lot of people who are ontologically evil and WILL insist on trying to destroy you; violence in the form of self-defense is necessary. To think of love as this god-given panacea for every evil in the world is to be utterly ridiculous. SitKoL's idea of hope is akin to that of The Teletubbies. My idea of hope is fighting against the scum that invalidates me, your idea of hope is spreading a false messianism, Stevie.

Sonically, the entire song is a boring ballad with Stevie's generic voice and sometimes with some gospel vocals.
(4/14)

>>127884411
Generic beyond comprehension, at some point, the gospel joins in with Stevie's vocals to finally climax this sleep-inducing track and the song goes on for 7 MINUTES. For sure this didn't need to be so long; you could get such an asinine message across for less than half of this song's duration. Be joyful and dance love!!!!!!!! Idiotic. Thoroughly utopic and idealistic. I'll tell the THOUSANDS of depressed people around the globe that they just need to love.

Stevie goes on to make a song about God, of course. I do have a pretty troublesome relationship with religion, and I've come to hate every facet of it. Does that mean I should try and deter others from using religion as a tool for life? No, but I also don't want a man to try and evangelize me over a track. To me, God is the most uncomfortable idea ever birthed by humanity. I actively hate it; I hate God, I hate Christianity, and I hate all of religion, so this was a very hard track to listen to. Even if I were to not hate religion, this is a very uncomfortable track.

No, I will not communicate with the fuckass that is God or resort to the megacorporate business with shady aspects that is organized religion. "Have a Talk with God" is essentially a blowjob for Christianity, telling you that you can resort to God when your problems get too hard—ah yes, religious escapism! I love it—and that God is the only free psychiatrist—well, he's free for a reason, mainly because he's fucking useless. Religion is not a viable alternative for your issues; it could be useful for spiritual development, but not for actual physical and mental issues for fuck's sake. It is not a valid replacement, since no amount of Mystical Dad in the Sky™ will cure your depression or get you out of poverty.

This track also dons many enraging lines like "But every problem has an answer, and if yours, you cannot find // You should talk it over to Him." and it's just like. No. Fuck God. Seriously.
(5/14)

>>127884421
He never gave me peace, nor did he ever give me anything I valued. When I was younger, I was obliged to pray and go to church. I was gaslighted with propaganda flicks to believe in Christianity and do shit I didn't want to do; otherwise, I'd get punished, and you're telling me that I have to pray for this shitwad and talk with him now? No. This track is a bit more interesting sonically, but otherwise completely vapid thematically, lyrically, and vocally, which ruins it all.

"Village Ghetto Land" is a MICROSCOPICAL light in the puddle of mud that is this record, but it doesn't go much farther than merely noticing these issues; essentially, it talks about the status of poor American neighborhoods and how the rich do nothing to address this. It's an interesting premise, but Songs in the Key of Life merely graces it and doesn't really expand upon them; instead, Stevie prefers to do dumb tracks and corny funk as if that improved anything; thus, this song is pure wasted potential because Wonder cannot do thematical work in this piece. Meanwhile, "Contusion" is some random instrumental piece. Ok. So what do we get after the barely poignant Village Ghetto Land, which tried to be a good change in this terrible album? "Sir Duke"! A dancey feel-da-funk song with Stevie Wonder's generic vocals and tryhard instrumental.

I've never been more frozen while listening to a song. I don't know who the fuck Sir Duke is, nor do I know who Basie, Miller, Satchmo, and Ella are, or why Stevie is screaming like a lunatic in my ears, or why there's such a shrilling instrumental in my ears, but this track inspires nothing; I was just expecting it to end. I don't want to dance; I don't want to hear the funk or the overtly warm instrumental. I'm not "uplifted" or "inspired" or anything; I'm just left completely, and utterly, frozen in place. Awful warm overload. DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE DANC-just, no.
(6/14)

>>127884431
After that earsore, we get ANOTHER mawkish song in the form of "I Wish" which retells the grossly American experiences of a kid. I'm sorry, but this just strikes me so much as the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme. Ridiculously American, horribly corny, cheesy, boring. It's just NOTHING, another dancey song with nothingburger lyrics—like holy shit, we are six songs in, and I am just so frustrated. The issue with Songs in the Key of Life is that it tries so hard to be inspiring and relatable, to be this art piece that represents life, hell, to be bigger than life, to be motivational, to make you see the joy in existence, but it just feels so... foreign, so... sugary, weak, and corny, like an alien trying too hard to fit into society and following a tutorial on "how to make motivational music." For a record that aspires to be so transcendentally huge it is so "specific" and average, and weirdly weakened. Stevie tells this narrative as if everyone passed thru something similar, and FEEL THE JOY OF CHILDHOOD!!! OHHHHH *corny funk, Stevie rambles on*

Then "Knocks Me Off My Feet" follows that same line, and it hits me with the "I don't want to bore you with it." Don't worry, Stevie, you've already done so. It's just so stagnant. Stevie's vision of love is that of an idealistic, asinine, utopic one—not only "general" love but also romantic love; taking his repugnant themes into a bigger sphere, of course, he fumbles it, because no love will ever be ideal like Wonder's idea and pretension. The only good thing that "Pastime Paradise" has done is inspire Gangsta's Paradise, which is a nostalgic song for me. Otherwise, it is just fairly unremarkable. I feel like it is one of the better songs on this album, but it falls into the same pit as "Village Ghetto Land" sadly.

"Summer Soft" is some more of the wishy-washy soap ballads by Mr. Wonder himself. I always wonder (heh) if people like this album because it is comfortable.
(7/14)

>>127884436
Like this entire record is one gigantic heap of inoffensive and forgettable tunes, one after the other, with barely any innovation or risk. It's made to be digested and processed without any thought, generic, clichéd, just mindless without any valuable message. This track speaks about seasons and how love and excitement come and go, not much honestly; just more of Wonder's digested thematical value, worthless life shenanigans that go nowhere.

Personally, what I feel about life and years as they go on is much different than what this song entails; everything is a slog nowadays, years blur on with no excitement or love to speak of, there is no promise of anything, and even less of excitement, joy, hope, love, or whatever. Life is just dull, honestly, and thus the visuals Stevie tries to paint in this track are ineffective if a minimum of realistic introspection is done about reality—not only that, but it's of course horribly generic, like thank you, Stevie, for nothing! It just falls apart. Life itself is alienating and unwelcoming.

Regarding "Isn't She Lovely" I hate the track sonically, and it sounds disgustingly bland and warm, like most of the album, but the message is at least endearing. I'm just happy for Mr. Wonder and his daughter, and I wish both of them, and their families, only the best. "Ordinary Pain" is ANOTHER track about love, which doesn't work considering Stevie Wonder's superficial and inoffensive breakdown of these themes, so this ends up being another feeble attempt at seeming sentimental or human.

This record is almost reptilian, like three raccoons in a trench coat replicating human sentiments. Stevie goes on and on about muh feelings and muh humanity but never truly digs or takes a chance to make a meaningful effort; thus, everything falls flat. Like on "Ordinary Pain" Stevie tries to tackle a breakup too, but these lyrics go nothing beyond a superficial understanding of how complex love or a breakup can be.
(8/14)

>>127884444
It's also an unnecessary track, because how in the fuck does this fit in the album? This record is just FILLED to the brim with unnecessary songs like this.

And then we get to the next track, "Black Man" which is just... one of the most thematically lazy and obnoxious songs I've heard, and it's EIGHT MINUTES AND A HALF LONG. Stevie goes on to ramble about a series of achievements by heterogeneous men from different races in the most absurdly shoehorned way. He literally goes: "So there was a Black guy who did X. There was also a brown man who did Z. And also a yellow man who did Y. And a red man who did this. And a white man who did that. And a red woman who did something." Like, how are these interesting, clever, or enjoyable verses in any way? I appreciate the message and intention, but not the catastrophic execution, which instead hits as like, "Le racism exists, you know? We have to be aware and fight against le racism" and as the most shoehorned anti-racism message in existence. Completely ridiculous and annoying. I swear a track from Natural Snow Buildings' Daughter of Darkness feels shorter than this absolute slog. Nevermind the ridiculous premise of "lol everyone should just like each other!!" despite the absurd racial and social tension that is so prevalent. Completely childish and asinine.

"Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing" is on the same line as the first track of this album. He also sings Spanish in here, which is a death sentence for nearly any track to me as a native Spanish speaker. Stevie says that music is all about representing love... not really; I think that beyond anything, art is most effective when it talks about the taboo parts of humanity and the bad things instead of gloating in the good things and a pompous meaning of love, something Wonder does throughout this entire album. He talks in Zulu for some fucking reason, maybe to go in line with the previous song's tryhard representation of anti-racism?-
(9/14)

>>127884454
"There's songs to make you smile // There's songs to make you sad // But with a happy song to sing // It never seems as bad." I don't know Stevie, DSBM records make me feel much better than this disaster of a record you've made here.

Sad songs are not always detrimental to one's mood, a lot of people feel better when the track resembles their actual mood instead of some guy rambling about an utopic love non-stop. "...someday sweet love will reign." That is pretty questionable, Stevie, but I admire your irrational hope for anything that awaits humanity in the future. Sonically, it is an interesting track at least, if a tad boring, but Stevie's lyrical and thematical work is absolutely catastrophic, and his vocals are just very boring.

"If It’s Magic" IS ANOTHER SONG ABOUT THE SAME THEME, ANOTHER BORING BALLAD. I wrote the previous paragraph and this one on different days than the rest of the review, but just TWO SONGS from this album are enough to make me bitter. This is so fucking frustrating; like, Wonder CANNOT do a convincing track about love and hope even if his life depended on this, and for some reason the entire record is based around it.

Here, Wonder employs Disney-level metaphors and rhymes to talk about love and its nature. Of course, Stevie, if you gazed at the dooming conditions that surround you, YOU'D HAVE REALIZED THIS BEFORE MAKING THIS PROJECT. Love is not this universal thing one can just extend to someone else; humanity is filled with hate and disgusting traits, and most people don't really care; it's as easy as that. Yet I have to hear this man ramble about CLEARLY false things for nearly 2 hours. After this, it's even worse since Wonder INSISTS and nails down on this clearly flawed belief of love that he holds.

"As" is one of the more acclaimed tracks in this album. Makes sense, as it has the same vapid content as the rest of the album. Another kind of funky ballad with some gospel that says obnoxious shit.
(10/14)

>>127884460
"Did you know that true love asks for nothing?" And I ask how common is "true love" as you mean it nowadays and back then, Wonder? How possible is this to achieve? It is as if most people are driven by interests and pre-existing biases, making this "true love" to be a utopic dream, just like the rest of the things talked about in this album.

There is not a "true love" not even in the most intimate relationships; mothers and fathers are driven by their own interests and ideas of their daughters or sons; each partner in a loving relationship is their own person with pre-existing issues and biases. Egoism is a common trait of humanity; one could even argue that love only exists in the form of expecting something in exchange, rather than the utopic Disney-like aspiration of Wonder. Here, he sounds more like an overgrown child than an adult.

"Did you know that life has given love a guarantee // To last through forever and another day?" LOL, bro, just love!!! I don't think that's a guarantee, Stevie; I'd rather believe that it is a privilege nowadays. "As today, I know I'm living, but tomorrow // Could make me the past, but that, I mustn't fear // For I'll know deep in my mind // The love of me I've left" Hate is an important part of being; you don't have to love everyone or pardon everyone; many times it's okay to hate the guts of someone and keep on living.

Life is inherent suffering for everyone, no matter their current status, as suffering is an essential part of society and existence as a whole. Stevie Wonder's idealistic hubris is immense, and it ruins the ENTIRE premise of this album, making it INSUFFERABLE. I also hate Stevie's vocals when he talks like a tryhard Western Americana character or some shit, just doing this "rude guy" voice that is so common in overall older records, and I FUCKING despise it. Yes, I get it, Wonder, but why is this song seven minutes long?? Why is the pacing of this record so absolutely disastrous??
(11/14)

>>127884467
Stevie Wonder ends the shit sundae with a crap cherry on top. He ends this album with an eight-minute corny track about love and breakup, of course. He starts the track with a "LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-L-ALA-ALA-ALA.-ALA-ALA-AAL". This song is also more Latino-flavored, which I don't really care about since I dislike Latino culture and most Latino sounds anyway, even if I am Latina myself. "Another Star" entails Wonder and his story with a complicated relationship, the exact same shit as Ordinary Pain.

Here, he talks about how his selfless "true" love had to go through many challenges—ah yes, the very valiant Mr. Wonder! You're truly the messiah of love—and talking about how this relationship is the one true love his heart yearns for, even when it'll end badly. If this doesn't sound like the plot of a romance movie rated with a 1.9 on Letterboxd, I don't know then. As it's the most mawkish and disgustingly cliché thing in existence. Then he ends this with more LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA. Wow.

Wonder and his audience somehow thought that this abomination wasn't long enough, SO AN EXTRA WAS MADE.

"Saturn" is an ode to blissful ignorance. Here, he acknowledges how his idea of love is extremely flawed yet decides to escape and nail down on everyone instead of modifying it on the basis of what he has learned; yes, Stevie, humanity is terrible, and we break ourselves constantly; if the fucking FLURRY OF WARS back then in the 20th century didn't convince you of this, I don't know what else will. "Tell me, why are you people so cold?" Because evil and apathy triumphs, and they are rewarded constantly, Stevie, oligarchs have pimped the world, people are alienating and there's no hope; the world is fucked unless we erase this disgusting and utopic idea of "LOVE HOPE FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!" and there are actually consequences for hubris. If this isn't a rhetorical question, I don't know how it doesn't answer itself.
(12/14)

>>127884477
"We have come here many times before // To find your strategy to peace is war // Killing helpless men, women, and children." Thank you, Stevie, for your revolutionary verse about war. This will keep happening if all you do is preach love and the Bible and God and bullshit, though, like people in charge WILL NOT care about this and spread disgrace around the world.

The other three songs are just more nothingburger content.

I think the world is completely fucked, and no amount of this album will convince me otherwise. I'm finally done with this slog. Can you believe that Stevie took nearly 2 hours to essentially say NOTHING? Like nothing in this album is valuable, the songs are lackluster, there is no thematic work, there are bare-bones lyrics, there is annoying instrumentation, and more; for a record that is constantly sold as this "transcendental experience, grander than life" yet it is absolutely cowardly and spineless, lukewarm, boring, and bloated to oblivion. Wishy-washy, boring, bloated, just horrible in every aspect. Just constantly repeating a message with no value, with the corniest sound and lyrics possible. That's why it deserves the title of "The Weakest Album of All Time" and that's because it has no grace, no standing, it is absurdly inhuman for an album that tries to tackle a human issue as big as "hope" and "life" and it breaks way too easily. It's absolutely shallow. Unless we HAVE A SPINE and fight back, nothing will be changed.

I'm personally so frustrated by this album, as it is so fraudulent, and it reminds me of the people who try so hard to be this messianic figure in a relationship, trying to help or aid by saying stock motivational phrases or dumb shit like "it gets better just trust in the future" or whatever; it is so blatantly untrue and invalidating, and it truly feels like Stevie just wanted to make himself better by spreading his gospel of bullshit rather than being genuine.
(13/14)

>>127884486
Life is pain, undoubtedly, and the world is in shambles right now; the future is looking bleak and alienated, and society is actually disgusting. Life sucks. man. Humanity is doomed. Not a single bit of hope. And we cannot kill ourselves because it's already too late. This doesn't mean we can give in, but this type of toxic positivity is just enraging and invalidating.

That is my main issue with Wonder's tryhard piece. It fails the test of time, it crumbles down with a single touch, and it insists upon itself with a fraudulent message that has no worth in any context whatsoever; not only this, but Stevie's incapacity to tackle these themes and issues undermines this entire release and his aspiration as a magnum opus that transcends time and space, that reaches everyone, etc. When I think of hope I don't think in Wonder and his toupee, rather I think of the broken artists who put their everything into records and expressed their upmost desires, feelings and thoughts with earnest honesty, without sterilizing anything, without hugboxing anything, without being fraudulent; that is what I call humanity, not Stevie's abomination, which clearly reeks of messianism.

I do feel better after writing this, though.
(14/14)

Ok.

tldr

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Songs in the Key of Life [Tamla, 1976]
It's no accident that the rich, hortatory one-man music of "Love's in Need of Love Today" is counterposed against the more intimately devotional one-man music of "Have a Talk With God," or that when the theme turns sociopolitical in "Village Ghetto Land" Stevie's synthesizer turns from African sounds to an ironic (though elegant) string-quartet minuet--the calm detachment of which is rudely interrupted by a jazz-funk tribute from Stevie's Wonderlove band, which then moves into the danceable black-music tribute "Sir Duke." And in themselves the words are much funnier and trickier than the sociospiritual bullshit of Maurice White or Kenny Gamble; as validated by the wit, pace, and variety of the music, they come close to redeeming the whole genre. A

not reading all that. i'm happy for u
or sorry that happened.

>>127884393
You had one point, you didn't need to drag it through 14 posts. Practice writing

>>127884393
more like stevie's blunder

>>127884393
>Steven Wonder
It's Steveland. Don't forget he was a ghetto ass nigga and his momma named him as such.

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>>127884393
>>127884395
>>127884402
>>127884411
>>127884421
>>127884431
>>127884436
>>127884444

>>127884393
>>127884395
>>127884402
>>127884411
>>127884421
>>127884431
>>127884436
>>127884444
good thread and good posts

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>>127884393
Some good songs on this but too long.

>>127884393
>but mooooooooom! Being a contrarian pseud IS my personality!!

Didn’t read a word. My favourite track is Summer Soft.