jdwheat
10-14-2011, 03:09 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Songs_in_the_key_of_life.jpg/220px-Songs_in_the_key_of_life.jpg
Celebration time! Thirty-five years ago this week -- and the next, and the next, all the way to January 15 -- Stevie Wonder's magnificent "Songs in the Key of Life" sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, one of the longest ever #1 runs for an LP.
The album's reign started the week after it was released, beginning on October 8, 1976, when it DEBUTED at #1, only the third album at that time to do so. [[Elton John had done it twice before.)
The album generated some of the biggest, most memorable hits of the 1970s, including the number ones "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" and the Top 40 hits "As" and "Another Star," as well as the regularly played LP track "Isn't She Lovely."
The story behind the creation of this LP is so fascinating, someone should write a book about it. Some facts and tales, according to the Wikpedia article about the album:
1. The record was almost never made, as Stevie as considering retirement from the music business to go into philanthropy work [[particularly in Africa), but changed his mind after his major new contract with Motown. The album was released on September 28, 1976, almost a year later than originally anticipated. [[The article states that Stevie felt remixing the album was essential, hence the lengthy delay, and Motown's "We're almost finished!" marketing campaign.)
2. The working title was "Let's See Life the Way It Is." The album was recorded at Crystal Industries in Hollywood, The Record Plant in Los Angeles/Sausalito, and The Hit Factory in NYC. The double-album set, along with the 4-track, 7-inch EP [[possibly one of the first times an EP had ever been packaged along with a 12-inch vinyl LP), clocked in at just over 85 minutes of music.
3. A total of 130 musicians and singers worked with Stevie on the album, including Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Minnie Ripperton, Deniece Williams, Luther Vandross, Michael Sembello, Dorothy Ashby, Greg Philliganes, Nathan Watts, Ronnie Foster, Raymond Maldonado, Steve Madaio, Hank Redd, Ben Bridges, Syreeta Wright, Shirley Brewer, two choirs, and a host of others.
4. The album spent 13 consecutive weeks at #1 during 1976-1977, more than any other album in '76. [[It knocked "Frampton Comes Alive" out of the #1 slot, and was in turn knocked off the top in early '77 by the Eagles' Hotel California.) The album also was #1 on the R&B/Black Album Chart for 20 weeks [[non-consecutive). The record was certified a Diamond Album by the RIAA, for sales of 10 million copies in the U.S.
5. "Songs in the Key of Life" won the 1977 Grammy for Album of the Year, and Stevie won three Grammys for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Performer, and Producer of the Year. [[That was also the year of Andy Williams' TV snafu during hookup of the remote transmission feed when, as the connection was made to where Stevie was staying in Nigeria, Williams asked, "Stevie, can you see us?")
6. In the years since, the album has come to be regarded as one of the greatest in soul/pop/rock music history. It's ranked #56 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 All-Time Greatest Albums [[too low IMO), and #7 all-time on VH-1's similar list [[that's more like it).
7. At least two tracks from the album have been sampled for major hip-hop recordings, the most famous of course being Coolio's sampling of Pastime Paradise for the 1995 #1 hit "Gangsta's Paradise." Four years later, Will Smith sampled "I Wish" for his #1 hit "Wild Wild West" [[which was better than the movie, also IMO).
8. The album was and is the favorite of many R&B and pop stars, including Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, among many others.
Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_in_the_Key_of_Life
So, today and for the next three months, celebrate Songs in the Key of Life!
Celebration time! Thirty-five years ago this week -- and the next, and the next, all the way to January 15 -- Stevie Wonder's magnificent "Songs in the Key of Life" sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, one of the longest ever #1 runs for an LP.
The album's reign started the week after it was released, beginning on October 8, 1976, when it DEBUTED at #1, only the third album at that time to do so. [[Elton John had done it twice before.)
The album generated some of the biggest, most memorable hits of the 1970s, including the number ones "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" and the Top 40 hits "As" and "Another Star," as well as the regularly played LP track "Isn't She Lovely."
The story behind the creation of this LP is so fascinating, someone should write a book about it. Some facts and tales, according to the Wikpedia article about the album:
1. The record was almost never made, as Stevie as considering retirement from the music business to go into philanthropy work [[particularly in Africa), but changed his mind after his major new contract with Motown. The album was released on September 28, 1976, almost a year later than originally anticipated. [[The article states that Stevie felt remixing the album was essential, hence the lengthy delay, and Motown's "We're almost finished!" marketing campaign.)
2. The working title was "Let's See Life the Way It Is." The album was recorded at Crystal Industries in Hollywood, The Record Plant in Los Angeles/Sausalito, and The Hit Factory in NYC. The double-album set, along with the 4-track, 7-inch EP [[possibly one of the first times an EP had ever been packaged along with a 12-inch vinyl LP), clocked in at just over 85 minutes of music.
3. A total of 130 musicians and singers worked with Stevie on the album, including Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Minnie Ripperton, Deniece Williams, Luther Vandross, Michael Sembello, Dorothy Ashby, Greg Philliganes, Nathan Watts, Ronnie Foster, Raymond Maldonado, Steve Madaio, Hank Redd, Ben Bridges, Syreeta Wright, Shirley Brewer, two choirs, and a host of others.
4. The album spent 13 consecutive weeks at #1 during 1976-1977, more than any other album in '76. [[It knocked "Frampton Comes Alive" out of the #1 slot, and was in turn knocked off the top in early '77 by the Eagles' Hotel California.) The album also was #1 on the R&B/Black Album Chart for 20 weeks [[non-consecutive). The record was certified a Diamond Album by the RIAA, for sales of 10 million copies in the U.S.
5. "Songs in the Key of Life" won the 1977 Grammy for Album of the Year, and Stevie won three Grammys for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Performer, and Producer of the Year. [[That was also the year of Andy Williams' TV snafu during hookup of the remote transmission feed when, as the connection was made to where Stevie was staying in Nigeria, Williams asked, "Stevie, can you see us?")
6. In the years since, the album has come to be regarded as one of the greatest in soul/pop/rock music history. It's ranked #56 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 All-Time Greatest Albums [[too low IMO), and #7 all-time on VH-1's similar list [[that's more like it).
7. At least two tracks from the album have been sampled for major hip-hop recordings, the most famous of course being Coolio's sampling of Pastime Paradise for the 1995 #1 hit "Gangsta's Paradise." Four years later, Will Smith sampled "I Wish" for his #1 hit "Wild Wild West" [[which was better than the movie, also IMO).
8. The album was and is the favorite of many R&B and pop stars, including Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, among many others.
Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_in_the_Key_of_Life
So, today and for the next three months, celebrate Songs in the Key of Life!