Songs in the Key of Life cover

Songs in the Key of Life

Released

When it comes to R&B, the gold standard is indisputably Stevie Wonder. Maturing out of his teenage years, he started approaching deeper themes beginning on 1971’s Where I’m Coming From. The influence of his in-the-pocket, one-man-band musicianship on Songs in the Key of Life remains inescapable. From the joyous buoyancy of “Isn’t She Lovely” to the deep funk of “Sir Duke” to the melancholy of “Joy Inside My Tears” and the beauty of “Saturn,” the blueprint for so much of the R&B to come sprang from the creativity of Wonder in his mid-20s.

Miles Marshall Lewis

Recommended by

Suggestions
A World Out of Time cover

A World Out of Time

Various Artists, David Lindley, Henry Kaiser
Accelerando cover

Accelerando

Vijay Iyer Trio
Urban Renewal cover

Urban Renewal

Tower of Power
Soapsuds, Soapsuds cover

Soapsuds, Soapsuds

Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman
Afreaka! cover

Afreaka!

Demon Fuzz
Ascension cover

Ascension

John Coltrane
Freedom Suite cover

Freedom Suite

David S. Ware Quartet
Super-Sonic Jazz cover

Super-Sonic Jazz

The Sun Ra Arkestra
First Issue cover

First Issue

Public Image Ltd
Brown Reason to Live cover

Brown Reason to Live

Butthole Surfers