Hot damn. Who would have ever thought that a triple album would be the one of the best-flowing albums I have ever heard? I'm going to go out on a limb and say Songs in the Key of Life is certainly the most cohesive double/triple album ever made. Furthermore, it's one of the best ever written. Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Etched Variant 8): T-13340 C2 2646S EBF 06E XTAL H3 MR (circled - stamped) Δ 21344-X (1)

Lundy, Zeth. "Playing God: Songs in the Key of Life". Stylus Magazine, January 17, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2009. In a 2001 interview with TapeOp, engineer John Fischbach provided some details about the album’s recording sessions: I'll give it three ½ stars, because there are in fact great songs which match the perfection of his earlier work; songs which are perfectly executed and their own best cover versions, so to speak: Pasttime Paradise, I Wish, Summer Soft, As, Ngiculela - these songs would have made a wonderful single album.

Contributions

Matrix / Runout ((7") Side B Runout Etched Variant 4): T13340 EP 2650S 06-ΔC Δ 100106-X JS,1-XTAL PE Matrix / Runout ((7") Side A Runout Etched Variant 4): #14 T13340 EP 2649S 06-BD Δ100706 JS-7-XTAL PE a b c Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

Label and pressing variation. Pressed by Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute per 'T1' in runouts.

Credits

Matrix / Runout (Side C stamped / etched): 97901-B-0 W. Germany T·13340 C2 2647S 06 XTAL AB [MR] △ 21331 (3) The album won Album of the Year at the 19th Grammy Awards and is the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Wonder's career. Widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the greatest albums in the history of recorded music, many musicians have remarked on the quality of the album and its influence on their own work; indeed, some notable musicians have named it as the greatest album of all time. It was voted number 89 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums [10] and ranked number 4 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [11] In 2002, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, [12] and in 2005 it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, which deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". At the time of the album's release, reporters and music critics, and everyone who had worked on it, traveled to Long View Farm, a recording studio in Massachusetts, for a press preview. Everybody received autographed copies of the album and Wonder gave interviews. Critical reception was immediately positive. The album was viewed as a guided tour through a wide range of musical styles and the life and feelings of the artist. It included recollections of childhood, of first love and lost love. It contained songs about faith and love among all peoples and songs about social justice for the poor and downtrodden. [28] The Village Voice 's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, it was voted as the best album of the year.

Many musicians have remarked on the quality of the album and its influence on their own work. Elton John said, in his notes about Wonder for Rolling Stone 's 2003 list of "The Immortals – The Greatest Artists of All Time" (in which Wonder was ranked number 15): "Let me put it this way: wherever I go in the world, I always take a copy of Songs in the Key of Life. For me, it's the best album ever made, and I'm always left in awe after I listen to it." [39] Breihan, Tom (September 27, 2019). "The Number Ones: Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" ". Stereogum . Retrieved July 1, 2023. Wonder is deeply in his own zone [on Songs in the Key of Life], crafting these rich and textured soul-jazz meditations... Matrix / Runout (Side C Runout Etched Variant 8): T13340 C2 26475 SEBF 06-BE XTAL A3 MR (circled - stamped) Δ 21345 (1) Matrix / Runout (Side A (EP), runout, etched): VR 10166-1A-1 Emi Holland. T13340 EP 2649 99 △ 100679 (7) JS·2·XTAL Matrix / Runout (Side C runout stamped/etched): 97901-B-0 (MR) T13340C2 2647S C6 XTAL AB Δ21331 (2) W. GermanyMatrix / Runout (Side C Runout Etched Variant 10): T13340 C2 2647S EBF 06-A① XTAL FB Δ 21345 HK CBS #13 Matrix / Runout ((7") Side B Runout Etched Variant 3): T 13340 EP 2650 06-A Δ 100679-X #14 °(2) JS-7-XTAL PE Songs In The Key Of Life(2×LP, Terre Haute Pressing, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP, All Media, Album, Stereo, Gatefold)