#702 Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

Massive, unknowable, unreviewable. Wonder goes all over the map here, getting romantic, political, spiritual and more in every possible combination. It's all got the man's voice, smooth as ever, with that soul bass and then explodes it all. Take Have a Talk With God, that elevates the usual gospel-tinged soul with funky synths, or Pastime Paradise that gets far stranger than Coolio's near-remake would 20 years later, the strangely awesome Contusion gets downright early-post-Hackett-Genesis proggy; maximal, then minimal, then sweet, then strange. Word is 130 people worked on this thing! Mostly brilliant, occasionally uneven,  I'm staggered at trying to summarize, newnewnewnew out. 4/5