Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life

Flat and muffled sound. Bad pressing. We had to crank up the highs, mids, and lows on my mixer to hear this record properly. Prepare to crank up the volume on your amplifier.

Sounds very good....after 3 washings with everything I could throw at it. The is probably the dirtiest record I've ever received sealed. I don't know what chemical it was covered with (some kind of release agent, no doubt), but it took some serious counter-chemicals to get it off to a point where the true sound quality started to come through. Under all the shmutz, it's a fantastic pressing.

I've always thought this was an album that balanced its synthetic instrumentation and more organic elements really well; I guess it turns out that balance is pretty delicate, because wow is this a lifeless pressing. Very nice packaging, but after picking up an older copy, I'll probably never spin this again. I rarely discourage people from fancy represses but this is gonna be one of those occasions. It's a very quiet pressing but the frequency range leaves a lot to be desired.

No Back to Black sticker on the front or card. Made in sticker on the back and the records came in poly lined sleeves, the records are immaculate and it sounds really clean and punchy. Very happy with my copy!

It skips during I Wish but aside from that, it’s a fine pressing

My new European pressing from SOV came with the booklet and a copy of the 6" disc that came with the original. Which version is that?

Some of my favourite tracks in this pressing fall very flat and at times sound pretty distorted. Dissapointing considering this newer pressing is a lot more expensive than picking up an older better sounding pressing of this album.

I have had this version since its release. All this time somehow I was not very impressed with the sound of this version. It was somehow lacking something.

I just recently bought an original German pressing and wow! It has all that I was missing. Natural sounding bass with a deep soundstage. Good drums.

I would say that if you have a chance to listen to at least this same copy that I have Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life you get my point. Overall the original has a much more natural and organic sound in my opinion.

Nice package with 2x 12" and 1x7" including a booklet. Pressing sounds clean with no background noise, but rather flat and not as lively as it could/should. If put on in the background while cooking/having dinner etc. it shouldn't be a problem but when listened actively there is definitely something missing. As most Back to black, definitely used a (rather mediocre) digital master.

Some of the tracks in this pressing have treble so harsh and distorted as to be unlistenable. Then other tracks are fine in this regard. In general this album have a too severe hammock-curve, and Stevie’s vocal suffers because of this. In general this mastering sounds disted, rushed, and made by a deaf and/or inexperienced operator. This remaster has a clarity that the original never had, but this actually detracts from the songs. They loose intimacy. Instead they become a sort modern digital stereo spectacle, and not an enjoyable one at that.