Unheard Tracks from a Landmark Album
Stevie Wonder has expanded his acclaimed 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life with four previously unreleased songs from its recording sessions. The tracks have been issued today as a new EP sharing the album's title, commemorating its 50th anniversary. The original album won album of the year at the Grammys and features signature Wonder compositions such as Sir Duke, As, and Isn't She Lovely.[S1]
In a statement, Wonder said that although the songs were not included on the album, they were part of what he was feeling and discovering during its creation. He noted that they bring him back to that period of his life and will now become part of listeners' lives. The four tracks continue the style Wonder perfected in the 1970s: a bright, spiritually aware blend of soul and R&B that celebrates love and existence while acknowledging emotional and social struggles.[S1]
Musical Style and Collaborators
These newly surfaced tracks carry the same ornate psychedelic soul textures, funk and jazz accents, and ahead-of-their-time keyboard and synth bass tones that marked the original record, now fleshed out with diverse live instrumentation. It's Easier is a swaying, bossa nova-flavored piece that wonders aloud whether love itself should be given up. My Life Story of Love is unmistakably Wonder, painting rustic images across a story of romance taking root. I Can See the Sun in Late December is a languid jazz ballad of stubborn hope and inner growth, while I'm Into Livin' is a greasy funk cut where Wonder turns his back on past carousing and womanizing, devoting himself to a single partner.[S1]
Wonder wrote and produced all four tracks himself, and My Life Story of Love was also penned with Susaye Greene, a onetime Supreme who had earlier collaborated with Wonder on Michael Jackson's I Can't Help It. John Fischbach and Gary O Adante, the engineers behind the original sessions, handled mixing for this release. Among the backing vocalists on I'm Into Livin' are Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams, both of whom would go on to stardom, plus Shirley Brewer, who likewise contributed to the album's Ordinary Pain.[S1]
Tour and Recent Work
The EP lands as Wonder gets ready to play Songs in the Key of Life from start to finish on an arena run. That tour opens 13 October in Birmingham, UK, then travels through Europe before coming back to Britain for three additional shows in London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Wonder is also set to appear in five American cities: New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit, and Los Angeles. His latest new music was the 2024 single Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart, and his last studio album remains 2005's A Time to Love. A 2020 project titled Through the Eyes of Wonder was announced, though nothing further has emerged.[S1]
