‘Songs in the Key of Life’ at 50: 4 stunning lost treasures
Stevie Wonder just handed fans four gifts they didn’t know existed. The 76-year-old icon released a surprise EP on Sept. 28 featuring previously unreleased tracks recorded during the sessions for his 1976 masterpiece “Songs in the Key of Life,” Billboard first reported. The drop comes just weeks ahead of an anniversary tour celebrating the album’s 50th birthday.
For an album that’s been picked apart, sampled and studied for half a century, that’s a big deal. These aren’t remixes or alternate takes of songs everyone already knows. They’re entirely different recordings that never made the final cut.
What’s on the lost ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ EP
Wonder curated the four-track collection himself, pulling it from the vaults of the original sessions. The songs were newly mixed by engineers who worked on the record back in 1976, including John Fischbach.
The opener, “It’s Easier,” is almost entirely Wonder’s work. He wrote, produced and arranged it and handles keyboards and the rhythm tracks himself, with Michael Sembello and longtime bassist Nathan Watts also playing on it.
“My Life Story of Love” brings in keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, while “I Can See the Sun in Late December” slows things down as a gentle ballad. The closer, “I’m Into Livin’,” goes the other direction entirely, with a horn-spiked arrangement and background vocals from Shirley Brewer, Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams.
Wonder explained the decision to finally share the material in a statement: “We’ve lived with Songs in the Key of Life for fifty years, but there’s still more to hear. We didn’t add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it.”
Why ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ still matters
“Songs in the Key of Life” wasn’t just another Stevie Wonder record. His 18th studio album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced two chart-topping singles in “I Wish” and “Sir Duke.” It won Album of the Year at the 1977 Grammy Awards.
Beyond the chart stats, the album became a cultural touchstone. Half a century later, songs such as “Isn’t She Lovely,” “Pastime Paradise” and the opener “Love’s in Need of Love Today” remain part of the pop vocabulary. “Pastime Paradise” got a second life in 1995 when Coolio built “Gangsta’s Paradise” around it, introducing the melody to an entirely new generation.
Wonder, who lost his sight shortly after his premature birth, built “Songs in the Key of Life” as a sprawling double-album statement. It remains one of the most studied and sampled records in modern music history.
The tour ahead
The EP is clearly a warm-up for what’s coming next. The Songs in the Key of Life Performances 50th Anniversary Tour runs 18 dates across Europe and the U.S., with Wonder playing the album in its entirety each night. It opens Oct. 13 at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England.
U.S. dates begin Nov. 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York, putting Wonder back on one of music’s biggest stages.
Whether more unreleased material surfaces before the tour wraps remains an open question. But for now, fans have four new pieces of the puzzle to dig into before the shows begin.
Source: Billboard