Stevie Wonder released his eternal double-album masterpiece Songs In The Key Of Life on Sep. 28, 1976. At the time. It was the final burst greatest creative runs in the history of popular music, and you could make a strong argument that it's the greatest album ever made. Today, Songs In The Key Of Life turns 50. Wonder already announced plans for a tour in celebration of that anniversary. Today, out of nowhere, Wonder has shared four previously unreleased tracks from those sessions.
With two LPs and a bonus 7", the original Songs In The Key Of Life was already an insane bounty of music. Apparently, there could've been more — enough for another EP, anyway. Today, Wonder releases Songs In The Key Of Life: The EP, a new release with four songs that he recorded way back then: "It's Easier," "My Life Story Of Love," "I Can See The Sun In Late December," and "I'm Into Livin'." It's hard to even process the idea that we're hearing peak Stevie Wonder songs straight from the vault for the first time, but I can tell you that these things don't sound like outtakes. They sound like they've always existed.
Wonder himself picked these four songs out of the vault, and they were recently mixed by John Fischbach and Gary O Adante, the two recording and mixing engineers who worked on the original LP. Wonder recorded the songs with his band Wonderlove, including a few musicians — Thelma Houston, Deniece Williams, Michael Sambello, Greg Phillinganes — who would soon become much more famous. Hear all four tracks below.
Songs In The Key Of Life: The EP is out now on Motown/Universal.
