Stevie Wonder releases four songs from the Songs in the Key of Life sessions

Stevie Wonder released four recordings from the Songs in the Key of Life sessions on September 28, the 50th anniversary of the album’s original release. The four-track Songs in the Key of Life: The EP makes songs from those sessions available as Wonder prepares for a tour on which he plans to perform the 1976 album in full.

The tracks are “It’s Easier,” “My Life Story of Love,” “I Can See the Sun In Late December” and “I’m Into Livin’.” Universal Music Canada describes them as previously unreleased recordings. Pitchfork reported that Wonder selected the four songs from outtakes; The Guardian also reported their release as an anniversary EP.

Why Wonder chose to release them

Wonder addressed their absence from the original album in a statement published by Universal: “We didn’t add these songs to the album, but they were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it.” He said the recordings brought him back to that period and could now become part of listeners’ lives.

The label says Wonder personally curated the EP. Its September 28 release coincides with the date Universal gives for the original album’s release in 1976. The songs appear together as a separate four-track record, giving listeners material from the same sessions without altering the album’s original sequence.

The recordings and their collaborators

According to Universal, Wonder wrote and produced all four tracks, with Susaye Greene sharing a writing credit on “My Life Story of Love.” Greene was a member of the Supremes and also co-wrote Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It” with Wonder, the label says.

John Fischbach and Gary O Adante, recording and mixing engineers on the original album, recently mixed the four songs for the EP, according to Universal. The Guardian separately reported their work on the new mixes. Universal notes that Adante was credited as Gary Olazabal on the original LP.

The label identifies Shirley Brewer, Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams as backing vocalists on “I’m Into Livin’.” Brewer can also be heard on the original album’s “Ordinary Pain,” according to Universal. Those credits connect the newly released track to musicians and singers who worked with Wonder during that period.

The Guardian describes “It’s Easier” as bossa nova-influenced, “I Can See the Sun in Late December” as a slow jazz ballad and “I’m Into Livin’” as funk. Its account describes “My Life Story of Love” as a song about a developing relationship. These are the newspaper’s descriptions of the music, rather than claims about why each track was left off the 1976 album.

An album and an anniversary tour

Songs in the Key of Life contains “Sir Duke,” “As” and “Isn’t She Lovely,” among other songs. It won the Grammy Award for album of the year, The Guardian reports. Universal says the award was Wonder’s third in that category and that the album was later inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

The Guardian describes the original release as a 21-track double album. Its account places the new recordings alongside an album that moved between celebrations of love and songs concerned with social struggle. The four-song EP offers a further selection from those sessions, while Wonder’s statement makes clear that the recordings were considered during the album’s creation but were not added to it.

The anniversary program also includes performances of the album in full, according to Universal. The announced tour is due to start October 13 at Utilita Arena Birmingham, travel through European cities including Paris, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and return to the UK for shows in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

Universal says the US leg is scheduled to begin November 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Chicago, Washington and Detroit are also on the announced itinerary, which is due to end December 19 in Los Angeles. The shows remain forthcoming; the EP is the anniversary release already available to hear.