Stevie Wonder Unearths Four Unheard 'Key of Life' Songs

Stevie Wonder surprise-released four unreleased 'Songs in the Key of Life' recordings for the album's 50th anniversary, outlets report.

Fifty years to the day after 'Songs in the Key of Life' arrived on September 28, 1976, Stevie Wonder surprise-released 'Songs in the Key of Life 50: The EP' with four previously unreleased studio recordings: "It's Easier," "My Life Story of Love," "I Can See the Sun in Late December," and "I'm Into Livin'." Rolling Stone reports the EP hit streaming services at 4:54 a.m. PDT — the exact time the original sessions wrapped, when bassist Nathan Watts said "Fo'FiftyFo'," an in-joke Wonder's band has used ever since to mark the end of sessions.

"We've lived with 'Songs in the Key of Life' for 50 years, but there's still more to hear," he said, adding that the songs "were part of what I was feeling and discovering as we made it." MusicRadar notes the tracks sound typical of Wonder in his golden period and will delight listeners who thought that era had given up everything. SoulFrames of the release frame it as a surprise gift for longtime fans.

The recordings were mixed for release by the original album's engineers, John Fischbach and Gary O. Adante (credited as Gary Olazabal on the LP), according to Rolling Stone and MusicRadar. Wonder wrote and produced all four tracks, with former Supreme Susaye Greene co-writing the lyrics to "My Life Story of Love." Rolling Stone reports Wonder plays most instruments himself — drums, the GX-1 Dream Machine, Fender Rhodes and electric bass — while Gregory Phillinganes plays Rhodes on "My Life Story of Love" and Watts plays bass on two songs. "I'm Into Livin'" features backing vocals from Shirley Brewer, Thelma Houston and Deniece Williams.

Rolling Stone describes an EP that extends the double album's themes of acknowledging all life and love have to offer. It opens with "It's Easier," an upbeat breakup song built on the line "It's easier to say, 'Love, bye-bye'/Than to go around with a heart that wants to cry." "My Life Story of Love" finds Wonder more hopeful than plaintive as he vows to win his love back. "I Can See the Sun in Late December" is a slow-shuffling ballad about nostalgia for warmer times, and "I'm Into Livin'" is an easy, jazzy funk ballad on which his voice rises and falls with the music.

The original diamond-certified album already carried a bonus EP, 'A Something's Extra,' and Rolling Stone ranked it Number Four on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, praising its range from "Isn't She Lovely" to "Village Ghetto Land." MusicRadar calls it often regarded as Wonder's crowning glory and the last of five great albums beginning with 1972's 'Music of My Mind.' SoulTracks argues that hearing four "new" songs from perhaps the greatest creative period of his career makes this anniversary celebration particularly special for devoted fans.

The EP is timed to a 50th-anniversary world tour on which Wonder will perform the 17 songs from the original double album. Rolling Stone reports the tour kicks off in Birmingham, England, on October 13 and wraps in Los Angeles on December 19. SoulTracks notes tickets are available now and that Wonder will perform substantially all of 'Songs in the Key of Life' on the run. MusicRadar adds that Wonder personally curated the EP, whose arrival extends a legacy the album has carried for half a century.