Stevie Wonder Announces Two New Albums, Talks 'Songs In The Key Of Life' Tour
Stevie Wonder launched his Songs In The Key Of Life tour last night at New York's own Madison Square Garden, but it appears that the nearly 40-year-old masterpiece isn' all we can expect from him in the coming months. In a recent interview with Billboard, Mr. Wonderlove announced that he has not one, but two new musical projects on the way. The first, a collection of symphonic reworks of his catalogue with Canadian composer David Foster along his side at the helm. The second, is a full-on follow-up to 2005's A Time 2 Love LP, which will arrive (when it's ready) in the form of the Through The Eyes Of Wonder LP. What's more, those fortunate few of you that managed to cop a ticket to any one of the 11 dates of his nationwide run (myself not included) will be treated to a few cuts that never made off the floor for his double LP masterpiece, which were packaged in the A Something's Extra EP with album when it was initially released. And I'm going to have to say that it seems only proper, after all, even love's in need of love today. Go ahead and read through some of the more compelling snippets from the interview, just make sure you head over to Billboard for the full script. Keep it locked for all things Stevie in the months to come.
On the new LP :
"There's so much that has gone on between, say, Songs in the Key of Life and now -- in my life, in lives, just in the world. There have been some incredibly great things that happened and there have been some incredibly horrible things that have happened. There are some things that'll make you feel pessimistic that have happened, and there are some things that will make you feel optimistic as well at the end of the day. In that I've been able to witness all that, [the album] is kind of from the perspective as I see it. That's where I write from."
On the inspiration for touring Songs In The Key Of Live nearly 40 years later:
"It's an actual concept or project that you do, and the music, thank God, has stood the test of time and all that. And for me it speaks of a kind of place that I was in when I did it; it speaks of a place that I was growing up in Detroit and things that I experienced. The songs are culminations of different experience that I had or different things that happened that influenced those ideas. So I wanted to do Songs in the Key of Life and really make the musical statement, because we had never toured Songs in the Key of Life like this. We did shows but never the whole thing all the way through, so I felt it would be great to do that."
On a potential rerelease of SITKOL:
"There were songs that didn't make Songs in the Key of Life that I probably might play at the concerts because the songs are good. "I did 'Easier' in December and it was fun doing that. There was talk about me re-releasing the album' with those songs on it, but I don't ever want to do that, only because I might want to just cut them over again and do them now."
