Album Summary

The Wiz is the original motion picture soundtrack album for the 1978 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz. Although the film was produced for Universal Pictures by Motown Records' film division, the soundtrack album was issued on MCA Records as a two-LP collection. Chiefly produced by Quincy Jones, The Wiz soundtrack features non-sync (does not lock to picture) cast performances by the stars of the film, including Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, and Lena Horne. 

Like many musicals of the period, the performances in the soundtrack album are not those used directly in the film, but pre/re-recorded by the same artists at an earlier and/or later date. Several differences are noted, including a missing line by Michael Jackson and a scat section by Nipsey Russell being dropped from the soundtrack version of A Brand New Day, among others. The song Is This What Feeling Gets? was not used in the film's final cut, though the tune is used throughout the film.

The track selection was made up of both songs from the original 1975 Broadway musical by Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross, as well as new songs written for the film by Jones, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Anthony Jackson. This soundtrack marks Jones' first collaboration with Michael Jackson; Jones went on to produce Jackson's hit solo albums Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad.

The soundtrack, with its hit single Ease On Down The Road, was more successful than the film itself, which was a commercial and critical failure. It was certified Gold in the United States by the RIAA. It also did well in some European territories like the Netherlands, where A Brand New Day was a surprise number-one hit. In 2009, Ross ended each of two sold-out performances at the 34,000-seat Geldredome Stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands with a finale of A Brand New Day. You Can't Win was also released as a single.