Paint The Beatles Black (Again)

This very peculiar cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" track is from Syreeta's 1972 debut album. It was produced by her then-husband Stevie Wonder around the same time as his groundbreaking "Music of My Mind" album when he was experimenting with new-fangled electronic gizmos like moogs and clavinets. He goes a tad overboard with his new toys on this one though, that vocoder on the chorus may have been dead groovy in the early 70s but now it sounds a little silly. As bizarre as it is I still quite like it, Syreeta has such a sweet, sweet voice that all the odd noises in the world couldn't make her sound bad. The rest of the album has the same spaced-out electronic soul vibe and anyone who loves that early-70s Stevie sound should check it out. It's been out of print for many years but the wonderful folks at Hip-O Select have re-issued it in a very nice two-fer package with her second album so you get two terrific albums for a very reasonable price. How can you refuse?

[Download]
She's Leaving Home - Syreeta