Escape From Hitsville
It was on his 1970 album "Signed, Sealed & Delivered" that Stevie Wonder first tried to cast off the shackles of the Motown hit factory and do his own thing. This was the first album he had a producer's credit on and the last one he made before he turned 21 (unbelieveable) and was able to renegotiate his contract and win his creative freedom. It also won him his first Best Soul Album Grammy - I imagine he's got a shedload of those by now. Though it has plenty of sweet Motown fare there are harder, funkier sounds which showed the direction Stevie was heading in like his slamming cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" and the fabulous "You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover." This is a bottom-heavy groover in the mold of "Superstition" with the sort of moody and deeply funky clavinet riff that was to become a signature Stevie sound. This is one of my favourite Stevie tracks and the whole album is pretty damn brillant, a good place to go if you want to see the beginnings of his astonishing 70s genius.
[Download]
You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover - Stevie Wonder
3 Comments:
No mention of Chelsea's back to back glory yet Lee. Why, you must be busy.
Too deleriously happy to compose a coherent sentence about it really.
Thrashing Man U 3-0 at the same time was almost like too much to ask for.
This is the album I definitely think started Wonder's 70s hot streak (as opposed to most folks, or the record companies, wanting to jump in with Music of My Mind or Talking Book). One wonders what would have been produced/avoided had he been given control slightly earlier...
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