Stevie Wonder - "We Can Work It Out"
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Despite what "Ebony And Ivory" told us, good things can come from the intersection of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Except for a handful of bona fide Motown classics ("Uptight," "My Cherie Amour," etc), Wonder's 60's career has been fairly marginalized other than discussions of his young age, before proceeding into a discussion about his string of deservedly worshipped 70's LP's. His transformation from a teenage Motown automatron to his fully realized creative vision of Music From My Mind and Talking Book, wasn't as sudden as some make it to be, and there are a lot of lost gems to be found on the highly transitional My Cherie Amour and Signed, Sealed & Delivered albums despite the abundance of cover material (as per all Motown LP's of the '60's).
The latter LP, however, is one of the more enjoyable listens in Wonder's catalog, stretching the Motown formula as far as it could be before he became artistically liberated with Where I'm Coming From in 1971. Along with a healthy dose of original material, the album contained a wonderfully funked-up take on The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out," proving either the strength of Wonder's natural abilities or the strength of the Lennon/McCartney songbook. It certainly wasn't the first time Motown artists had tackled the Beatles; Motown even issued a full compilation of such covers a few years ago, but it is undenyably one of the most successful of their Beatles tunes.
Soon, Stevie would move on to bigger and better things, creating an unparalleled string of albums between 1971 and 1976, but this track is indicative of his talents as an interpreter, something he rarely did after 1970. Granted, when you're Stevie Wonder, you don't need to do anyone else's songs, but you can't deny it would've been fun to hear him tackle a few more tracks like this during the late 60's-early 70's period.
Download: Stevie Wonder - "We Can Work It Out" [Play]
Labels: 1960's, 1970's, Covers, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles
posted by Steve @ 2:59 PM,
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Steve C.
Steve is a graduate of the music department at Columbia College Chicago and just moved to Nashville. Why? Why not. He likes the crackle and hum of vinyl, long walks on the beach, and bacon. Especially bacon.
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