Cover Of The Day-We Can Work It Out/Superstition

Is Stevie Wonder not the coolest guy ever? Seriously, one hour with him would probably make my life complete. The guy not only plays with the best of em, he's been doing it dominantly for around 40 years. While his best material may be lingering in the past, he still puts out solid albums every once in a while, and that takes some cajones.

Perhaps a testament to Stevie remarkable talent, Stevie has twice taken two songs by artists other than himself, and arguably, made them bigger. And with the Beatles being one of the original bands, this is no easy feat.

The Beatles's classic "We Can Work It Out" is a jangly tambourine encumbered plea for love that peculiarly contains verses in a major key, and a chorus in a minor key. Perhaps you won't understand the significance there unless you are a music nerd, but I don't know any other song ever like that. It's a doomed path; an impossible task, a musical Lord Of The Rings. But it works, beautifully. Odder still is the sudden tempo jump, but it's ok. It's The Beatles, so you don't question it.

I can't find The Beatles due to their holier-than-internet copywriting ninjas who don't allow them to be heard anywhere. Here' s a decent version by Paul.

Stevie Wonder see's the song in slightly more rose-coloured glasses.(I swear, I just wrote that without thinking about it, but I now mean it as a pun) He maintains the strangely captivating wonder of the minor chords, but he spices the whole mix up with a faster tempo throughout, and a butt-load of organ. It transforms the light jolly guitar jam to a heavy soulful hymn on a hot Sunday morning. The real genius in the track is the perfect backing vocals. Like some of the classics, (i.e. The Supremes, Aretha, and one of my personal favorites, The Temptations) Stevie gets the art of the perfect backing vocals; light and punctual. With the voices swirling in the background, Stevie may not have taken the song higher than The Beatles on the charts, but if you say the name of the song today, I bet you you will hear more Stevie than the Fab Four.

The second of our pair of songs is kind of tricky. Initially, Jeff Beck wrote it. That's down in the books. But, Stevie had a big hand in it. So, through collaboration, they made this song, and Wonder kind of took it and ran with it. I have heard from some that there were some politics in the whole ordeal, and others say Beck willingly gave it to Wonder. Either way, Wonder got the payload here. Beck's song is a slower grungier romp through funkytown that preaches the some blues some rock and some early signs of metal (in the drumming). It's good, but it's not as good as Stevie's.

Stevie once again fixed this baby up, this time with a more synthisized futuristic (for it's time) atmosphere. Lighter guitars, and a much tighter drum beat keep the song on the wire, until it breaks loose in the chorus. The horns add an incredibly deep layer, as well, highlighting the brilliant intricacies in the guitar riffs. As always, Stevie's voice is the headliner here, as I'm sure his show this week will be. It's tried and true, seemingly immune to change, and unlike any other then (70's) or now.