FIRST OF ALL, ANY STEVIE WONDER THAT WAS RELEASED BEFORE 1980 IS A CLAWSSIC ALBUM, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, END OF DISCUSSION. THE MAN JUST OOZES TALENT, AND HAS SINCE HE WAS 11 YEARS OLD. THIS ALBUM FINDS STEVIE REALLY STARTING TO FIND HIS OWN VOICE. DON'T GET ME WRONG, HE HAD RECORDED A LOT OF GREAT MATERIAL BEFORE THIS, BUT HERE HE IS FINALLY STARTING TO BREAK OUT, AND THIS ALBUM IS THE PRECURSOR TO "MUSIC OF MY MIND", "TALKING BOOK", INNERVISIONS", AND OTHER GREAT ONES TO COME OUT AFTER.

The best beatles cover ever(we can work it out).A new style starts here.Stevie Wonder began to let us here whats inside of him.the piano intro from we can work it out morhs into Superstition & again into higher ground can you here it?

I am almost a Stevie Wonder completist,strictly on the basis I think most of his music is brilliant.But listening to this album even so 'Signed Sealed Delivered' is a transitional recording."Never Had A Dream Come True" starts of the album and it has the same musical sound as standard Funk Brothers-style Motown but more of Wonder's individual flair for melody comes through.The exact same thing happens on "I Gotta Have A Song" and "Sugar",which is a more uptempo song.Some of the songs here are pure varitations on the classic title song like the quircky "I Can't Let My Heaven Walk Away" but the two tracks that stand right out are "Heaven Help Us All",Wonder's first self written stab at political commentary with very heavy gospel overtones.This album could hardly be called a brilliant masterstroke because Stevie Wonder was still working the last remaining threads of his assembly line-type Motown style music out of his system and this happens on a significant number of cuts.But when he whips his funky clavinet out on the grooving version of "You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover" the times for Wonder are a-changin'.

This album is fantastic. I love the following songs with a passion: I Gotta Have A Song, Heaven Help Us All, Something To Say (very catchy little tune), We Can Work It Out (Beatles classic which he made all his own)..

Buy this CD. You will not be dissapointed.

Man this album is good! I mean really, really good! When you open up the cd case, in the upper right hand corner of the cover it reads, "The Motown Sound", which basically means that you are in for a taste of the world's greatest rhythm section and some of the catchiest and most infectious harmonies ever captured on record (of which The Funk Brothers, led by bass virtuoso James Jamerson, were primarily responsible). But of course, that goes without saying if you're at all familiar with Motown. I basically assumed that all of Stevie's albums prior to re-negotiating his contract and gaining full creative control over his material pretty much had the same flaw that many Motown albums from that period had: several brilliant outstanding singles with some left over material used to fill the album out. That is NOT the case with this outstanding piece of work. Don't let that cheesy album cover turn you away, because this is a young Stevie Wonder in top form here, which means that this is likely one of the greatest albums that you'll ever hear. Not that there is no filler at all but even the "lesser" material here, and there is very little (two songs tops) , are still solid efforts. Stevie Wonder is probably the single greatest composer/songsmith in the history of popular music, not to mention one of the greatest vocalists. There may not be a whole lot here in terms of innovation, especially compared to his later work, but Stevie's sense of song here is so incredibly strong that he excels in every aspect of songcraft to the point that I have to simply sit back and marvel. Just listen to everything about "Sugar", especially Stevie's drumming...!!! Songs on this album range from the warm, melodic, and contemplative "Never had a Dream Come True" and "Heaven Help us All" to the hard rockin' "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours" and his outstanding cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out". Most Beatles covers by other artist leave much to be desired to put it kindly, but Stevie not only matches The Beatles here, he and The Funk Brothers actually manage to out do their original. Other highlights include "Anything you want me to do" which once again makes me marvel and wonder how it is even humanly possible for someone to have such a strong basic sense of melody (the same can easily be said of the absolutely phenomenal "Something to Say"), and the near awe-inspiring "Joy". This album is not as groundbreaking or innovative as some of his work, but it's still extremely solid, and easily just as essential as some of his later work from the 70's. So, you're in for a real treat if you make it a part of your collection.