Talking Book

Just seven months after Macy Gray released Covered—a collection of songs by Radiohead, My Chemical Romance, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Arcade Fire, among others—she returns with a complete reinterpretation of Stevie Wonder's iconic Talking Book album. Forty years have passed, and Gray, as one of soul music's most inventive and traditional practitioners, takes the classic album into new places. Where Wonder was about subtlety and smooth tones, Gray is grand and raspy. The album's best-known tracks, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "Superstition," are approached from opposite ends. "Sunshine" is close to the original, while "Superstition" is slowed to a crawl that builds to euphoria with its hard funk removed. An even more credulous build-up is "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," where a multitracked Gray takes the song into a joyous celebration. "Tuesday Heartbreak" recalls the beautiful sound of early-'70s soul, with electric pianos and Stax horns coming together with silky backing vocals for a perfect re-creation of classic tones and emotion.