Stevie was listed as producer here (actually he only produced two tracks, and co-produced three more) and won his first Best Soul album Grammy.

There's a lot to like here, from the kinetic almost-title track "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (cowritten with his mom and his future wife Syreeta Wright) to the classic Motown sound of "Sugar" to the slow protest song "Heaven Help Us All" to the well-named "Joy (Takes Over Me)." Plus his inventive, manic cover of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out." (DBW)

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This shows Stevie starting to ditch the house rules, ditch the fads, and do his own thing - he often prevailed over the half-dozen producers who handled half the tracks (Leonard Caston does unfortunately get his way on the tacky "Don't Wonder Why").

Even "Sugar" has a huge drum kick that only Stevie could've engineered. A mature album loaded with ideas, don't ignore it just because of the tacky cover art and the lousy outing that preceded it.

And after getting pushed out of the way on the last album, Stevie helped write seven of the 12 songs - but not "Joy" and the infectious Top 10 single "Heaven Help Us All." Also an amazing commercial effort, with four Top 40 hits.