“Let’s Get It On” – Jack Black
(Words/music: Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend, available on High Fidelity OST, Hollywood Records 2000)

Jack Black is many things, but he is not Marvin Gaye, and a prerequisite for this cover working as well as it does is that Black understands this.  That’s not to say Black turns this into a Tenacious D song, because that wouldn’t work as well.  Like his character in the film, Black turns in a sincere version of the song that pays homage to the original without trying to one up it.  He sings in a comfortable place in his vocal range, occasionally dipping into his falsetto but only to hit high notes.  In fact, Black sings without any of the usual theatrics that fill his Tenacious D songs (or his performance in the movie – think of his unnatural swiveling during “Walking on Sunshine” when we first meet him), instead sounding relaxed and almost reserved.  It’s a testament to Black both as a singer and an actor, knowing when and where to turn on his absurdist charm and where to refrain.  Ultimately, Black’s personality yields to the song, one Gaye sang with his natural charisma and Black’s (relatively) subdued performance works as a silent hat tip to Gaye’s original performance; Appropriately, Black’s version becomes enjoyable because it doesn’t force us to compare it to the original and pick out the “superior” version.  Instead, it becomes a loving tribute to a soul standard and, to those who hadn’t seen the HBO episodes, a public introduction to Jack Black as a singer, one that (at least in part) helped create the opportunity for his ridiculous career as a rock frontman.

More on Jack Black: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm