Stevie Wonder - Talking Book

Stevie Wonder: Talking Book

Album #202 - October 1972

Episode date - October 6, 2021

The Top 500 of The Top 40
0:00
0:00

“Music of My Mind” (released earlier in the same year as this album) signified a new maturity in Stevie Wonder’s musical development, but nothing could have prepared us for “Talking Book.”

When released, Wonder was all of 22 years old, and yet this was already his fifteenth album (!), so he already had a lifetime of musical experience to draw from. Now that he was old enough to make his own calls, he no longer relied on Berry Gordy for artistic direction and insisted on following an independent path as did Marvin Gaye before him.

Producers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff tutored Wonder in the use of synthesizers, which when combined with his instantly recognizable harmonica and his recent mastery of the clavinet, gave “Music of My Mind” a definitive sound that literally changed the sound of contemporary music. Have the hits “Superstition” or “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” aged at all in the past fifty years? Have ‘deep’ album tracks like “Maybe Your Baby”, “Big Brother” or “I Believe When I Fall in Love” aged at all? If you are the kind of person (like me) who wants to understand what makes music change, drop a red flag here because everything before “Music of My Mind” lacks its influence, while everything afterward cannot ignore it.

Featured tracks include:

You Are the Sunshine of My Life

Maybe Your Baby

You and I (We Can Conquer the World)

Tuesday Heartbreak

You’ve Got It Bad Girl

Superstition

Big Brother

Blame It on the Sun

Lookin’ for Another Pure Love

I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

OCTOBER 1972 - Billboard Charted #3

Related Shows

Bob Dylan Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks - Part 1

Album #240 - January 1975

0:00
0:00
Roxy Music: Country Life

Roxy Music: Country Life

Album #239 - November 1974

0:00
0:00
Kraftwerk: Autobahn

Kraftwerk: Autobahn

Album #238 - November 1974

0:00
0:00
Randy Newman - Good Old Boys

Randy Newman: Good Old Boys

Album #237 - September 1974

0:00
0:00
Little Feat- Feats Don't Fail Me Now

Little Feat: Feats Don't Fail Me Now

Album #236 - August 1974

0:00
0:00
Neil Young: On the Beach

Neil Young: On The Beach

Album #235 - July 1974

0:00
0:00
Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness' First Finale

Album #234 - July 1974

0:00
0:00
Grateful Dead - From The Mars Hotel

The Grateful Dead: From The Mars Hotel

Album #233 - June 1974

0:00
0:00
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Second Helping

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Second Helping

Album #232 - April 1974

0:00
0:00
Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (*)

Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (*)

Album #231 - March 1974

0:00
0:00
A New Life  - The Marshall Tucker Band

The Marshall Tucker Band: A New Life

Album #230 - February 1974

0:00
0:00
Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic

Album #229 - February 1974

0:00
0:00