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────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | Stevie Wonder
Title | Talking Book
Genre | Soul Format | Album
Source | CD Time | 43:26
Label | Motown Store | 2000
Catalog | 157 579-2 Rip | 2019
Bitrate | 845 kbps Size | 276.47 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life 2:58
02. Maybe Your Baby 6:50
03. You And I 4:38
04. Tuesday Heartbreak 3:02
05. You've Got It Bad Girl 4:58
06. Superstition 4:26
07. Big Brother 3:33
08. Blame It On The Sun 3:25
09. Lookin' For Another Pure Love 4:43
10. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) 4:53
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Stevie Wonder is a much-beloved American icon and an indisputable
genius not only of R&B but popular music in general. Blind virtually
since birth, Wonder's heightened awareness of sound helped him
create vibrant, colorful music teeming with life and ambition.
Nearly everything he recorded bore the stamp of his sunny, joyous
positivity; even when he addressed serious racial, social, and
spiritual issues (which he did quite often in his prime), or sang
about heartbreak and romantic uncertainty, an underlying sense of
optimism and hope always seemed to emerge.
After releasing two head records during 1970-71, Wonder expanded his
compositional palette with 1972's "Talking Book" to include societal
ills as well as tender love songs, and so recorded the first smash
album of his career. What had been hinted at on the intriguing
project "Music Of My Mind" was here focused into a laser beam of
tight songwriting, warm electronic arrangements, and ebullient
performances - altogether the most realistic vision of musical
personality ever put to wax, beginning with a disarmingly simple
love song, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (but of course, it's
only the composition that's simple).
Stevie's not always singing a tender ballad here - in fact, he flits
from contentment to mistrust to promise to heartbreak within the
course of the first four songs - but he never fails to render each
song in the most vivid colors. In stark contrast to his early songs,
which were clever but often relied on the Motown template of
romantic metaphor, with "Talking Book" it became clear Wonder was
beginning to speak his mind and use personal history for material
(just as Marvin Gaye had with the social protest of 1971's What's
Going On).
The lyrics became less convoluted, while the emotional power gained
in intensity. "You and I" and the glorious closer "I Believe (When I
Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" subtly illustrate that the
conception of love can be stronger than the reality, while "Tuesday
Heartbreak" speaks simply but powerfully: "I wanna be with you when
the nighttime comes / I wanna be with you till the daytime comes."
Ironically, the biggest hit from Talking Book wasn't a love song at
all; the funk landmark "Superstition" urges empowerment instead of
hopelessness, set to a grooving beat that made it one of the biggest
hits of his career.
It's followed by "Big Brother," the first of his directly critical
songs, excoriating politicians who posture to the underclass in
order to gain the only thing they really need: votes. With Talking
Book, Stevie also found a proper balance between making an album
entirely by himself and benefiting from the talents of others. His
wife Syreeta contributed two great lyrics, and Ray Parker, Jr. came
by to record a guitar solo that brings together the lengthy jam
"Maybe Your Baby." Two more guitar heroes, Jeff Beck and Buzzy
Feton, appeared on "Lookin' for Another Pure Love," Beck's solo
especially giving voice to the excruciating process of moving on
from a broken relationship.
Like no other Stevie Wonder LP before it, "Talking Book" is all of a
piece, the first unified statement of his career. It's certainly an
exercise in indulgence but, imitating life, it veers breathtakingly
from love to heartbreak and back with barely a pause.
Originally released on Tamla 319 , October 27, 1972, here's
"Talking Book" remastered by Kevin Reeves at Universal Mastering
East in 2000.
┌────────┐
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└────────┘