Stevie Wonder is considered a pioneer in the music industry. He has released music that revolutionized and changed the course of music history, and while there are many of his works that are considered legendary, "Talking Book" might just outrank them all.
On Oct. 27, 1972, Wonder released "Talking Book," which was described as "a crystalization of Wonder's self-contained genius."
The album is Wonder's fifteenth studio album, and it succeeds another successful album, "Music of My Mind," which was released in early 1972. For this album, Wonder played around with synthesizers and the keyboard, which proved to be a good decision.
'Talking Book'
The album boasts 10 songs, all of which are produced by the artist himself. He also wrote six of the songs off "Talking Book," and credited Syreeta Wright and Yvonne Wright as co-writers for the remaining four, reports say.
The fan-favorite song, "Superstition," is included in the album, as well as "Maybe Your Baby," "You and I (We Can Conquer The World)," "Tuesday Heartbreak," "You've Got It Bad Girl.", "Big Brother," "Blame It On The Sun," "Lookin' For Another Pure Love," and "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever.)'"
According to reports, he also played the instruments for some of the songs off the album, namely "You and I (We Can Conquer the World)," "Big Brother," "Blame It on the Sun" and "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)."
Revolutionizing
According to reports, several Black artists like Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, and Miles Davis were trying out sounds by the time the 70s rolled around. However, Wonder was the one who managed to find the perfect blend of new sound with live instruments.
However, by the time he released, "Talking Book," Wonder had already gotten the groove of working with synthesizers and live instruments.
American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock discussed Wonder's "orchestral use of synthesizers" during an episode of "Classic Albums: Songs in the Key of Life."
"He doesn't fall into a certain trap that I often fall into. I often try to duplicate acoustic sounds on the synthesizer. I try to make the strings sound like real strings or try to make the brass sound like real brass," Hancock said. "And Stevie lets the synthesizers be what they are; something that's not acoustic."
"Talking Book" is considered as one of Wonder's most iconic albums. During its release, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard pop album chart and was reportedly Wonder's first album to be included in top of the Top R & B albums chart, in which it stayed for three weeks.
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