256. Stevie Wonder | Talking Book (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
2. Maybe Your Baby
3. You and I
4. Tuesday Heartbreak
5. You've Got It Bad Girl
6. Superstition
7. Big Brother
8. Blame It on the Sun
9. Looking for Another Pure Love
10. I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

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Talking Book is a peaceful album. The music is soul and funk, but it's much different from the kind of soul and funk that has come before. First, it's a lot more mellow. Second, it's less about sex and more about love.

Stevie Wonder is a keyboard player, so it's the dominant sound on the album are from synthesizers. I don't completely enjoy the sounds and textures coming from some of the synths he uses. They have a cheap-sounding quality to them. Since synths were a new technology at the time, there were limitations to how they sounded. I'm not sure if that's what the problem is in this case or it's the sound Stevie Wonder exactly wanted.  Perhaps, if I could get past some of the synth sounds, I could accept this album more.

The other problem I have is with the lyrics. I'm not entirely convinced they aren't the typical singer/songwriter tripe. I guess there's a quirkiness to this album that might be because Stevie Wonder is a bit off-kilter.

I like this album more and more, but I don't understand why there's so much love for it from critics. There are some really strong songs and the album is thematically and stylistically cohesive, but there are more than a handful of songs that could easily be filler. I just think I don't get this album.

I'll have to reserve judgement until a later time. I sense a lot of promise with it and it's certainly not a bad album, but I'm just not entirely convinced whether this is an album worth listening to and  whether it's deserving of being on the 1001 Albums list.

There are some really good songs on this album. The stand outs are: Superstition, Big Brother, Blame It on the Sun and I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever). The songs that I'm unsure about are: You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Maybe Your Baby, You and I, and You've Got It Bad Girl.

★★★★★★★★☆☆