"Talking Book" Still Futuristic after 50 years

[Mace]

50 Years Ago, Stevie Wonder Heard the Future​

On the anniversary of the landmark 1972 album “Talking Book,” musicians who made it and artists who cherish it share their stories.
By The New York Times Oct. 27. 2022



In 1972 — half a century ago — Stevie Wonder reinvented the sound of pop by embracing all he could accomplish on his own.

He released two albums that year: “Music of My Mind” in March and then, less than eight months later, on Oct. 27, the even more confident and far-reaching “Talking Book.”

“Talking Book” was a breakthrough on multiple fronts. It demonstrated, with the international smash “Superstition,” that Wonder didn’t need Motown’s “hit factory” methods — songwriters and producers providing material that singers would dutifully execute — to have a No. 1 pop blockbuster.

Wonder had given signs on earlier albums, particularly his self-produced “Where I’m Coming From” (1971), that he would not just be writing love songs. “Talking Book” reaffirmed that, and also extended his sonic and technological ambitions, as he used state-of-the-art synthesizers and an arsenal of studio effects to orchestrate his songs with startlingly novel sounds. And its album cover — which showed Wonder wearing African-style robes and braided hair in a quasi-Biblical desert landscape (actually Los Angeles) — made clear that Wonder’s futurism was unmistakably Afrofuturism.

50 Years Ago, Stevie Wonder Heard the Future (Published 2022)

On the anniversary of the landmark 1972 album “Talking Book,” musicians who made it and artists who cherish it share their stories.

www.nytimes.com

 

[BulldogM.Ed.23]

50 Years Ago, Stevie Wonder Heard the Future​

On the anniversary of the landmark 1972 album “Talking Book,” musicians who made it and artists who cherish it share their stories.
By The New York Times Oct. 27. 2022

View attachment 16532

In 1972 — half a century ago — Stevie Wonder reinvented the sound of pop by embracing all he could accomplish on his own.

He released two albums that year: “Music of My Mind” in March and then, less than eight months later, on Oct. 27, the even more confident and far-reaching “Talking Book.”

“Talking Book” was a breakthrough on multiple fronts. It demonstrated, with the international smash “Superstition,” that Wonder didn’t need Motown’s “hit factory” methods — songwriters and producers providing material that singers would dutifully execute — to have a No. 1 pop blockbuster.

Wonder had given signs on earlier albums, particularly his self-produced “Where I’m Coming From” (1971), that he would not just be writing love songs. “Talking Book” reaffirmed that, and also extended his sonic and technological ambitions, as he used state-of-the-art synthesizers and an arsenal of studio effects to orchestrate his songs with startlingly novel sounds. And its album cover — which showed Wonder wearing African-style robes and braided hair in a quasi-Biblical desert landscape (actually Los Angeles) — made clear that Wonder’s futurism was unmistakably Afrofuturism.

50 Years Ago, Stevie Wonder Heard the Future (Published 2022)

On the anniversary of the landmark 1972 album “Talking Book,” musicians who made it and artists who cherish it share their stories.

www.nytimes.com

This period of Motown has always fascinated me. It is a simple lesson learned in the development, growth, and evolution of an artist...all of the previous can be applied in our corporate world.

In the 60s, Motown's factory of writing, arranging, and producing artists during the beginning was on point as it created masterpiece after masterpiece of music to last for generations to come. When the 70s came around, they reluctantly let a few artist like Stevie and Marvin who had outgrown this process do their own thing. Yet when they did, Man! Again I am not knocking Motown. In fact this post gives them more props. Some artists, even though didn't quite flourish under the label, they got the foundation they needed to do bigger and better things elsewhere (Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight, the Spinners, etc.)

In summary, starting with "Music of My Mind," Stevie had the foundation of making the art thanks to the Motown factory. Once they took away the training wheels and let him be free. Man it was on. Much respect!

-Just random thoughts from a musicnerd....