Talking Book

This article is about the 1972 album. For other uses, see Talking Book (disambiguation).
Talking Book
Studio album by
Stevie Wonder
ReleasedOctober 27, 1972 (1972-10-27)
RecordedMay–July 1972[1][2]
Studio
Genre
Length43:29
LabelTamla
Producer
Stevie Wonder chronology
Music of My Mind
(1972) 		Talking Book
(1972) 		Innervisions
(1973)
Singles from Talking Book
  1. "Superstition"
    Released: October 24, 1972
  2. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
    Released: February 1973

Talking Book is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and Music of My Mind, released earlier the same year, are generally considered to mark the start of Wonder's "classic period".[6] The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's use of keyboards and synthesizers.

The album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top LPs chart and finished at number three on Billboard's year-end chart for 1973. "Superstition" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts, and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" hit number one on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts. Talking Book earned Wonder his first Grammy Award, with "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 16th Grammy Awards; "Superstition" also won Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. Often included in lists of the greatest albums of all time, Talking Book was voted number 322 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000),[7] and Rolling Stone ranked it number 59 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020.[8] It was the first album purchased by former US president Barack Obama.[9]

  1. ^ Power, Martin (2014). Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781783233861.
  2. ^ "Stevie Wonder's Masterpiece". The New York Times. November 6, 2022. p. L20. Retrieved September 23, 2024. (Published online, under a different title, on October 27, 2022).
  3. ^ Martin, Bill (1998), Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, Chicago: Open Court, p. 41, ISBN 0-8126-9368-X
  4. ^ Perone, James E. (2012). The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. x. ISBN 978-0313379062. Wonder integrated soul, funk, rock, torch song, and jazz on his 1972 album Talking Book and his 1973 album Innervisions.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference prod was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Some observers count six classic albums, some count five, and others count four.
    Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris & Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, eds. (2001). All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music (4th ed.). San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 447–448. ISBN 0879306270. Stevie Wonder came into his own with Music of My Mind, but Talking Book is where he hit his stride...
    Cramer, Alfred William (2009). Musicians and composers of the 20th century. Vol. 5. Salem Press. p. 1645. ISBN 978-1587655173.
    Brown, Jeremy K. (2010). Stevie Wonder: Musician. Black Americans of Achievement. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 57. ISBN 978-1604136852.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Larkin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Talking Book ranked 59th greatest album by Rolling Stone magazine". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  9. ^ Obama, Barack & Springsteen, Bruce (2021). Renegades: Born in the USA. London: Viking. p. 76. ISBN 978-0241561249.