Talking Book

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Lore & Background

Much of the material on Talking Book was recorded at the same time as that on Music of My Mind. As the album saw Wonder enjoying more artistic freedom from Motown and relying less on Motown's head Berry Gordy for musical direction and expression, it is often seen as the beginning of his transition from a youthful prodigy into an independent and experimental artist. Speaking of the album in 2000, Wonder said: "It wasn't so much that I wanted to say anything except where I wanted to just express various many things that I felt—the political point of view that I have, the social point of view that I have, the passions, emotion and love that I felt, compassion, the fun of love that I felt, the whole thing in the beginning with a joyful love and then the pain of love." The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's keyboard work, especially synthesizers. While the synthesizers give a funky edge to tracks like "Maybe Your Baby", the Hohner Clavinet embellishments on "Big Brother" evoke a six-string acoustic guitar, and the note-bending harmonica work on several tracks touches on some folk and blues influences. Wonder's use of the Clavinet Model C on "Superstition" is widely regarded as one of the definitive tracks featuring the instrument. Wonder played the majority of the instruments on the album himself, but he received some support from such guest musicians as Jeff Beck, Ray Parker Jr., David Sanborn, and Buzz Feiten.

In Their Own Story

The album's cover photo, taken by Robert Margouleff in Los Angeles, features Wonder with his hair in cornrows, wearing jewelry, and dressed in African-style robes, in a "quasi-Biblical desert landscape." The inner photo of the gatefold sleeve shows Wonder in silhouette against a dramatic landscape sunrise. The packaging of original pressings of the album incorporated both the album's title and Wonder's name embossed in braille (as well as being printed in English), along with a message that was only embossed in braille until the 2000 release of the album. The message reads: "Here is my music. It is all I have to tell you how I feel. Know that your love keeps my love strong." Margouleff later recalled that it had been difficult to get Wonder to choose which songs to put on the album, because there were so many. Associate producer Malcolm Cecil said, "Steve, you know, this is an album. It's not a talking book... Oh, I think you should call this album Talking Book" and Wonder agreed.

Reader's Guide

Released after Wonder toured with the Rolling Stones in 1972, Talking Book became a major hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in February 1973, and became the first album by Wonder to reach the top of the Top R&B Albums chart, where it remained for three weeks. The popular appeal of the recording helped destroy the myth that R&B artists were incapable of creating music that could be appreciated by rock audiences, and marked a unique period for R&B artists (especially Motown artists). Wonder won three awards for Talking Book at the 1974 Grammys: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", and both Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for "Superstition". Incidentally, at the same ceremony, Wonder's next album, Innervisions, won Album of the Year, and Talking Book's associate producers, Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical award for their work on that album. Talking Book has appeared in professional rankings of the greatest albums of all time. It was voted number 322 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number 90 on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; it maintained that ranking on the 2012 version of the list, and was number 59 on the 2020 edition. It was the first album purchased by former US president Barack Obama.

Did You Know?

• The album's title came from associate producer Malcolm Cecil, who told Wonder, 'Steve, you know, this is an album. It's not a talking book... Oh, I think you should call this album Talking Book.'
• Original pressings of the album had the title and Wonder's name embossed in braille, plus a message only in braille that read: 'Here is my music. It is all I have to tell you how I feel. Know that your love keeps my love strong.'
• Talking Book was the first album purchased by former US president Barack Obama.
• Wonder's use of the Hohner Clavinet Model C on 'Superstition' is widely regarded as one of the definitive tracks featuring the instrument.
• At the 1974 Grammys, Talking Book won three awards, while Wonder's next album Innervisions won Album of the Year.