NYTimes: 50 Years Ago, Stevie Wonder Heard the Future

[Mark Zeger]

This is an incredible examination of Stevie’s Talking Book on its 50th anniversary. Includes song by song comments from David Sanborn, Robert Glasper, Jacob Collier, Esperanza Spalding, Cory Henry, and many others. Their comments have interactive elements. Ex. when someone mentions a modulation, that comment links to audio of that part of the song. Very cool. 
 

I hope this is accessible behind the NYT paywall. 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/27/arts/music/stevie-wonder-talking-book.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 

[TommyRude]

damn paywall!  (thx for posting though!)

[Mark Zeger]

Consider a free trial subscription. The content is that good.

 

The article is way too long to copy & paste plus the links would probably be lost. 

[drawback]

I’m a subscriber - a very interesting article and it brought back a lot of memories. 👍

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Can't wait to read. I know it's hard to pick a "favorite" classic era Stevie record, and when push comes to shove Songs in the Key of Life is a natural favorite, but ... I just think Talking Book is stellar. Forget about the songs everyone knows -- "You and I?" "Maybe Your Baby?" "Big Brother?" The man is responsible for a *genre.*

[Sean M. H.]

4 hours ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

Can't wait to read. I know it's hard to pick a "favorite" classic era Stevie record, and when push comes to shove Songs in the Key of Life is a natural favorite, but ... I just think Talking Book is stellar. Forget about the songs everyone knows -- "You and I?" "Maybe Your Baby?" "Big Brother?" The man is responsible for a *genre.*

 

Agree...trying to pick a favorite out of his "classic 5" albums (Music of my Mind thru Songs in the Key of Life) feels like choosing a favorite child lol.

 

Songs is the most expansive, but Innervisions or Talking Book you could argue are "better," more concise, with a more unified feel...and of course M.o.M.M. has "Superwoman," which wasn't a hit/single*, but just might be my favorite Stevie song of them all.  

 

*correction: it was actually released as a single, but it certainly wasn't a massive hit, relative to others from his ridiculous catalog 

[Analogaddict]

Talking Book was one of the first Stevie albums I really listened to. Incredible… way ahead of everything else!

[Jim Alfredson]

As a child of the 80s, my exposure to Stevie Wonder was the radio hits of the day, including his duet with Paul McCartney Ebony & Ivory, the inescapable I Just Called To Say I Love You, and of course That's What Friends Are For. I didn't really know that much about his music beyond that for years and years.

In 1995 Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise came out and I loved that melodic string part. I quickly learned that he stole that from Stevie Wonder. That made me dig through my parent's record collection and I found Songs In The Key Of Life, Talking Book, and Innervisions. I had heard You Are The Sunshine Of My Life before, so I decided to start with Talking Book.

And my mind was completely blown wide open. I had no idea. No idea how incredible Stevie really was until I heard that album. And then I listened to the others and bought Fulfillingness' First Finale and Music of My Mind and Hotter Than July and Secret Life of Plants, and just went head first into those records and the sounds and the production. 

 

I think Stevie is one of the musical geniuses of the 20th century, right up there with Ellington, Coltrane, Gershwin, Copland, Messiaen, etc. And those six albums, Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life, and Hotter Than July, are works of incredible depth, musicality, unabashed melody, jazz harmony, incredibly singing and playing, spirituality, and beauty. I can only think of very few artists who had a run like that in their career.

He truly is a wonder.

[Cliffk]

Hmm I may finally succumb to NYT’s badgering to subscribe.

Talking Book is my favourite album ever, bar none. Just a unique collection of songs, with playing, singing, sounds, melody and harmony to match. Those chord changes and (auto?)wahs on Tuesday Heartbreak blew my mind when I first heard them - not groundbreaking, but different for a pop song lasting just over 2 minutes.

Ok, personal summary impressions of main albums:

MMM - raw, exploratory

TB - fresh, unique

Innervisions - sophisticated, accomplished

FFF - joyful, melodic, beautiful

SITKOL - someone said it: expansive, impressive

[Sean M. H.]

11 hours ago, Dave Ferris said:

When It's hard to describe the affect the music had. Like the Beatles, you had to be there. It was hip, melodic, adventurous, new sounds, new chords and crossed over to rockers, country rockers, jazz people and even to what we called lounge lizards...lol. Everyone felt the influence !

 

No doubt it must've been different if you were actually there...but I had a similar reaction as a teenager hearing this stuff for the first time in the early 2000s (I was born in the late 80s).  I suppose that only speaks to how timeless or ahead of his time he was!  I was blown away...and vividly recall it being the first time that I conceptualized there were these things called "synthesizers," that attempted to create totally new sounds, instead of just emulating acoustic instruments...I agree, the feeling was, and is, hard to even describe/articulate really.  All I can say is that no music before or since has made me feel quite the same way as those Stevie records did in my formative years.

[Al Quinn]

One of a kind genius! I feel fortunate to have seen him in concert a few times. The man is a living song. Great music flows out of him in such a spontaneous, warm, and sincere way.