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Getting The Spins: Stevie Wonder – Talking Book

(Tamla, 1972)

You can never go wrong with Stevie. Never. And his five-album run from 1972’s Music of My Mind to 1976’s Songs In the Key of Life is about a spotless as you’ll ever find (I’d even say the next two records–1979’s Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants” and 1980’s Hotter Than July–are perfection). I’ll write more about those at length another time, but right now let’s talk Talking Book. It contains one of Wonder’s biggest hits “Superstition,” which is always a stone-cold banger. But “Maybe Your Baby” is a killer hypnotic funk jam (and check out the shredding guitar work from Ray Parker Jr.–yes, that Ray Parker Jr.). And the closer “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)” always makes my heart sing (it helps that my wife and I used it as our wedding exit song). What else can I say, other than Stevie Wonder is beautiful. And we might need his music now more than ever.