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“Talking Book,” from 1972, was Stevie Wonder’s 15th album — yes, you read that correctly. He had been a child star for Motown Records, and after that, a beneficiary of the power of the label’s hit factory. But when he renegotiated his contract in the early 1970s, he secured complete creative control over his music, and that’s when he became a superstar.
“Talking Book” featured “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” two of Wonder’s indelible classics. It also set the table for “Innervisions” and “Songs in the Key of Life,” two of his mid-1970s albums that, together with “Talking Book,” stand as his peak achievements.
On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Wonder’s songwriting fluidity, his gift for innovation, his engagement with politics and how he managed to anticipate the one-man-band bedroom-pop of the internet era.
