When one speaks the word legend in music how many times does it really fit? In the case of Stevie Wonder, he defines the true meaning of the word. He stands tall amongst his peers such as Elton John, The Beatles, and all the other hit makers of his time.
Talking Book is a career defining album and what is exceptional about Stevie is the fact that he had several recordings that fell into that category, it just depends what stage of his career you are referring to. This particular time shows Stevie stepping out and speaking his mind and getting off the Motown hit machine conveyer belt that brought him into the limelight.
When Audio Fidelity made their choices for this round of 24 karat gold CDs they picked one of the best with Wonder’s Talking Book. In this edition for the first time since the first release, the special message from Stevie is included Braille. The fact that it’s a gold disc makes it a collector’s item alone now with this additional element it makes grabbing this piece of recorded history even more desirable.
As usual the remastering from the source tapes is a thing of beauty, capturing all the outstanding studio work that the artist produced for this release. “Superstition” is one of my all time favorite tracks and hearing it in true “Audio Fidelity” is real special. “You Are The Sunshine of My Life” is an exceptional way to lead off the album and Stevie’s subtle yet beautiful keyboards are accentuated by the gold disc sound. “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)” is one of the catchiest tunes on the album and the absolute warmth and feeling that Wonder encapsulated on that song and many of the other tracks gets the proper treatment from the folks at Audio Fidelity.
If you already have a copy of Talking Book, which I did, or if you don’t, it does not matter, either way you must have this if you have ever enjoyed the music of Stevie Wonder. This is ten tracks of funk, pop, R & B, rock; well just consider it a melting pot masterstroke from one of the musical geniuses of our time committed to gold.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
July 18, 2010
Key Tracks: Superstition, You Are The Sunshine of My Life, I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)
