That Wonder’s toughest and most ostentatious album to date begins with the soft touch of the MOR standard “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” is indicative of just how little the artist gave a fuck by the time of 1972’s Talking Book. Don’t like the sentimental stuff? Have a taste of the hard funk of “Maybe Your Baby.” Not hearing the hits? How about the terrifyingly insinuating riff and groove of “Superstition” to set you straight? At this juncture, Wonder is playing a different and higher game than his peers — synthesizing soul, pop and funk into a wholly unique vernacular which would go on to inspire geniuses ranging from MJ to Prince to Kanye to Kendrick Lamar. A stunning album that examines the spectrum of the political, spiritual and carnal in a manner not heard since Van Morrison’s masterpiece Astral Weeks. In every way Talking Book is indispensable.