talking book

Each stunning string instrument leaning against the stark white wall is a tally and talking book, marking the value of a period of relative solitude and reflection.

Stevie Wonder understands the double indignity of that situation on this jazzy number from his great 1972 album “Talking Book”: “Tuesday heartbreak seems to be unfair, ’cause you say that you found another man.”

“Caedmon proved that spoken-word recordings could be both culturally significant and commercially viable,” said literary scholar Matthew Rubery, who chronicled the company’s history as part of his 2016 book “The Untold Story of the Talking Book.”

Beck and Stevie Wonder shared songs and appeared on each others’ albums in the 1970s, and “Lookin’ for Another Pure Love” from Wonder’s “Talking Book” featured the guitarist at his most sweetly melodic in the song’s bridge.

On October 24, 1972, Stevie Wonder released his 15th album "Talking Book" and the world heard the infectious grooves and seamless vocal delivery of the song "Superstition" for the very first time.