''Music of My Mind'' is the fourteenth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
musician
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
. It was released on March 3, 1972, by
Tamla Records
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...
, and was Wonder's first to be recorded under a new contract with
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
that allowed him full artistic control over his music. For the album, Wonder recruited
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
pioneers
Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil (9 January 193728 March 2021) was a British jazz bassist, record producer, engineer and electronic musician. He was a founding member of a leading UK jazz quintet of the late 1950s, the Jazz Couriers, and
Robert Margouleff
Robert Margouleff is an American record producer, recording engineer, electronic music pioneer, audio expert, and film producer.
Career The Birth of TONTO
Margouleff was an early customer, friend and collaborator of fellow New Yorker and music in ...
as associate producers, employing their custom
TONTO
Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...
synthesizer on several tracks. The album was a modest commercial success, but critics found it representative of Wonder's artistic growth, and it is generally considered by modern critics to be the first album of Wonder's classic period.
Recording
Wonder became interested in using
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s after hearing the music of
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
group
Tonto's Expanding Head Band
Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British-American electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were influential in the development of electronic music a ...
.
Inspired after a meeting with the group's members,
Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil (9 January 193728 March 2021) was a British jazz bassist, record producer, engineer and electronic musician. He was a founding member of a leading UK jazz quintet of the late 1950s, the Jazz Couriers, and
Robert Margouleff
Robert Margouleff is an American record producer, recording engineer, electronic music pioneer, audio expert, and film producer.
Career The Birth of TONTO
Margouleff was an early customer, friend and collaborator of fellow New Yorker and music in ...
, in May 1971, he began utilizing
Arp and
Moog synthesizers, stating that "the synthesizer has allowed me to do a lot of things I've wanted to do for a long time but were not possible till it came along."
Margouleff and Cecil associate produced, engineered, and handled Moog programming for the album, and would go on to collaborate with Wonder on his next three albums. Wonder produced the album and played all of the instruments himself, except for the trombone on "Love Having You Around", which was played by
Art Baron
Arthur John Baron (born January 5, 1950) is an American jazz trombonist. He also plays didgeridoo, conch shell, penny-whistle, alto and bass recorder, and tuba.
Career overview
Baron is an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music. He joined ...
, and the guitar on "
Superwoman
Superwoman is the name of several fictional characters from DC Comics. Most of them are, like Supergirl, women with powers similar to those of Superman, like flight, invulnerability, and enhanced strength. Detective Comics, Inc. trademarked the ...
", which was played by
Howard "Buzz" Feiten.
Release and reception
When ''Music of My Mind'' was first released on March 3, 1972, it became a modest success with both black and white audiences in the United States, charting at number six and number 21 on the
''Billboard'' R&B and
pop charts, respectively. Contemporary critics viewed it as Wonder's final step into artistic maturity.
[ ] In ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'',
Vince Aletti
Vince Aletti (born 1945) is a curator, writer, and photography critic.
Career
Music industry
Aletti was a contributing writer for ''Rolling Stone'' from 1970 to 1989. He was the first person to write about disco in an article published by the m ...
said it showcased the ambitious use of Wonder's newfound artistic control and maturity as a songwriter, although he found some of the studio and vocal effects both gimmicky and self-indulgent.
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
Creem
''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential criti ...
'' believed that, like
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
, Wonder transcended aesthetic sensibilities on ''Music of My Mind'', which he said featured "some of the most musical synthesizer improvisations yet", but whose individual songs were not as impressive as the "one-man album" concept.
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' particularly praised the
Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
work on the single "Keep on Running."
Penny Valentine
Penelope Ann Valentine (13 February 1943 – 9 January 2003) was a British music journalist, rock critic, and occasional television personality.
Biography
Penny Valentine was born in London, of Jewish and Italian ancestry. In 1959 she became ...
was more enthusiastic in her review for ''
Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'', viewing the record as a milestone in modern music and a culmination of
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...
's creative maturity. She especially praised Wonder's arrangement of "intriguing vocal patterns" on what she deemed "an album of explosive genius and unshackled self-expression".
The album was voted number 645 in the third edition of
Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Along wit ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums
''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
'' (2000).
In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 284 on the magazine's list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
;
it was number 285 on the 2012 version of the list, and 350 on the 2020 edition.
In 2008, the album was re-released in the UK to coincide with Wonder's European tour.
The songs "Sweet Little Girl" and "Evil" feature prominently at the beginning and end of "
Teddy Perkins
"Teddy Perkins" is the sixth episode of the Atlanta (season 2), second season of the American comedy-drama television series ''Atlanta (TV series), Atlanta'', and the sixteenth episode of the series overall. It was originally broadcast on FX (TV c ...
", the sixth episode of the second season of the acclaimed
FX television show ''
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
''.
Track listing
Personnel
*Stevie Wonder – lead vocals
(all), background vocals
(1–5, 8), drums
(all but 5), handclaps
(8), T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer
(2, 6, 7, 9), piano
(8, 9), Rhodes piano
(1–4), talk box
(1, 6), harmonica
(4, 6), bongos
(3), clavinet
(5, 8), Moog bass
(all)
*Art Baron – trombone
(1)
*
Buzz Feiten
Howard "Buzz" Feiten (born November 4, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, session musician, and luthier. He is best known as a lead and rhythm guitarist and for having patented a tuning system for guitars and similar instruments. ...
– electric guitar
(2)
*Malcolm Cecil – Moog programming, associate producer, engineering
*Robert Margouleff – Moog programming, associate producer, engineering
*
Syreeta
Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...
– background vocals
(4)
*Uncredited – background vocals
(1, 8, 9)
*Joan DeCola – recording
*Rick Rowe – recording
Charting singles
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Stevie Wonder albums
1972 albums
Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios
Tamla Records albums
Albums produced by Stevie Wonder
Albums produced by Malcolm Cecil