#talking book

Back in 1973, Sesame Street had Stevie Wonder on for a live performance of ‘Superstition’. The sound quality on the mix is pretty decent, every instrument is relatively discernable and clear. There’s this moment at the 5:41 mark where the bassist picks up the song and gets the band running again for a spontaneous jam with Stevie singing “Sesame Street!” It’s pretty wonderful. 

Stevie Wonder pops up throughout that episode of Sesame Street too. He sits with Grover, does a voicebox number, and (again with Grover) demonstrates the difference between loud and soft. 

For some additional Stevie content, here’s a few articles:

1. Stevie Wonder and his Dream Machines (which is about his pioneering use of synthesizers and the wider effects on the music industry, “from the development of guitar pedals to sampling”, Wonder’s use of synthesizers really cascaded out into every corner of the industry. Crazy.)

2. TONTO: The 50-Year Saga of the Synth Heard on Stevie Wonder Classics (from Rolling Stone magazine, the title pretty much tells you what you’re getting). Here’s a snippet:

“The core keyboard sound of “Superstition” was Wonder’s electric keyboard being fed through TONTO. The famous bass line was all TONTO. The song demonstrated for the first time the potential of the synthesizer being something mainstream, a keyboard-controlled instrument that could add an entirely new sonic palette to popular music. Wonder was playing most (sometimes all) of the instruments in the studio himself anyway, and TONTO now allowed him to also control the final arrangement.”