Music Of My Mind
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Album Summary
Released in March 1972 on the legendary Tamla imprint, 'Music Of My Mind' marks the moment Stevie Wonder stepped fully into his own creative universe. Fresh off renegotiating his Motown contract on his 21st birthday, Stevie produced and arranged the entire affair himself — alongside collaborators Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, whose pioneering work with the Moog and Taurus synthesizers gave the record its warm, otherworldly electronic pulse. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York and Crystal Sound in Los Angeles, this was Stevie's declaration of artistic independence, a soul man planting his flag on new sonic territory and saying, baby, from here on out, we do it my way.
Reception
- The album was warmly received by critics who recognized it as a bold artistic leap, with praise directed at Wonder's multi-instrumental virtuosity and his seamless fusion of electronic textures with traditional soul and jazz-funk grooves.
- While not a blockbuster chart performer on its initial release, 'Music Of My Mind' built a devoted following that recognized its ahead-of-its-time ambition, and its reputation has only deepened with the decades.
- The record helped shift critical perception of Stevie Wonder from a Motown hitmaker to a serious auteur, laying the groundwork for the enormous acclaim that would greet his subsequent albums.
Significance
- As one of the earliest major-label albums to place synthesizer technology — particularly the Moog — at the very heart of a Black soul and funk record, 'Music Of My Mind' helped open a door that would swing wide throughout the decade and beyond, influencing the trajectory of jazz-funk and soul-jazz for years to come.
- The album represents a watershed moment in artist autonomy within the Motown system, with Stevie Wonder assuming full creative control over production, songwriting, and arrangement — a model that would inspire generations of artists to fight for ownership of their own vision.
- Tracks like 'Superwoman' and 'Evil' demonstrate a lyrical and harmonic sophistication that pushed soul music into deeply introspective, socially conscious territory, expanding what the genre could say and how tenderly it could say it.
Samples
- Superwoman — one of the most beloved deep cuts in the Wonder catalog to be revisited by hip-hop and R&B producers, sampled across multiple projects drawn to its lush harmonic structure and emotional vocal performance.
- Evil — its brooding arrangement and socially conscious weight have made it a source of intrigue for producers seeking soulful, message-driven textures to flip.
- Keep On Running — sampled by various artists drawn to its rhythmic drive and funk-forward energy, making it one of the more dug-out tracks from this album in crate-digging circles.
Tracklist
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A1 Love Having You Around 106
7:21
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A2 Superwoman —
8:04
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A3 I Love Every Little Thing About You 115
3:46
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A4 Sweet Little Girl 106
4:54
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B1 Happier Than The Morning Sun 111
5:18
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B2 Girl Blue 93
3:35
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B3 Seems So Long 80
4:27
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B4 Keep On Running 137
6:35
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B5 Evil 143
3:35
Artist Details
Stevie Wonder, born Steveland Hardaway Morris in Saginaw, Michigan in 1950, came up through the soul and R&B world as a child prodigy signed to Motown Records at just eleven years old, eventually blossoming into one of the most transcendent musical geniuses this world has ever been blessed to hear — a man who weaved together soul, funk, pop, and jazz into something that felt like pure human truth. His landmark run of albums in the 1970s — Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life — set a standard so impossibly high that even the heavens had to take notice, earning him Grammy after Grammy while simultaneously speaking to the struggles, joys, and spiritual yearning of Black America and all of humanity. Stevie Wonder didn't just make music — he made medicine for the soul, and his influence on everything that came after him in R&B, pop, and beyond is so deep and wide that you simply cannot tell the story of modern music without his name sitting right at the very center of it.
