While I consider the Holy Trinity to be hostile to the human intellect, Stevie Wonder merges pure love and genius to an extent that Christianity almost makes sense. And though I am lactose intolerant, the cheese that melts atop his (23rd in life, but really his second transcendant album) luminous Talking Book, is not only digestible, but nutritious and satiating. All of the following stands without mentioning that the album was released in 1972, which makes him 22 at the time....

Stevie is an unholy Holyman, a skeptical Believer; Yes, he is full of philosophical and emotional wonder, but don't let that dumb smile and head wave fool you into thinking he thinks the world is just a pretty place.In "Lookin' for Another Pure Love," he talks about how he never had a problem, all his days were happy and secure "until your phone call/ You were tellin' me goodbye" Then: "Things you cherish most in life/ Can be taken if they're left neglected/ Leavin' a problem in your life." It is impossible to separate this seemingly mundane sentiment from the man who speaks it here. Never in my life have I understood the word problem for what it really means than this. Hear how "problem" is a religious and moral and human understatement. Hear it in the song. But you must must must put your lactose intolerance aside and let the milky simplicity in, and then it will complicate in a beautiful way. Your heart will be better for it. But my favorite track on the album is "Blame it on the Sun." Though he is a lover and a candle swayer, Stevie is no stranger to darkness, and he acknowledges that all the greatness and mystery which he embraces in the feeling of love also hovers in its loss, in just as inexplicable a way. "Who poured the love out/ What caused this bitter doubt/ Is there not peace for me to see?... But I'll blame it on the sun, that didn't fill the sky/ I'll blame it on the birds and trees/ I'll blame it on the day, that ended once too soon/ But my heart blames it on me." (Of course, the words do not approach their majesty without the rising and hushing tones that float in the spaces between them, suggesting doubt, eternal pain, and finally, resolution, but)Are you not human?! Do you not feel this UNIVERSAL DIALECTIC of HEART?!!! I don't have to spend time on one of the most enthralling songs of all time, "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," as it was popularized for white people in the movie High Fidelity, but "Blame it on the Sun" never got it's place (in the sun) before Milli Vanilli confused the world by getting busted lipsynching to "Blame it on the Rain," thereby distracting us from their true crime of ripping off the idea of blaming an element of nature for one's personal turmoil. But then, who has been more ripped off than Stevie Wonder? Do they think he doesn't know?