Unlike many of his Motown contemporaries, Marvin Gaye was able to make the leap from pop star to mature album artist. He pushed musical boundaries and continues to influence artists today. Rolling Stone magazine recently awarded ‘What’s Going On?’ with the accolade of being the best album of all time. Here are 5 essentials…
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - This dark tale of deceit opens with a distinctive drum 'snap' and menacing organ embellished with chilling flourishes such as the spiky guitar riff and haunting call of the backing vocal. Gaye’s vocal has a vengeful tone which only serves to increase the tension.
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Gaye had a string of duet albums with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell. This hit was recorded with Tammi Terrell who tragically died aged just 24.
What’s Going On? - Title track from his masterwork - to be honest you could select just about anything from this album and it would stand up as ‘Essential’. The inspiration for the song came from Renaldo Benson of The Four Tops who had witnessed police brutality in response to an anti-war protest in Berkeley.
Let’s Get It On - OK, OK so the sex appeal of this song may have been diminished over time with repeated plays on ‘Smooth Radio’ and its use in sound tracking the scene in ‘Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me’ where ‘Dr Evil’ drinks Austin’s ‘Mojo’. That said this Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend co-write is too good to overlook. Everything about the song is great, from the signature guitar lick, to the serenity of the strings and saxophone, to the interplay of flute and backing vocals, right through to the slow hand clap outro. The lead vocal is none too shabby either.
Love Party - This tune has a melody so good it stops you in your tracks. Taken from the blues-funk--jazz-disco of ‘In Our Lifetime’, the album was Gaye’s last on the Motown label before moving to Columbia where he would release ‘Midnight Love’ which featured ‘Sexual Healing’.
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