Marvin Gaye POX

The “So satisfy you baby/You have won the battle/Oh but/Daddy’s gonna win/The war” bit? It is awesome – and the climax of the album, I think.

Yeah, that’s the part.

Was just sort of idly thinking about this recently. I think the first six are unquestionable:

1. Ain't That Peculiar
2. Can I Get a Witness
3. Heard it Through the Grapevine
4. Let's Get It On
5. What's Going On
6. Mercy Mercy Me

Then things get murky.

7. Sexual Healing

It sounds dated but I think there is still a fantastic song under the cheesy sounds.

8-10. ?

After that I just don't know. There are some fine-ass gospel sounds in his early career but nothing nearly as grittily good as "Can I Get a Witness." And I've always found the duets a Bit Much. Even "Ain't no Mountain High Enough," which is nicely groovy, doesn't rise to the level of his solo performances.

― The Mad Puffin

This is pretty much my same top 6... I’d probably add “Where are we going” (although I think I like Donald Byrd’s version better) and “if this world were mine”. Are these not considered that good? Noone has mentioned them so far.

It ain’t that murky.

https://pitchfork.com/news/marvin-gayes-lost-1972-album-youre-the-man-set-for-release/

Motown has announced the release of Marvin Gaye’s scrapped follow-up to 1971 classic What’s Going On. You’re the Man features all of Gaye’s solo and non-soundtrack recordings from 1972. It’s out March 29, four days before what would have been Gaye’s 80th birthday on April 2. Listen to album track “My Last Chance,” mixed by Salaam Remi, below.

Of the LP’s 17 songs, only the title track was released at the time. Most of the songs have never been released on vinyl until now. David Ritz wrote liner notes for the physical issue.

i'm assuming most of the tracks have been released in other forms, but i'm not sure i've ever heard them. is it good?

this is kind of an obvious and lame thing to say, but i LOVE his music, especially of that period. if there are even a few tracks that approach the brilliance of What's Going On i will be a happy camper.

looks like a lot of it is on the deluxe Let's Get It On reissue

"where are we going" is fabulous

arranged/mixed by the mizell brothers!

looks like a lot of it is on the deluxe Let's Get It On reissue

I was flabbergasted when I heard the outtakes on that, there was so much!

oh shit, great! i can check that out when i get home, then. i didn't even realize there was a lost marvin gaye album from this period, so i'm pretty pumped

Can't wait to hear it. I like the faithful cover art, too, and agree this era was his peak.

Though these "[artist] would have been [this] old" thought experiments are odd. Like, 80 isn't impossible but it's pushing it for someone who indulged the way Marvin did. I get celebrating the anniversary of his birth. But framing it as "he would have been 80" makes me picture something like BB King's last tour, which was a sad spectacle.

this is kind of an obvious and lame thing to say, but i LOVE his music, especially of that period. if there are even a few tracks that approach the brilliance of What's Going On i will be a happy camper.

What's Going On [Tamla, 1971]
This may be a groundbreaking personal statement, but like any Berry Gordy quickie it's baited skimpily: only three great tunes. "What's Going On," "Inner City Blues," and "Mercy, Mercy Me (the Ecology)" are so original they reveal ordinary Motown-political as the benign market manipulation it is. And Gaye keeps getting more subtle vocally and rhythmically. But the rest is pretty murky even when the lyrical ideas are good--I like the words on "What's Happenin' Brother" and "Flyin' High (in the Friendly Sky)" quite a bit--and the religious songs that bear Gaye's real message are suitably shapeless. Worst of all, because they're used a lot, are David Van De Pitte's strings, the lowest kind of movie-background dreck. B+

B+ for fucking what's going on, ok

baited skimpily? that's a fun phrase, but is that true at all with this album? the bait consists of three all-time legendary songs that would be the best songs of just about any other singer's career.

as for the rest, the string arrangements don't break new ground but they provide the stylistic glue (along with the congas, and of course gaye's voice) that makes the album flow so smoothly. what's going on is possibly the fastest 35 minutes in history. the forgotten songs are hardly filler, it's just that they're designed to provide the scaffolding to the rest of the album. "save the children" is a beautiful song on its own, for example, but its purpose in the context of the album is to establish a melody that later reaches it's fruition in "mercy mercy me" several minutes later.

is this the right thread for me to talk about how fucking awesome the trouble man soundtrack is

T Plays It Cool is the absolute bomb

who plays drums on that song they are amazing

My go-to from Marvin for many years- that tune in particular is a killer. Sax solo is lights out as well

I suspected as much— the drums sound so great on T because the drums on this album are played by..... Marvin himself!

i thought that might be the case

god he really was the goat

you're the man is really wonderful, i'm surprised at how well it works. the songs are brilliant

Free online panel tonight called Marvin Gaye from DC to Detroit with singer Kim Weston and others. I think you need to register early on Eventbrite . On April 24 as part of Pop Con there will be an online panel re What’s Goin On album

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/marvin-gaye-from-dc-to-detroit-tickets-148427361233?ref=eios

Louvain Demps who sang backup vocals on lots of Motown records will also be on the panel

Cool!

How was it?

It ended up being great after starting very awkwardly because the host didn't know how to work zoom. It was recorded and I hope it will be transcribed or something, but i wouldn't count on it. A Dc person named Sandra Butler Truesdale told a story about walking into her high school and hearing her classmate Marvin Gaye singing. Ray Fauntroy talked about Marvin singing in various DC groups and also supporting civil rights activists. Louvain Demps talked about how Gaye had the studio dark while recording What's Goin On, and how it took a bit for everything to come together for that song, but when it did she knew it would be a success. Kim Weston talked about she came in as a substitute for Mary Wells as a duet partner for Marvin, and how she was replaced by Tammi Terrell. She also mentioned Gordy's lack of respect for them - he just wanted us to shut and sang. There was a discussion of Marvin Gaye's brother Frankie and another singer coming back from Vietnam with ptsd. They said Frankie saying "What Going On" to Marvin inspired the song, as well as Frankie questions about things. A grown folks go-go-r'n'b singer was on the panel and he talked more about Marvin's influence and his parents playing him. There were more stories that I am forgetting plus the women talking about how cute Marvin was.

My quick look at the panel participants for the upcoming pop con Gaye What's Going On panel is that it is critics and not people who were involved with the album

"you got what you need." Marvin Gaye cuts 'How Sweet It Is" with Holland-Dozier-Holland, 1964 (from Lamont Dozier's memoir) pic.twitter.com/R7ldPshmNN

— Bowiesongs (@bowiesongs) October 24, 2021

Yeah, well. Fuck.

Just play me the song

In other news , Marvin can be heard with 2 groups he was in during his DC high school days on the new Bear Family release Washington DC R & B 1940 to 1960. 16 cds plus 352 page coffee table size book. Clovers. Impalas, and other obscure DC acts included

Man, “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” is some serious ping-pong stereo.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68674814
!!

Damn, this will be awesome to listen to in 2063.

I think Distant Lover is my favorite Marvin song right now. I don’t have time to go through this thread but I don’t hear a lot of praise for the string sections in his classic run. At the end of Distant Lover the strings swell and Marvin is just absolutely begging on top of it. Almost makes me cry when it hits