ALBUM: Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye
MVC RATING: 5.0/$$$
What’s going on? I mean What’s Going On?
War is the not the answer.
Got to find a way to bring some love in here today.
Marvin Gaye is smooth and soulfully cool. For good solid soul, Gaye knew no peer. He was the male counterpoint to Aretha Franklin.
I’m not counting out Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Al Green or any of the other pioneers in this realm. Gaye was a little less of a soul belter than Aretha. His sound was seductive, jazzy soul — sometimes with a social message (What’s Going On.’)
I’m not saying he couldn’t belt either, on ‘Grapevine’ he belts.
Marvin’s life ended too soon, in 1984, tragically at the hands of his father.
I’ve written this elsewhere on the blog: His version of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star game in 1983 brought tears to my eyes as I was hearing it in real time on live television. He did a soulful, and controversial take, on our National Anthem. I thought it was a touching rendition in the style Mr. Gaye sings. Jose Feliciano did a Spanish-tinged version, more than a decade earlier. He took some flak, as well.