Customer Reviews
Gaye was Good
What's here is solid - the best known stuff. This is a good collection, but by no means a complete one. This is good Motown crooner stuff. Here are the ones that stand out:
Let's Get It On - as close to sensual as a man's voice can get
How Sweet It Is - happy love tune
Heard it through the Grapevine - Marvin's version is teh best version of this song
Mercy Mercy Me - interesting song. It talks about teh environment, which is cool.
Can I Get a Witness - rockin' piano piece.
Ten great songs, but there are better collections out there
Any selection of a mere ten songs doesn't begin to cover all of Marvin's greatest hits, but one must keep in mind that this particular collection dates back to 1976 and is largely made up of early 70s recordings. This was the first Marvin Gaye album I ever bought, and it did much to convince me I needed a whole lot more of this legendary singer's music.
Eight of these 10 tracks were top 20 hits. The California Raisins saturated popular culture with the song I Heard It Through the Grapevine a few years back, but the song remains as popular as ever - back in 1968, this song shot to #1 in both the R&B and pop charts. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) was a top ten hit on both the R&B and pop charts in 1964. Can I Get a Witness, the oldest track in this collection, takes us all the way back to 1963; this hand-clapper of a tune stalled just outside the top 20 on the pop charts but peaked at #15 on the R&B charts. What's Going On, one of Marvin's signature recordings, didn't get over the hump of #2 on the pop charts but hit #1 on the R&B charts in 1971. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) followed What's Going On to the top of the R&B charts, peaking at #4 in the pop chart. Let's Get It On and I Want You feature Marvin at his smoothest, simply dripping with sensuality. Let's Get It On hit #1 on both the R&B and pop charts in 1973, while, three years later, I Want You somehow hit a wall at #15 on the pop charts despite hitting #1 on the R&B chart. If you've only heard the late Robert Palmer's cover of Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You, you've never really heard these songs at all. Trouble Man is the other top ten hit included here; it's an unusual track that is vintage Marvin, and it hit the top six in both the R&B and pop charts in 1972.
The other two songs may not have been top 20 hits, but they are excellent recordings in their own right. After the Dance is an extremely cool song that features the type of amazing overdubbed vocals that Marvin introduced in 1971's What's Going On and basically went on to perfect in 1982's Midnight Love. Closing out this collection is a live recording of Distant Lover from 1974; the energy of Marvin in concert is palpable, and it is obvious that Marvin has the crowd (especially a lot of screaming females) wrapped around his little finger.
Obviously, this is a fantastic album; it's a great introduction to Marvin Gaye for anyone unfamiliar with his work (in case you've been living under a rock for the last forty years). Realistically, though, there's little reason to buy this 1976 collection - you can find all of these songs and many, many more on any of a number of Marvin Gaye collections available today. It doesn't really matter which Marvin Gaye collection(s) you buy - the important thing is that you buy them because we will never see or hear the likes of the masterful Marvin Gaye again.
Outdated
So why the one star? Because it was released too early. First off this album is great. Hits like Sexual Healing, Doggone, Ain't that Peculiar hadn't been made. So it's not that this album is bad, it's that if you're going to buy a Marvin Gaye album (which if you're reading this, you should!), you should buy The Very Best of Marvin Gaye, or atleast a more complete version made after his career. Marvin Gaye is awesome though, and the truth is that all of his albums are awesome, some are just better and more complete!.
. You can see a complete list of all Marvin Gaye discography, or go back to the Marvin Gaye tabs
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