Audio CD review:
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

Band: Marvin Gaye Title: What's Going On Rating: Release Date: 07 April, 1998 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: What's Going On 2: What's Happening Brother 3: Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky) 4: Save The Children 5: God Is Love 6: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) 7: Right On 8: Wholy Holy 9: Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Editoral Review Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility for their music and its meaning. Sly & The Family Stone might have psychedelicized soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalized it. Gaye co-wrote the songs and produced the album, flavoring it with layer upon layer of his own multi-tracked vocals, oceans of hand percussion, strings, flutes, and jazzy horn solos. Spacey and loose as a spliff-fueled Sunday afternoon jam in the park, the nine songs all played like a hit single. The title track--inspired by his brother's return from the Vietnam War--and the obvious social commentary of "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" actually were hit singles. Two other tracks ("Wholly Holy" and "Save the Children") would inspire hit covers by Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, respectively. Nevertheless, What's Going On sounds as fresh today as it did the week that it came out. Recommended reading: Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz (McGraw-Hill, 1985). --Don Waller .. You can see a complete list of all Marvin Gaye discography, or go back to the Marvin Gaye tabs