What's Going On

There's nothing else like it. Marvin Gaye's sublime and transcendent album, What's Going On, had a musical style and depth of feeling that lifted it up into the highest level of pop and soul releases and made it uncopyable even by Gaye himself, who was smart enough not to try. It seems to float, practically luminous in a sea of congas and percussion, talking and strings, saxophone and multi-tracked Gaye and background singers in a constantly changing mix that bursts with energy like life itself. It passes through many moods: hope, anger, desperation, depression, joy and prayer. It offers no glib slogans, no easy answers and mostly calls for a more spiritual existence that might lead mankind to a better place. It's as relevant today as it ever was though sad to say, I believe times are even worse now than they were when the album was made. The big surprise was that it was Marvin Gaye who made it. Gaye was Motown's superstar solo act who had had a hit filled career since Stubborn Kind of Fella in 1962. His image was that of a suave, smooth, happy-go-lucky guy, always well dressed and somewhat of a ladies man, an image reinforced by his many duets with Mary Welles, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. But that was a record label image. The real Marvin Gaye was aware of the time in which he lived, a time that had left the sunny early 60's behind and which had become turbulent and torn by a multitude of problems: the Vietnam War and its protests, the counterculture, life in the ghetto, drugs and the only recent realization that the natural environment was being destroyed in a way no one had suspected. Then came a personal crisis of the worst kind, the death of his singing partner and friend Tammi Terrell from a brain tumor. We all go along in life thinking there's some kind of sense and justice to it all, then something really horrible happens to someone really good and undeserving of such a fate and that shakes you to your foundations. I think that her death, on top of everything else really shook Marvin Gaye and made him realize he couldn't put out another happy, bouncy Motown album as he always had. The song came from Obie Benson the deep voice of the Four Tops who co-wrote it with Motown house songwriter Al Cleveland. But the other Four Tops didn't want to do what they saw as a protest song and passed on it. But Gaye was interested and cut the single in the Summer of 1970. Then came the resistance to it in the form of Berry Gordy Jr. who called it "The worst thing I have ever heard" and vetoed its release. But Berry Gordy Jr. was very old school. His dream had been to make popular music for the mainstream and get black performers out of the isolation of the R&B charts and onto the pop charts. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. But beyond that he only wanted to get his acts into fancy clubs like the Copa and on network TV. He didn't seem to have much of a social consciousness and if he did, it didn't matter because he saw anything controversial as something that could ruin Motown. Norman Whitfield had been able to update the Temptations into edgier songs but nothing as all-encompassing as this. But Marvin Gaye was fired up by this song, truly inspired. He went on strike, swearing not to record anything until the song was released. Motown was forced to release a Super Hits album instead of a new one and some weak singles that didn't chart very high. In the end Gordy gave in and the single, What's Going On was released in January of 1971. Opening uniquely with a party in full swing then the clarion call of a beautiful alto sax, it commanded the immediate attention of everyone by its sheer originality. It soon was #2 in the country and stayed on the charts for months. Gordy had to give the green light for the album, which was recorded over just ten remarkable days in March. Gaye often called it "God's album" not only because he sought a spiritual answer to mankind's problems but because he, the musicians (Motown's Funk Brothers house band), the producer (David Van De Pitte) and his co-writers all felt a rush of inspiration like they had never felt before. The result was unique among Motown albums. Songs flowed into each other without breaks. Instead of the usual punchy beat this album seemed to float effortlessly, buoyed by multiple rhythms and jazz sax that continued throughout most of the tracks. Only Right On leaves this sound world and inhabits an earthier kind of jazz that almost brings the album down a bit too much until it ascends again with Wholly Holy. Each song is its own vignette from the puzzlement of the returning soldier of What's Happening Brother who comes home to a decade's worth of change in just a few years (which is how fast things were changing in the 60's) to the addict of Flyin' High (In the Friendly Skies (the United Airlines slogan) who knows he's hooked. Mercy Mercy Me is still practically the only ecology song that isn't cloying and it has one of the eeriest endings ever in a pop song. and direct pleas like Save the Children and God Is Love are sincere pleas for some kind of sanity in this world. It all ends with the album's final hit single, Inner City Blues which ends us where it all began with the beginning of What's Going On. Universal owns the Motown master tapes and this CD sounds fantastic, with every note clear and full. Many good things have been said of this album. Many claims of greatness have been made. They're all true.

Brilliance many times comes out of pain and a tortured soul, never more has this statement been true than when describing this artist and this wonderfully historic album. WHAT'S GOING ON is the album Marvin had wanted to make for a very long time but was held back from making due the strictness of Motown's founder and president, Berry Gordy. Marvin, who went through many trauma's as a child and young adult with an alcoholic & abusive father as well as a marriage that was beginning to fall apart, had a lot of emotions bottled up inside. He truly needed an outlet and wasn't being given the freedom to do so musically which is one of the reasons I believe he turned so heavily to drugs early on. It was through a series of letters he received from his brother who was serving in Vietnam that this incredible album and it's overall message would come into being. His brother was informing him about the war and what that all entailed and Marvin begin to tie that in with life here in the U.S. and what it was going to be like for his brother, or anyone in his situation, to return home. And from that, WHAT'S GOING ON was conceived and born. It truly is a tortured soul, begging, no, SCREAMING for all to come together and put aside petty bigotry, hate and war. But it's also, in many ways, a confessional for Marvin as, if you pay close attention, he is revealing many of the thoughts and struggles he's personally dealing with at the time. It's Marvin's life struggles, the "microcosm" relaying the overall issues and struggles facing the nation and world as a whole, the "macrocosm." It's an album that really and truly needs to be listened to all at once as it truly was meant to be a continuous message and not a series of "singles." We've heard of "concept" albums before but this was the truest since of that term as each song is a part of an overall story that Mr. Gaye takes us on. With each note he sings, you can hear the plea in the man's voice calling out for both outward togetherness and inner peace. He was actually contemplating leaving music behind altogether prior to the creation of this album. However, his brothers stories plus his own personal demons, compelled him both to write & record this album as well as fight Gordy and the powers that be at Motown for it's promotion and release. It's amazing to listen to Gordy now as he reflects back on what he told Marvin about the album then versus the conversations they had in the years after it's release and historical success. I may never have been as moved as when I first heard this album for the first time, the tears flowed, I danced, shouted, cried out and expressed just about every kind of emotion humanly possible. I truly love this album and pray that this brilliant, loving, tortured soul has finally come to know the peace he agonized over and sang about to us on this record so long ago. This is a quintessential album and EVERY music lover no matter what genre you may prefer should give it a listen. I promise you will not be disappointed. There was never an album recorded like this one up to that point, it truly was/is one of a kind as was/is it's creator. Marvin Gaye was a true musical giant and deeply profound man, his work is being reassessed more and more as it should be as some of the very best ever recorded. While my personal favorite album of his is HERE MY DEAR due to it's extremely personal nature, this is, without question, his most influential and historic album worthy of any and all conversations about the greatest recordings of all time.

ANYTHING THAT REFLECTS THE INVENTIVE AND CREATIVE WORK OF THE GENIUS THAT WAS MARVIN PENTZ GAYE GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT - THIS PARTICULAR ALBUM SITS AT THE VERY PINNACLE OF HIS LIFE'S WORK. EACH AND EVERY TRACK DEALS WITH THE WORLD'S RECURRING PROBLEMS THAT KEEP ON REPEATING THEMSELVES - WAR, HATE, GREED, INEQUALITY, POVERTY, VIOLENCE, RACISM ETC. WHEN THIS MASTERPIECE WAS CREATED IN DETROIT'S GOLDEN WORLD STUDIOS IN SPRING 1971, THE WORLD AT THAT TIME WAS FULL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED LISTING, YET TODAY, WE STILL WITNESS THE SAME ISSUES POISONING OUR LIVES. THE WORLD'S POLITICIANS NEED TO SIT AROUND A TABLE, BE QUIET, AND LISTEN TO THE MESSAGES IN THIS REVOLUTIONARY MUSICAL MASTERPIECE THAT WAS WAY AHEAD OF IT'S TIME, YET IS AS RELEVANT TODAY AS IT WAS NEARLY 50 YEARS AGO WHEN IT WAS MADE AVAILABLE TO THE WORLD'S EARS. I FEAR THAT THEY WON'T LISTEN AND TAKE HEED, IF ANYTHING THE ISSUES ONLY GET WORSE AND, AS MARVIN SAID, "ESCALATE". THE GREEN VINYL SERVES AS A REMINDER TO ME OF THE TOPICAL ECOLOGICAL ISSUES THAT DOMINATE OUR WORLD IN 2019, AND OF COURSE "MERCY, MERCY ME", THANK YOU FOR THIS LIMITED EDITION, IT WILL SIT ALONGSIDE ALL THE OTHER VARIATIONS I HAVE OF THIS GREAT ALBUM AND THIS UNIQUE MAN'S WORK. THANK YOU MARVIN FOR THIS PRECIOUS LEGACY YOU LEFT FOR US ALL TO LISTEN TO, ACT UPON, LIVE BY, AND NEVER CEASE TO MARVEL AT. CHRIS MARRIOTT, U.K. NOVEMBER 2019

An absolute lesson in modulation/key-change. Take That and pop artists take note, you don't just change the key and insult people's ears, you change key whilst adding or removing percussive elements and changing tempo. For Marvin Gaye to produce this under the time constraints and the intolerance of Motown to publish this type of socially conscious music is nothing short of a period of true genius. The Beatles did something similar for Please Please Me, but I think this is more of a feat and is completely original material. It is a true album-work and is almost impossible to appreciate in the same way when cut up into tracks. It is seamless and never boring, with the feel of a live studio recording (which indeed it pretty much was, with the exception of a few overdubs). Modern artists are trying to plagiarise Marvin through lack of artistic vision and ability (notably Mr Pharrell Williams who has been sued for ripping off one of Marvin Gaye's songs in particular). People would like to have great engineers build their cars and design sound structural housing, so why do people enable such talentless tripe through encouraging shows like X Factor and listening to modern hip-hop, R & B and dance music, which can't produce a song without sampling music from Marvin's era (notably Nina Simone has been ripped off more than any other - with her music in about half-a-dozen car adverts, a David Guetta song and many others. As well as Whitney who has been ripped recently for her song Dance with Somebody). When this happens and is not credited upon every play, despite what may be said in contracts, it is nothing short of wrong and is in it's own way stealing. This album is the first and last of it's time, it taps into the social conscience and consciousness of America and is musically engaging at every moment. A work of complete genius, a word that is thrown about too much in this, the most arrogant era of human existence. Every generation has had to fight for freedom, rights, liberties, etc, but this Bieber generation just cannot see through their Facebook bedazzled eyes how clear the path has been left for them to be successful and make money, so it is no wonder in nearly every artistic or sporting field, people describe themselves and each other as 'genius' and 'the best ever'. Rubbish, you cannot compare this generation with preceding ones. It is factually wrong and disrespectful of preceding generations as well as a complete failure in noticing context and conditions and how they shape everything humans produce. There. Breath.

Excelente álbum. Llegó en perfectas condiciones. Estoy muy contento con esta compra.

One of the most iconic Soul Music classic - a Motown record with lots of texts and photos of Marvin and family inside the double cover. Excellent sampling and sound (also depends on your HiFi equipment obviously). A joy to play and listen to. If you don't have it yet, just go for it, you won't be disappointed. Just holding this piece brings you right back in the feel and smell of the 70's.

Un album ritenuto un capolavoro. Non stanca mai, si lascia ascoltare con molto piacere, i testi esprimono un attenzione a temi sociali e personali. Da avere

Inutile de revenir sur la musique, superbe, proposée ici car tout a été dit et redit : cet album magnifique constitue un sommet. Ce qui mérite d'être précisé, c'est la qualité superlative du vinyle : pressage impeccable, restitution musicale parfaite. Par rapport au cd que je possède il n'y a pas photo, cette édition vinyle le surclasse dans tous les registres : dynamique, ampleur de la scène sonore, profondeur des basses, naturel des médiums et subtilité des aigus.