909 Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear (1978)

Studio Album - Soul

About the Act:

Marvin Gaye was the son of a rather unpleasant Pentecostal minister, also called Marvin, who beat him, and had him sing in church from an early age. He obviously had singing talent and his mother encouraged him into a musical career. He started in 1957 in a vocal quartet called the Marquees, who then became Harvey and the New Moonglows, who worked as session singers until 1960. MArvin then worked as a session musician for a while, mostly on drums, it would seem. After Gaye had performed at the house of Berry Gordy, president of Motown, Berry bought Gaye's contract from Tri-Phi records and signed him to subsidiary Tamla. In a couple of years he started to have success as a singer.

He recorded 17 solo albums, and a further 6 collaborate albums with singers Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terell and Diana Ross, in turn. He married Berry Gordi's older sister Anna in 1963. In 1966 Denise Gordy, Anna's niece, gave birth to Marvin's son, Marvin III, whom Anna soon adopted. Anna and Marvin separated in 1973 and divorced in 1977. He married Janis Hunter in 1977, but they were separated in 1979 and divorced in 1981. 

Marvin was killed, one day before his 45th birthday, shot by his father during an argument.

He has been hugely successful and is regarded as one of the foundational acts of Motown Soul.

About the Album:

Now here's an album with a backstory! Marvin Gaye had recently finalised his divorce from Anna Gordy (sister of Berry Gordy, president of Motown), and had (somewhat reluctantly) agreed to give 50% of the royalties from his next Motown album to Anna, in lieu of alimony he couldn't pay. This was that album, and initially he intended it to be a deliberately bad album, but became obsessed with it and poured out his soul into the recording. It was a critical and commercial failure, and has long been thought a bad album, but more recently is getting better attention.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

When you put this album on in the background it sounds just like a fairly stereotypical soul album, with a very light touch and mostly slow songs, pretty mellow. This was how I first listened to it, in fact on my very first listen I had to turn it off because it irritated me. There is a wah-wah effect on the guitar which is used exceedingly often. I didn't really listen to the words. At this point I hadn't read up on the background to the album.

Then I did. Then I listened properly.

Musically, most of it is as I said, light soul, actually fairly rambling soul, as the song structures are mostly non-standard and feel a bit like a stream of consciousness. There are a couple of more funky songs, and that's good (in my opinion) and some really nice sax playing, especially in "Is that enough". It's a double album but the sides are quite short, so it comes in at just over 73 minutes, achievable on a single CD. There is a lot of light added percussion like congas and so on, and it's all very Marvin Gaye, smooth and gentle like a warm bath or silky smooth chocolate mousse. Marvin's singing is really excellent, as you might expect from a man of his reputation. It's not my musical cup of tea really, but I can admire the skill and the atmosphere.

Marvin didn't usually write the lyrics for his songs, but he did for this album. Mostly it's about his failed relationship with Anna, in fact most of the songs are addressed to her, and vary between wistful regret and bitter accusations. The songs that are not about that are generally about his new wife, Janis. Ironically his marriage to her was in deep trouble by the time this album was released.

As an exercise in honesty and self-examination, it has some merit, although has a somewhat one-sided and bitter feel. It's possibly more interesting as a result than a mediocre soul album, and I am torn between applauding the heart, and of course soul, and wishing it wasn't so bitter, and that it had more direction. 

6.3/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0YbHA3w82FSmpyXxdXfuCv

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcylJUhfApDBWsf7JIOLr_cAPADhX7KLj

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here,_My_Dear