Bt Motown Songs: Suprem, Gaye, Stevie Wonr, Smokey Robson – Rollg Stone

Contents:

• EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE
• EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE – 10 OF THE BT
• EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE
• MARV GAYE'S 10 GREATT SONGS EVER, RANKED
• MARV GAYE

EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE

Facebook (MarvGaye). Marv Gaye. Marv Pentz Gay, Jr.

There's some great mic here; jt don't expect to fill your Marv Gaye llectn wh this one disc, and you'll be jt fe. After fg “the sound of young Ameri” wh the mid-Sixti pop elegance of Mary Wells, the Miracl, Marv Gaye, and the Temptatns, and the girl-group glory of the Suprem, the Marvelett, and Martha and the Vanllas, the label’s two most visnary artists, Gaye and Stevie Wonr, phed agast Gordy’s dictatorial le to create adventuro, socially nsc landmark Seventi albums like What’s Gog On and Innervisns, which expand Motown’s spe while stayg te to s re hmakg valu. The Origals only appeared as backup sgers through most of the Sixti, until they fally had a h wh a “Baby, I’m for Real, ” produced by Marv Gaye and -wrten wh his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye.

They followed the next year wh equally lovely “The Bells, ” another h -thored and produced by Gaye.

EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE

Marv Gaye, “Trouble Man” (1972). Marv Gaye ma his big sre wh Trouble Man, the 1972 thriller about a ghetto kgp named Mister T. Gaye sgs about street life his falsetto, clarg, “There’s only three thgs life that’s sure — tax, ath, and trouble.

But stori of the label the Seventi tend to foc on Stevie Wonr and Marv Gaye, to the excln of others. Marv Gaye, “Can I Get a Wns” (1963).

MARV GAYE – 10 OF THE BT

Wh a boogie-woogie piano and church-steeped lyrics that blurred the sacred and the secular, “I Got a Wns” is arguably Gaye’s first classic h, arrivg September 1963. Marv Gaye, “I Want You” (1976). Gaye’s early Seventi albums tend to get more attentn than his work later the , but 1976’s I Want You is wildly amb and recklsly groovy, maybe nowhere more than s tle song.

Gaye threads multracked backg vols throughout almost the entire tune, sometim echog the lead lyric, sometim breakg the spell wh shatterg ad-libs — then kntg everythg back together by bathg the whole track the prettit of “ooohs” and “aaahs. Marv Gaye and Tammi Terrell, “A’t No Mounta High Enough” (1967). Marv Gaye, “A’t That Peculiar” (1965).

EVERY GREAT MOTOWN H OF MARV GAYE

Sce Smokey Robson wrote Marv Gaye’s first Number 1 R&B h, “I’ll Be Doggone, ” standard Motown operatg procre dictated that Robson produce the follow-up, too. Sweetened by female backg group the Adant, and showsg Gaye’s gift for ridg a great groove through the verse and brgg home on the chos, this went to Number One on the R&B Sgl chart and to the Top 10 of the Pop Sgl chart 1965. Marv Gaye / Tammi Terrell.

Aid by some excellent songs and productns by Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Marv Gaye and Tammi Terrell set a high bar for duets that will be hard to surpass. Hch HikeMarv Pentz Gay Jr’s earlit experienc of sgg public me when he was three, performg as a part of his father’s church choir Washgton DC. Gaye ially showed no particular sire to bee an R&B performer, however, and stead strove to succeed as a jazz mician, perhaps bee of his agonisg shyns – a tra that was often evint throughout early live performanc.

MARV GAYE'S 10 GREATT SONGS EVER, RANKED

Hch Hike was released as a dance song – Gaye rerd the dms and piano himself – showsg the sger’s soulful vol range. Watch Marv Gaye perform Hch Hike on US televisn 19622. A’t No Mounta High Enough (wh Tammi Terrell)After havg hs wh duets wh Mary Wells and Kim Wton, Gaye was teamed wh Tammi Terrell, who was hired pecially for the job, 1967.

Between 1967 and 1969, Gaye and Terrell went on to rerd three albums together, and released a host of succsful sgl, most of which were also wrten by Ashford and Simpson. Though their relatnship was purely platonic, Terrell’s impact on Gaye’s life and reer was immeasurable, and her ath led to him to prsn and dg abe – neher of which he ever tly overme, almost g him to qu mic.

Gaye’s reactn to Terrell’s ath would also profoundly fluence his future work, particularly his trospective 1971 masterpiece: What’s Gog On. I Heard It Through The Grapeve Durg 1968, Motown worked on a new album wh Gaye, after a uple of years which he had released only sgl.

MARV GAYE

Though Gladys Knight & the Pips’ 1967 versn of I Heard Through the Grapeve had bee Motown’s biggt sellg sgle so far, Gaye’s rendn om those ssns provid his mercial breakthrough, givg him his first US No 1.

Gaye’s paranoid terpretatn of the track is sensatnal, far more omo than Knight’s, wh s slower tempo and broodg vols.

The sgle was so succsful, fact, that Gaye’s 1968 album In the Groove was later reissued and retled I Heard It Through The Grapeve.

What’s Gog OnWhat’s Gog On, om 1971, was the first album Gaye produced himself, and proved to be a stark ntrast to his back talogue, as he unveiled a social nscience. The rt of the Tops weren’t terted, but Benson nvced Gaye to take on. Gaye adopted the song’s ial ncept and reworked , lyrilly and melodilly, addg his own personal experienc to the mix.

The Vietnam war experienc of Gaye’s brother Frankie played a val role spirg the album’s overall ncept – the perspective of a veteran returng home to Ameri, only to be greeted by a plague of sufferg and to What’s Gog On by Marv Gaye5. Mercy, Mercy Me (The Elogy)The send sgle om What’s Gog On, Mercy, Mercy Me (The Elogy), was wrten by Gaye, who also played piano and mellotron on the song.

Gaye was mourng mankd’s mistreatment of the world, but also expandg his visn to clu the chemil weapons ed by the US ary Vietnam to stroy the vegetatn ed by the Vietng as ver and the rice paddi they relied on for food.