Listen To Marv Gaye's Lost Album, 'You're The Man' : NPR

Contents:

• MARV GAYE: YOU'RE THE MAN REVIEW – 'LOST ALBUM' SS AT CROSSROADS OF SOUL
• ALBUM REVIEW: MARV GAYE’S ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’
• MARV GAYE – ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’ REVIEW
• MARV GAYE’S LOST ALBUM FDS HIM AT THE PEAK OF HIS CREATIVY
• A NEW POSTHUMO ALBUM REVEALS MARV GAYE AT A CROSSROADS
• HOW DO YOU FOLLOW A MASTERPIECE? MARV GAYE TRIED WH 'YOU'RE THE MAN'
• MARV GAYE - YOU'RE THE MAN (2019)
• REVIEW: MARV GAYE - YOU’RE THE MAN
• ALBUM REVIEW OF YOU'RE THE MAN BY MARV GAYE.
• MARV GAYE: YOU'RE THE MAN
• MARV GAYE YOU'RE THE MAN
• ALBUM REVIEW: MARV GAYE’S ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’

MARV GAYE: YOU'RE THE MAN REVIEW – 'LOST ALBUM' SS AT CROSSROADS OF SOUL

Gaye’s 1972 anti-Nixon clapbacks on You’re the Man —such as “magogu and admted mory haters should never be print”—uld jt as easily apply to the ghastly failgs of today’s crooked Tmp the 1970s, Gaye emerged as a seer, diggg for ep groov the effort to realize an all-clive, mocratic world that still seems beyond our reach. Troubled by imperial war, hypocril ernments, exclnary racial polici, and loomg elogil disasters, Marv Gaye was the mician-as-dissint, strivg for liberatn that he himself never personally managed to achieve durg his lifetime.

ALBUM REVIEW: MARV GAYE’S ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’

Wh the urse of a sgle album, Gaye uld e off as nsc, pensive, ncerned, driven, mted, topil, tough, sexy, urbane, hypnotic, tortured, troubled, hip, relig, fiant, disillned, high-flyg, fiant, blunted, and ’re the Man ptur those wi-rangg preccts, punctuatg them wh mmerizg flights to black power era funk and soul by way of nga-tged groov.

MARV GAYE – ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’ REVIEW

But hearg 47 years after was abandoned, You’re the Man throws time self to relief, offerg revisnist sight to how Gaye managed his creativy the immediate aftermath of his naway early ’70s one year before the release of “You’re the Man, ” 1971, Gaye shed his crooner-baret Mr. And alongsi figur like Isaac Hay and Curtis Mayfield, Gaye helped turned 1971 to the year where black albums mattered as much or more than all acunts, however, Gaye privately stggled wh how to follow up What’s Gog On.

MARV GAYE’S LOST ALBUM FDS HIM AT THE PEAK OF HIS CREATIVY

To be near Motown’s new headquarters, Gaye nervoly abandoned plans to release all those other songs he’d been workg on for a year, pursug stead other optns like his duet album wh Diana Ross, and an origal sre to the film Trouble Man. A year later, 1973, Gaye released the mercial smash Let’s Get It On, his official stud follow-up to What’s Gog On, ntroversially leavg behd his excursn to polil subject matter favor of boudoir by his What’s Gog On llaborator Kenh Stover, and one of the last tracks he ever rerd at Motown Detro, You’re the Man’s srchg tle tune remas an astonishg synthis of the queasy, tricky state of Amerin electoral polics the early 1970s—’s an orphaned masterpiece about hollow mpaign promis disnnected om polil actn have imperiled Amerin mocracy.

When Gaye blurts out the tle song “bg is the issue” (on the alternate versn of the track, he downgras the ncern to “bg is jt one issue”) he’s specifilly referrg to the way segregatnist ndidate Gee Wallace had turned urt-orred bg—a liberal move meant to speed up the tegratn of public schools— to a ntent issue every mocratic hopeful had to addrs to stay the that tumultuo electn year, black folks’ tert renstctg society to ensure full participatn for all was upend by more pragmatic ncerns related to wng electoral seats. Gaye serv up holler-worthy lyrics like “I believe Ameri’s at stake, ” “Polics and hypocr are turng all to lunatics, ” and “Don’t you unrstand/There’s misery the land” over a simmerg rhythm track marked by his signature mor sevenths and spend chords. ” The track also featur Gaye’s tramark vol stylgs (he’d rporate multiple tracks of lead vol; he sentially sgs unterpot to himself) along wh a full array of halatns, blurted-out whoos, whelps and squelch, as if to suggt that words themselv n’t nvey the sheer emotnaly and toll of the subject matter.

“The World Is Rated X” is a screed agast s that appears to want to supprs ’70s libertarian permissivens favor of nservative rpectabily polics (pecially when Gaye croons “God is watchg, he knows where you’re at, ” as the track fas). In rerdg “The World Is Rated X, ” Gaye poss himself as a hero, savg om our own munal scent to retrogra ’s boho-hippie, Ao-Christian, universalist love ethic also extends to secular, more romantic ncerns on the album, too. The sctive “I’m Gonna Give You Rpect” blaz wh horns, blarg tom-toms and Pips/Chi-L style harmoni; sps a story about how Gaye’s secury that his girl might leave him mak him want to be a more rpectful man.

A NEW POSTHUMO ALBUM REVEALS MARV GAYE AT A CROSSROADS

“You’re That Special One, ” “We Can Make It Baby, ” “I’d Give My Life for You” and “Symphony (the latter two newly mixed by Salaam Remi) are so-so romantic tun, at least the grand ntext of the Gaye mil non. But romantic, sax-heavy “My Last Chance” lets Gaye show off his feathere, supple tenor: “May I have this last dance/his is my chance to get close to you” he sgs, as he nfs “I’m jt a shy guy/I’m so nervo/Girl, but I got to try. As Gaye chimed on about a woman print, numero black women micians—om Roberta Flack and Na Simone to Mavis Stapl and Aretha Frankl—ma equally profound artistic statements, bg race, genr, polics, and pleasure tersectnal ways their male unterparts ually failed to way which black women were both polilly active the early 1970s and yet supprsed by sexist and racist tablishment glass ceilgs is also what mak “Woman of the World” You’re the Man’s most bonehead cut.

Coupled wh what we now know of Gaye’s history of troublg emotnal and physil vlence (ex-wife Jan Gaye alleg her 2015 bgraphy, -thored wh David Rz, that he abed her), the sger-songwrer may have been prophetic wh regards to race and class, but not so much when me to femism and women’s s highs and lows, You’re the Man—a self-nceled/lost Marv Gaye album that has now arrived 47 years later the midst of ncel culture—is a fascatg glimpse to what one of the great pop mic artists of the 20th century strategilly allowed the culture to see—and what he didn’t. Jt as the tle track remds that charismatic polil lears often fail , the album as a whole advertently remds that the culture don’t rise and fall on charismatic male mic ins like Marv Gaye and John Lennon—and others wh qutnable behavr or rap sheets— the way did when they seemed like sgular, dispensable revolutnary hero. In the wake of What’s Gog On, Gaye had been named trendsetter of the year by Billboard magaze, and re-signed wh Motown what was, at the time, the most lucrative al ever stck by a black Gaye: You’re the Man album artworkBut, as was variably the se Gaye’s plex and troubled life, all was not as seemed.

HOW DO YOU FOLLOW A MASTERPIECE? MARV GAYE TRIED WH 'YOU'RE THE MAN'

When Gordy heard Gaye’s next sgle, You’re the Man – a bleak, diststful asssment of the 1972 US printial mpaign, tend as the tle track of a forthg album but lackg the kd of lc melodi that had flowed through What’s Gog On – he eher panicked or olly enacted revenge for Gaye’s earlier revolt: Motown pulled promotn and prsured rad statns to drop om their playlists, ensurg 17-track llectn named after that song tri to make sense of what happened next. He reworked You’re the Man the hazy, shimmerg style of that album, and rerd Woman of the World – an ostensibly breezy o to femism that on closer spectn seems to be grog that women’s lib is terferg wh the more important bs of Marv Gaye gettg his leg over. The fantastic The World Is Rated X siarly suggts that his attu had bee more cynil than that of the satly figure pleadg we Save the Children a year other ssns, however, Gaye behaved as though he thought Gordy might have had a pot, meekly returng to Motown bs as ual.

To say what they rerd is standard-issue lightweight early 70s Motown pop would be unrsellg slightly – I’m Gonna Give You Rpect is a fabulo, effervcent song, and Gaye giv his all – but ’s a world away om Inner Cy Blu or What’s Happeng Brother. If his approach is margally more subtle than the late-80s practice of jt whackg a dm mache on top of a vtage track, ’s clearly gog to date a way the origal rerdg – released 2009 on the luxe edn of Gaye’s 1973 album Let’s Get It On – has found his route out of nfn by unlikely means, rerdg a Christmas sgle that Motown cled to release.

Wh 1971’s “What’s Gog On, ” Marv Gaye proved that he uld make and bake his own ke, and eat , too… that he uld tra his suave, lover-man pose and bonair vil-may-re attu for lyril activism and righteo dignatn… and that he uld take the smooth, soulful voice that ma him a pop superstar and e s mellifluo ton to quietly rant about the issu plagug Ameri, black and whe. Origally, Gaye’s goal was the moody mish-mash of oddly angled R&B melodi, slippery funk puls and (mostly) munal nscns-rich lyrics that fill “You’re the Man, ” which is fally fdg s very belated release 2019. For anyone terted how Marv would f the prent day of Childish, Janelle and Solange, this h “lost” album, rerd 1972, is the answer, even if Gaye origally left that qutn open to njecture by shelvg s ssns for no apparent reason.

MARV GAYE - YOU'RE THE MAN (2019)

Whout preachg, Gaye and his multi-tracked lead vols (his new signature, plete wh “whooos” and “yeahs”) make the tle tune to a br-filled pilatn of his mpaign-era needs, as he ppots how bg and segregatn are tearg his people apart.

The war Vietnam and his brother Frankie’s hnted battle experienc that fueled the mood and exprsn of “What’s Gog On” flow elegantly through the tklg, mid-tempo “I Want To Come Home For Christmas, ” even as Gaye portrays the weight of “a prisoner of war… hopg my fay is well” wh a heavy heart.

REVIEW: MARV GAYE - YOU’RE THE MAN

That said, Gaye’s sonic romantic sensibili — the sensually stewg horns and Sound of Philalphia harmoni of “I’m Gonna Give You Rpect, ” or the lh and hhg “Symphony” — are on par wh his earlier smooth-operator classics. The album’s tle track and lead sgle, which was released to tap to the Printial Electns and is a wherg takedown of then-Print Richard Nixon, was emed a step too far by Motown boss Berry Gordy, whose own polics leaned a lot more to the right than Gaye’s. Although many of the songs om the 1972 ssns have ma out var forms over the years, this new release of the album, which clus h mix by Amy Wehoe and Nas producer Salaam Remi, marks the first time they’ve appeared together one set like Gaye had tend.

On songs such as ‘We Can Make It Baby’, a heavenly medatn on women’s rights, Gaye sounds optimistic and a ln away om the more bter volist who got lost a haze of e six years later wh sarstic break-up LP ‘Here, My Dear’. Tracks such as ‘Try It You’ll Like It’ and ‘Checkg Out (Double Clutch)’, meanwhile, show a far funkier, rawer edge to Gaye, who, 1972, clearly had his ear more tuned to Blaxploatn movi than gospel mic.

ALBUM REVIEW OF YOU'RE THE MAN BY MARV GAYE.

The notn of a “lost” Marv Gaye album om 1972 evok feelgs roughly ak to learng that Billy Wilr wrote and shot a whole movie between Some Like It Hot and The Apartment only to scrap durg the edg procs, or that durg his 1993–94 “retirement” season, Michael Jordan was actually secretly playg extremely tense pickup gam and also filmg them. In realy, the material on You’re the Man, the famoly aborted Marv Gaye LP that would have fallen directly between the tw masterpiec of What’s Gog On (1971) and Let’s Get It On (1973), isn’t really all that lost—many of the tracks have been floatg around var ntexts for years. But the album, released by Motown this week 47 years after s notorly fickle creator pulled the plug, is a wele addn to the official Gaye disgraphy, as well as a val document of the creative pnacle of one of Amerin mic’s most exquise talents.

MARV GAYE: YOU'RE THE MAN

” Gaye was no stranger to crossover succs: His 1968 rendn of “I Heard It Through the Grapeve” spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, and more recently What’s Gog On—an album that he had to fight Motown to get released—had placed three sgl the Top 10. Instead he turned his attentns to his sre for the blaxploatn flick Trouble Man (the film flopped, but Gaye’s soundtrack is magnificent) along wh the material that would bee Let’s Get It On, the hight-sellg album of his reer. The vol is a masterpiece of righteoly paranoid fury: “We don’t want to hear no more li/ about how you planned a promise, ” sgs Gaye, an apparent reference to Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the Vietnam War.

MARV GAYE YOU'RE THE MAN

It’s drenched jazz fluenc, and s arrangements and performanc pay tribute to Gaye’s idols like Nat Kg Cole and Frank Satra while still soundg utterly cuttg-edge, a qualy due no small part to the formidable work of Motown ssn micians like Joe Msa, Wild Bill Moore, and the parable Jam Jamerson.

The fluence of Gaye’s brother, Frankie, whose experienc Vietnam had spired much of What’s Gog On, is still prent as well: “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” opens like a standard holiday-homickns ballad, before revealg that the song’s narrator is fact a prisoner of war. As noted above, if you’re a Marv Gaye pletist, there won’t be all that much here that’s new to you—many of the tracks llected, like “The World Is Rated X, ” “I’m Gog Home (Move), ” and “We Can Make It Baby, ” have been prevly released on boxed sets like 1995’s The Master: 1961-1984 or as bon tracks on var luxe reissu.

ALBUM REVIEW: MARV GAYE’S ‘YOU’RE THE MAN’

The life that was vlently cut short that bafflg April day was a troubled and immensely plited one, but You’re the Man is a powerful remr that the world Marv Gaye left behd is immeasurably more betiful for the gifts he btowed upon . The project shows a brilliant and tormented artist explorg them that still ronate today, and reveals a potential dual path that Gaye would mostly abandon, which he might have been both a symbol of sex and an advote for prott, rather than doublg down on the former.

On the songs Gaye rerd for that release, he don’t back down: he gets existential about a untry filled wh “siwalk sleepers” “Where Are We Gog” and sgs “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” om the perspective of a somber Vietnam War POW.