Marv Gaye: You’re the Man Album Review | Pchfork

Contents:

• MARV GAYE’S LOST ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ FOLLOW UP, ‘YOU’RE THE MAN,’ SET FOR RELEASE
• MARV GAYE YOU'RE THE MAN
• MARV GAYE: YOU’RE THE MAN
• MARV GAYE - YOU'RE THE MAN

MARV GAYE’S LOST ‘WHAT’S GOG ON’ FOLLOW UP, ‘YOU’RE THE MAN,’ SET FOR RELEASE

Morally right-on, emotnally vulnerable, and still milly avant-gar, Marv Gaye’s prevly unreleased 1972 album You’re the Man is the timels sound of a btible rhythm and blu. 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.

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.

It’s not a ncise, perfectly nstcted ncept album like Gaye’s 1971 What’s Gog On, his erotic 1973 Let’s Get It On or his 1976 timate masterpiece I Want You.

MARV GAYE YOU'RE THE MAN

There was, after all, a reason Gaye chose to shelve You’re the Man. And an sential qutn lgers: Is You’re the Man really a fished rerd that Gaye would have wanted released?

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. Gaye rried the msage mic torch of Motown artists like The Temptatns, Edw Starr, Martha Reev, and Steve Wonr to gurate the early 1970s FM-rad era of the black prott rerd.

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. In 1972, Gaye was and out of studs Detro and L. 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.

MARV GAYE: YOU’RE THE 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). But Gaye rerd “The World is Rated X” at a moment marked by the growg populary of blaxploatn films like Superfly.

MARV GAYE - YOU'RE THE MAN

In that void, black micians like Marv Gaye, Aretha Frankl, Bill Whers, and Stevie Wonr emerged as quasi-Msianistic, ethil figur the muny. 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.

“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. ”Gaye’s yearng timacy extend to fay suatns, as well.

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. Gaye pleads wh this newly ee and emancipated lady who has ught his eye to remember their childhood days. It pal pared to Curtis Mayfield’s lovg 1970 “Miss Black Ameri” or the visn of mutualy between men and women that later rmed Gaye’s 1976 Leon Ware -posed album I Want You.

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. You’re the Man reveals Marv Gaye as a multidimensnal, plited human beg who serv our rpect, but not necsarily our unchecked worship—no more so than the polil figur he so rightly criqu.