Reissues

Rip It Up, Issue 214, 1 June 1995, Page 28

Reissues

MARVIN GAYE The Master 1961-1984 . (Motown) ■. v -J < . There are three things that make me exceptionally happy — being fast asleep, being dead drunk; or listening to Marvin Gaye. He has the ability to deliver what many human beings seek, transcendence — he can take you away from yourself — and he sings,- as the Commodores observed, with “his heart in every line.” ' \ : .•; ,

Smokey Robinson once remarked, “the driving force behind Marvin Gaye’s immense talent was his pain. Marvin was a soul that was basically in pain.” The result of this was that his life could be mapped out in his songs, and at the root of all Marvin’s songs was love, either true love or the kind that at its worst, screws you up for life. But this approach to his music wasn’t calculated or designed to gain him sympathy, he was just very upfront, and very honest, and that’s what I appreciate most about him, of many things I could claim. The four CD box-set The Master, is a companion to the 1994 release, The Marvin Gaye Collection, a grouping of the albums Let's Get It On, I Want You, Trouble Man, and an album of previously unreleased tracks, Love Starved Heart. The Master is a visually glorious piece of work, filled with lavish colour and black and white portraits of Marvin, a comprehensive discography, and liner notes written by David Ritz, author of the Marvin biography Divided Soul.

Disc One covers Marvin’s first three years at Motown, though ignores his first six months with the label, when his dream to become a crooner in the style of Frank Sinatra produced the failed album The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye. Convinced by Motown founder Berry Gordy that he needed to establish a young audience, both black and white, before he could crack the adult market, Marvin went crazy in the studio, recording his own compositions and those of Norman Whitfield and the legendary trio Holland/Dozier/Holland. His first success was the autobiographical ‘Stubborn Kind Of Fellow’, which was followed by a string of hits including ‘Can I Get A Witness’, and ‘How Sweet It Is’. On the recordings from this early period of his career, Marvin’s voice is so effortlessly powerful and beautiful at the same time, not yet tainted by the painful end to his marriage to Gordy’s sister, Anna. It wasn’t until later in the decade that the songs he would record would begin to feature stories of yearning and despair. Not only was Marvin scoring hits solo, in the mid to late sixties, Gordy began to pair him with various female vocalists including Mary Wells, Kim Weston, and Marvin's eventual favourite singing partner, Tammi Terrell. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, ‘lf I Could Build My Whole World Around You’, ‘Your Precious Love’, ‘Ain’t Nothing Like The -Real Thing’, ‘Keep On Lovin’ Me Honey’, and ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’, all became instant classics once recorded by the duo. Much of disc two is devoted to this optimistic and fruitful period, but is indispersed with tracks not written by Marvin, but ones he insisted on recording — ‘This Love Starved Heart Of Mine (It’s Killing Me), ‘More Than A Heart Can Stand’, ‘How Can I Forget’ — that point to the inner turmoil that was destroying him, but was also responsible for the most memorable songs of his career. At the start of the 70s, Marvin decided to set his own agenda, he chose a new artistic direction of his own making, began to produce himself for the first time, and recorded mostly his own compositions or those he had co-written. The first release was What's Going On, a landmark in soul music. Inspired to a degree by

Marvin’s younger brother’s experiences in the Vietnam war, What's Going On reflected his desire to tell more personalised stories, and the album reflected his views on Vietnam, racism, his social concerns, and religion. It was also the first evidence of Marvin’s voice acquiring a tortured, angst ridden tone that made every word sound despairing. Not unrelated to this was the death of Tammi Terrell during the recording of the album, due to a massive brain tumour.

After recording the predominantly instrumental soundtrack Trouble Man, Marvin made an album that’s sound was so far removed from that of What’s Going On, that no one could have predicted it. By 1973 he had met 16 year old Janis Hunter, who proved the inspiration for Let’s Get It On — an sultry unbridled celebration of lust and sexual hedonism. The Master would be worth its purchase price for the title track alone. Marvin’s last partnership on record was with Diana Ross, and featured here are ‘My Mistake (Was To Love You)’ and ‘Pledging My Love’. Disc four features perhaps the most disturbing recordings of Marvin’s life. Towards the end of the decade, his use of marijuana and cocaine had become more than excessive, he lived in a constant state of drug-induced paranoia, and his divorce from Anna Gordy was a bitter and nasty affair. 1978’s Here, My Dear was the outcome, a brutally honest account of the decay of the relationship. ‘When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You’, ‘Anger’, and ‘Anna’s Song’ are lifted from that period. His last album for Motown was 1981's In My Lifetime, the relationship severed after Marvin claimed the label released the record without his permission. He emigrated to Belgium, where in 1982 he made the album Midnight Love, and had a worldwide smash with ‘Sexual Healing’. What many hoped would be a lengthy new chapter in the life of Marvin Gaye was brought to an end in April 1984, when he was shot dead in Los Angeles by his father. It’s been proven time and time again that the most creative of artists, those born with a natural .gift, tend to be the most emotionally damaged, and despite bringing happiness to thousands, never find it themselves. You only have to listen to the hysteria recorded on Marvin: Live At The London Palladium, to realise how many people the world over thrill to the sound of his. voice. Though it may sound ignorant or naive, he will remain for me, the greatest singer who ever lived.

JOHN RUSSELL