Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
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Free Music Notes for What's Going On
Free Music Review: Soul symphony.
Hit: 5 Stars
It seems that the questions and messages of this album have long overshadowed the quality of the music itself. True, "What's Goin On?" is as pertinent question now as it was when this album was released, but there is nothing of significantly political proportion here. This is the personal statement of a man who was a product of his time and his society. What this album stands on is the music, not the message. Composed as an interweaving collection of songs sharing similar textures and melodic patterns, What's Goin On is a mesmerizing blend of jazz, R&B, soul, and pop music. I would call this the soul version of the Beach Boys classic Pet Sounds, in the way it unveils as a work in the genre that far outshines it's contemporaries in terms of its grand scale. To only listen to the words, one may be disappointed in cliches such as Save the Children, God is Love, etc. But taken in the context of the soundscapes that surrounds the words, and the passion with which Marvin Gay delivers them, it all comes together to present the message with perfect clarity and dramatic effect.
This album is sweet and funky, introspective and sad, yet optimistic. It is the result of a man struggling to create beauty and make sens of a world that seems increasingly harsh and difficult to live in. Take time to engage in this classic, it is one of the essential statements of the 20th Century, it is an album that should be passed on through generations, races, classes, gender, and every other imaginary boundary that we hem ourselves in. Open up and receive.
Free Music Review: One of the best ever in any genre.
Hit: 5 Stars
Always in the upper echelons of the greatest LP's of all time lists, and deservedly so.
One of the few benefits of getting old(er) is the historical perspective that comes with the privilege. For instance, it is one thing to read that this record was, in its time, unique - that it was the very first of its time - a full length soul album dealing with social issues. Curtis had, if I recall correctly, released a couple of great singles. But there was no album. However, when What's Going on was released it was a revelation and a revolution, and to think that Marvin had to fight Motown in order to get it done! Over the last forty-seven year there are many special moments that I recall as special. Obviously the first time I heard the Beatles stands out. The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Clapton, Jimi, the electrified Dylan on Like a Rolling Stone, Pet Sounds, Pepper, Kind of Blue, Led Zeppelin, In Utero and Thriller - milestones all. What's Going on belongs with these as a moment of great importance in the history of popular music. Remember, this was 1971. Less than a decade earlier popular R&B consisted of Stubborn Kind of Fellow and I'll be Doggone. Fabulous songs but miles away from the brilliant relevance of the title track, Mercy Mercy me, Inner City Blues, Right on or Flying High. What's Going on constitutes a 90 degree turn for Marvin and for popular urban black music. If you are reading this you do not need me to describe the music! Two years later Marvin released Let's Get it on. That's another story.
Free Music Review: Continues to leave an indelible impression
Hit: 5 Stars
I finally picked up "What's Going On" at age thirty, and I can now easily say that the old maxim that we become less impressionable to getting into new music after college is a fallacy. I quite literally have had this album in my laptop at work for eight months with barely a break. "WGO" is a true concept album, about all the social problems of the 70s; problems that continue to plague us today: war, pollution, poverty, child neglect, religious issues, drugs, racism...did I forget anything? Gaye's soulful poetry is as pertinent today as it was in those days of Vietnam, cocaine and rampant environmental destruction.
The album was responsible in many ways for soul music's message spreading to the community at large. I also enjoy it a lot for the variety of emotions that Gaye displays (and you can't help getting into his groove), ranging from an almost-disco hipness on the title track to the ethereal air of "Flying High", and the plaintive sadness of "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Save the Children." I can't help feeling sad and angry whenever I hear "Mercy," with the lyrics about oil spillage, fish full of mercury, animals and birds dying in the face of choking pollution; Gaye implored that the world do something about it, but it has not gone away.
However, neither has Gaye's message gone away, and it is because of great musical bards like him that we will forever be reminded that the problems of the past and the struggles of the human condition have always been the same.
Free Music Review: MARVIN'S MASTERSTATEMENT
Hit: 5 Stars
The reviewer below must have lived in a different universe than the one I did. Marvin Gaye was not killing 'soul'; pop record producers, and , yes, Berry Gordy was in on it, were doing that just fine. Marvin was sick and tired of the commercial 3 minute- 30 second pop venue, plus his tastes were changing, along with the world's. This album can not be described under any genre. It was not funk, and it was not what was being packaged as 'soul' at the time. It was...well, it was Marvin's honest statements about the world he saw, his own problems dealing, and a plea to God to 'let it be OK' - even though he knew deep down that it was "destined to die". This is not an easy album to listen to, once you get past the hits and the tremendous GROOVE laid down by the famous 'Funk Brothers' (who all cite this as one of their favorite projects). Marvin tells it straight, about his own troubles "Flyin' High" - and about his uneasiness about Humanity's willingness to make the world a better place. His final plea, "Mercy Mercy Me" is a lovely tune that belies it's deep and troubling message. Very audible in the "Remastered' CD are Marvin's whispered prayers all throughout the song. Perhaps the one tune that can be called a funk tune still has great social import - "Inner City Blues...". This is as good as it gets, this one. Now - the banal "Sexual Healing", "Let's Get It On" Marvin, you can take to task for selling soul out...but not this one.Free Music Review: Everyone should own a copy of this album.....
Hit: 5 Stars
Arguably one of the most gifted, visionary, positive thinking musicians of our time, that took the negativity of the issues around him (War, Urban Crime, Moral dissatisfaction), and used parts of his music to promote social awareness of the world around us....(although his music always carried a strong undercurrent of Love/Lust & Sex!!), and fused incredible soul grooves to unprecedented effect (that has yet to be better)...regarded as controversial at the time because he choose such `Taboo' topics such as "Unemployment, Civil rights, Urban dysfunction, Social injustice, Black solidarity" as well as calling into question "Government ethics, the Police departments integrity, ethnic groups social standing, And Americas Wide-spread racism". It's possibly due to Marvin's ability to construct Soul of such a life-affirming quality through the expressive mediums of Sax, Guitar, Drums, Keyboard & Piano that its very easy to become immersed in the music and completely forget the message that is painfully trying to be broadcasted here!!....and admittedly such social matters have improved significantly since then, and one of the then Motown bosses hated the album (probably due to it's topical content)..but it isn't enough to say that this is `One of the Greatest Albums ever made".....it's deserves much more than that....It's probably more just to say "That Its one of the most `Important' albums ever devised'.