Marvin Gaye – Trouble Man (40th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (1972/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:00:51 minutes | 2,23 GB | Genre: R&B, Soul, Soundtrack
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

„In 1972, things were rapidly shifting in Marvin Gaye’s world. He was coming off of one of his most wide-reaching hit albums with 1971’s instant classic What’s Going On, and his recording contract with Motown subsidiary Tamla was renewed for a cool million dollars and total creative control, making him one of the most successful R&B artists of his day. With Motown’s offices migrating west from Detroit to Los Angeles, Gaye followed suit, beginning work on Trouble Man, both the score to a blaxploitation film of the same name and the soundtrack that would be his next album. With minimal singing (Gaye sings through only the title track, adding fragmentary vocalizations minimally throughout the rest of the album), Gaye wrote, arranged, and conducted the entire soundtrack, working with both Motown players and a full orchestra over the course of its recording. It’s been speculated by some that Trouble Man was a concerted effort to move away from the expectations of a carbon-copy follow-up to the almost immeasurably high standards of What’s Going On, but it’s best to look at the record as an entity unto itself rather than the next Marvin Gaye album in the chain. Though largely absent of his one-of-a-kind vocal presence, the arrangements are richer and more sophisticated than the majority of early blaxploitation fare, with some of the same theatricality and filmic urgency of the best Morricone or David Axelrod soundtracks. With instrumentation more ambitious than even the enormity of What’s Going On, Trouble Man never stays in one place for long. “‘T’ Plays It Cool” paints a hustling cityscape with its solid beat and nervous synthesizer bubbles. Plaintive sax trades verses with rudimentary keyboards and Marvin’s soulful wails on “Life Is a Gamble,” and mournful passages of chamber strings give way to bounding funk grooves. Isaac Hayes’ Shaft soundtrack would become debatably more widely remembered than the movie it scored, and Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly soundtrack had a similar reception. Likewise, Trouble Man the soundtrack album outperformed Trouble Man the movie by leaps and bounds, enjoying Top 20 chart success in its day while the movie sank rapidly into obscurity. Looking at the album outside the trends of its era and inward to the art that Gaye was sculpting shows Trouble Man as a mostly wordless statement on the rapidly changing times for both young black America and Marvin’s personal life. The compositions well over with equal parts tension and detached cool, moving through modes of heartbreaking struggle, searching wonder, and playful street scenes. While it’s been relegated to the lesser status of Gaye’s one-off blaxploitation soundtrack, it rises far above the wandering wah-wah guitars and dated bongos of its peers. Trouble Man might not be as immediate or universally relatable as Gaye’s soul-searching on What’s Going On or his later sensual fixations, but a deep listen will show it’s very much part of the same overarching genius that touched all of his work. [This expanded 40th anniversary edition includes the original LP, original film score, and also outtakes and working sketches from the recording sessions.]“

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Together (1964/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 27:55 minutes | 1,10 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

Together is the first and only studio album released by the duo team of American Motown artists Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells. It was released on the Motown label on April 15, 1964. The album brought together the rising star Gaye with Wells, an established star with a number-one pop hit to her name (1964’s “My Guy”), singing mostly standards and show tunes, in the hopes that Gaye would benefit from the exposure.

This album became the first charted album credited to Gaye, peaking at number 42 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and yielding two top 20 singles, “Once Upon a Time” and “What’s the Matter with You Baby”. Shortly afterwards, Wells, who received bad advice from her former husband and manager, left Motown upon reaching 21. The label had to find another duet partner for Gaye, enlisting Kim Weston for one album, Take Two, also consisting of similar material, but later yielding a longer-lasting pairing of Gaye with Tammi Terrell, with more contemporary material.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye (1961/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:39 minutes | 866 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

That in the years after the release of this album Marvin Gaye became one of the greatest and most influential singers in the fields of soul and R&B is hardly a matter for discussion. What kind of impression the listening public might have picked up from Soulful Moods, his debut recording project, is another question, as it is certainly an uncharacteristic collection. It starts off with a whole run of standard numbers from the great era of American songwriting before tossing in a couple of trivial numbers from the developing Motown stable, including a Berry Gordy number that compares most unfavorably with the Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart numbers that surround it. Fans of saloon singing may be curious to know how well Gaye fares in this difficult genre, and for the most part these are fine performances considering the versatile range of his voice and the depth of feeling he brought to most of his performances. No, this is not Gaye with a fully developed style, and it is hardly the innovative legend of Let’s Get It On or What’s Going On but there is nothing he could have been embarrassed about here. The studio musicians come up with nice arrangements of the material, sometimes even with hints of the punch they would bring to his later, chart-topping material. – Eugene Chadbourne

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – The Marvin Gaye Collection (2004/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:25 minutes | 786 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

Over the course of his career Marvin Gaye was a one-man hit machine, placing 67 of his songs on the Billboard charts. Forty-one songs broke the top 40, 18 made it to top 10 and three songs went all the way to number one. This package includes several of those charted hits and is a starting point in building an essential Marvin Gaye collection.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – That’s The Way Love Is (1970/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:55 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

One of the most iconic singers of his generation, Marvin Gaye aka The Prince of Motown, was cited for his ‘huge contribution to soul music in general and the Motown Sound in particular…[his] classic R&B voice was edged with grit yet tempered with sweetness…[projecting] an air of soulful authority driven by fervid conviction and heartbroken vulnerability.’ In correlation with the Marvin Gaye Volume Two 1966-1970 box set which picked right up where the 1961-1965 box set left off, the albums – Moods of Marvin Gaye (1966), Take Two with Kim Weston (1966), United with Tammi Terrell, (1967) In The Groove aka I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1968), You’re All I Need with Tammi Terrell (1968), M.P.G. (1969), Easy with Tammi Terrell (1969) and That’s The Way Love Is (1970) – are all being offered individually on 180g vinyl. During this fruitful period Marvin produced such timeless hits as ‘It Takes Two’ with Kim Weston, plus numerous duets with Tammi Terrell including ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,’ ‘Your Precious Love,’ ‘Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,’ and ‘You’re All I Need to Get By.’

A fine two-in-one album with two of Gaye’s better love/romantic albums. He was deeply influenced by Nat ‘King’ Cole and loved Frank Sinatra, and their impact registers in his phrasing and style throughout the Many Moods album. The other LP included a superb hit in the title track and plenty of good supporting material.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – That Stubborn Kinda’ Fellow (1963/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 25:04 minutes | 616 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

Vintage Gaye and Motown, following all the formulas that made the label the ’60s’ finest record company. The title track was an instant classic, among his finest ’60s uptempo tunes. The other cuts are just as fantastic, and any doubts anyone might have had about Gaye were immediately and forever quashed with this album. – Ron Wynn

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Take Two (1966/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:25 minutes | 1,28 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

Although they weren’t as great a team as Gaye and Tammi Terrell, the Gaye/Weston duo turned out a few solid numbers. The finest was “It Takes Two,” a steamy bit of uptempo soul that came close to equaling any fast duet number Gaye ever made at Motown. The rest was well done, but not quite on the same level.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Save The World Remix Suite (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 16:43 minutes | 395 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

To accompany the 50th Anniversary reissue of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Motown/UMe releases a four-track remix suite from GRAMMY®-nominated producer Salaam Remi, known for his work with countless hip hop, pop, and R&B icons. The suite includes remixes of What’s Going On tracks, which includes “No Need,” an unreleased instrumental from the “Sad Tomorrows” sessions, as well as a reinterpretation of the holiday release “I Want To Come Home For Christmas,” originally recorded in 1972 and thematically tied to What’s Going On as a tribute to the Vietnam troops yearning to be with their families for the holidays.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Moods Of Marvin Gaye (1966/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:09 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

After Marvin Gaye recorded tributes to Broadway and Nat King Cole in the previous two years, Motown fans may have had their suspicions raised by an LP titled Moods of Marvin Gaye. Yes, there are a few supper-club standards to be found here, but Gaye moves smoothly between good-time soul and adult pop. Most important are his first two R&B number ones, “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Particular,” both from 1965 and both produced by Smokey Robinson. Berry Gordy’s right-hand man also helmed “Take This Heart of Mine” and “One More Heartache,” another pair of big R&B scores, and just as good as the better-known hits. As for the copyrights not owned by Jobete, the chestnut “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” certainly didn’t need another reading, but Gaye’s take on Willie Nelson’s after-hours classic “Night Life” was inspired. Marvin Gaye was improving with every record, gaining in character and strength of performance, and Moods of Marvin Gaye is a radically better record than its predecessors.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Marvin Gaye Recorded Live On Stage (1963/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 26:45 minutes | 677 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage is the first live album released by singer Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label. Recorded during a Motortown Revue show at Chicago’s Regal Theater, the album showcased the musician performing early hits such as “Stubborn Kind of Fellow”, “Pride and Joy” and “Hitch Hike” while also adding in unreleased numbers including “One of These Days” (a studio version was released on the b-side of “Pride And Joy” and later as a track on Gaye’s 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye), “Mo Jo Hanna” and That Stubborn Kinda Fellow album track, “Get My Hands on Some Lovin'” while also singing three covers – the jazz standard, “Days of Wine and Roses”, blues song “Mo Jo Hanna” and his cover of Ray Charles’ R&B version of “You Are My Sunshine”.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Marvin Gaye Live! (1974/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 43:35 minutes | 1,89 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

Marvin Gaye Live! is the second live album issued by soul musician Marvin Gaye. In 1973, Gaye released his greatest-selling album, Let’s Get It On, which made him the biggest-selling Motown artist during his lifetime. Motown Records, Gaye’s label for over a decade, had long wanted Gaye to promote his recordings with a national tour but the rebellious singer, who had begun suffering from stage fright after the collapse of his beloved singing duet partner Tammi Terrell in October 1967 and whom later died of a brain tumor two and a half years later in March 1970, had refused to return to live performing only agreeing to do it only at sporadic times including when he was honored in his hometown in Washington, D.C. in May 1972 and performed at the Kennedy Center and briefly on the 1973 film, Save the Children. But with the success of Let’s Get It On and Gaye’s now-increasing spending habit, he reluctantly agreed to start touring again in the beginning of 1974. After rescheduling the concert for January 4, 1974, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, Gaye took the stage in front of 14,000-plus screaming fans. He performed a new song which he dedicated to his girlfriend Janis Hunter titled “Jan” and performed most of his 1970s repertoire, only including his 1960s classics in a sped-up “Fossil Medley”. Throughout his tours, Gaye began developing performance anxiety and had feared the public reception. To test the public, he reportedly forced his younger brother Frankie to come out before being confident enough to come out afterwards. The biggest fan response on the album came when Gaye retooled his song, “Distant Lover”, into a slower-paced version starting the song out as he segued from “Theme from Trouble Man” (seventh track from his Trouble Man album) to the song itself producing female shrieks, which kept up as Gaye continued his show-stopping performance of the song. The performance soon became a Gaye trademark onstage and the singer continued to perform the song in that similar style until his final performances in the 1980s. (Wiki)

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Marvin (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:17 minutes | 660 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Before 1962 Recordings

Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), Was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, earning him the nicknames “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – M.P.G. (1969/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:34 minutes | 1,66 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNI – MOTOWN

An underrated late ’60s album, this one has sometimes been overlooked because it seemed like a generic throwaway. But it included some outstanding songs. Motown wisely has included it on their list of Gaye albums that got reissued on CD.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Live At The London Palladium (1977/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:18:19 minutes | 3,14 GB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

Recorded over the course of several shows at the Palladium in London in October, 1976, this set captures Marvin Gaye at a crossroads both personally and in his career. He reportedly agreed to tour Europe to make a fresh start, distance himself from his problems and make some quick money to pay off debts. None of the troubled artist is apparent in Gaye’s performances as he soulfully covers material from his entire career up to that point. Of special note are three lengthy, intimate medleys of early hits. The only studio recording on this album is the side-long disco song Got to Give It Up which was tacked onto the original double vinyl to capitalize on the growing disco craze of the mid 1970s. Live At The London Palladium was a surprise hit in 1977, selling two million copies in the US and becoming one of the top ten best-selling albums of the year. An edited single version of Got to Give It Up reached number one on the Billboard singles chart.

(more…)

Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On (1973/1998) (1973/1998)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 31:48 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Motown

The most commercially successful album of Marvin Gaye’s career, Let’s Get It On also stands among the artist’s most critically acclaimed work. The record–the best selling soul album of 1973–reached #2 on the Billboard Chart and yielded three massive singles: “Let’s Get It On”, “Come Get to This”, and “You Sure Love to Ball.” The album was included in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

(more…)