The Black John Lennon (What's Going On - Marvin Gaye)

Member Name: Stephen J. Key

Product:	What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Date:	20/09/01 (431 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Listen to the longest 35 minutes of your life, a heartfelt plea to the common man, full of warmth and spirituality.

Disadvantages: None

In the early 90’s Janet Jackson said of Marvin Gaye “He’s our John Lennon……The longer he’s gone the more young people appreciate his art. What’s going On was a work of genius far ahead of it’s time.”

The simalarities are recognisable, both had successful pop careers in the 60’s, Lennon with the all conquering Beatles and Gaye as an artist in the Motown records stable. As music drew away from the hedonistic 60’s, so both artists decided to inject a political message into their music realising they could use their position of influence to comment about the current state of the World.
Musically , both were innovative and they were both prepared to change vocal styles to differentiate their new work. Lennon was to use a much more coarse and rawkish sound on tracks like ‘Instant Karma’, whereas Gaye liked a new laid back style, evident on this album and later tracks such as ‘Let’s Get It On’ and ‘Sexual Healing’.

In fact , Gayes cool approach to his 70’s solo work was down to a revelation He had whilst listening to a Lester Young record. “I felt like I’d finally learnt how to sing………….it came to me. Relax, just relax”.

Marvin’s social consciounce fuelled the lyrics he was to write for ‘What’s Going On’, as He looked at America He actually found inspiration on his own doorstep. Many young men had returned from Vietnam, not in triumph but in despair, worried about reintegrating into a Society that was largely uninterested in their plight. Among them was Marvin’s own brother Frankie, who Marvin used as the ‘singer’ of the first two tracks on the album. Gaye’s voice singing the conversations that take place as Frankie returns from War, the human elements to the fore as Frankie asks about his ball team and whether He can still go dancin where
they used to.

The opener is where David Van DePittes orchestrations are heard for the first time, entering the track after the first verse and making it sound even more poignant. It’s here where you can hear the change in Gayes vocals as He doesn’t compete with the strings, rather lies back and loses himself in the envelope of sound complementing the melodies to perfection. Van DePittes contribution to the overall atmosphere of the album cannot be underestimated, but He was just part of a magical team of musicians who all added their own little something to the mix.

The next four tracks cover drugs, children, his love of God and his concerns about the Environment. ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ was a song way ahead of it’s time, it was only in the late 80’s that the Worlds politicians decided it was time to come together to agree a joint policy on protecting the Earths environment……..if only they’d listened to Marvin!!!!! By the time Robert Palmer had covered the track in that decade things had already got to the point where things were beyond repair, lending the song even more weight than it had in 1971.

‘Right On’ is possibly the most accomplished song on the album in terms of the musicianship on show. The track is funky as hell, with some great bass playing by James Jamerson, Motown Records in-house bassist. Flutes, piano and funky percussion grooving with Marvin as the track builds, the ochestra finally joining as Gaye gives it his all, singing about love and peace. Gaye was later to say that He wished He had credited Jamerson on the albums sleeve notes. “I should have given special mention to James Jamerson….that’s how much he grooved the thing along.”

The penultimate track is ‘Wholy Holy’ a spiritual song telling of Marvins religious beliefs, never sung with an earnest preaching tone, rather a laid back heartfelt soulful w
armth, this man BELIEVES!
One of the great things I find about this album is the way Gaye never tells you how you should live or die, but gives a friendly nudge here and there, or sows a seed of thought and lets it grow from your own mind. This is evident in the paragraph that he wrote to accompany the sleeve notes, which contains this fantastic line.

‘And check out the Ten Commandments too. You can’t go too far wrong if you live them, dig it.”

Not being a religious person myself, it didn’t change me but the way Marvin talks hits the right note, never too self righteous or patronising to those who don’t understand his way of life….Why can’t everyone be like that? A question I’m sure He would have liked answering Himself.

Closing the album is ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ which contains the most sensible 9 words ever sung by a popstar

‘Rockets, Moon shots
Spend it on the have nots’

A simple rhyming couplet that says everything that I feel is wrong in the World today. The World spends too much money throwing chunks of metal into the sky when our own people are starving , homeless and riddled with disease.

The track is probably my favourite on the album, but to pick one would be churlish when the quality of the music is so high. When this track starts, just close your eyes and listen to the faltering start and as Marvin starts to sing imagine him as he walks through the rain in a City near you, singing words that hold true 20 years later and prepare to feel moved to the very heart of your soul.

If you own this record you’ll know why innovators like Stevie Wonder call this their favourite album of all time, and as Inner City Blues drifts back into Whats Going On you’ll know that there is only one word to describe its greatness……ESSENTIAL. Come and join Marvin Gayes trip to the future.

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