Watching the recent CNN special on the 50th anniversary of the release of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album was a revelation, given the troubled upbringing, turmoil and triumph of his remarkable career and his tragic end that the documentary ably reviewed. The film was well-produced, featured great interviews with family, friends and others who knew and worked with Gaye, and put into excellent perspective the immense accomplishment of that recording.
Not having the album, however, meant that it was time to fish out a compilation purchased many years ago, this being the Every Great Motown Hit, although this is a misleading title because it has fifteen choice Gaye pieces, but certainly not every hit song. In any case, it is a fine survey of his career from his breakout years with Motown in the early to mid Sixties, his remarkable collaboration with the sadly short-lived and brilliant singer Tammi Terrell, and his amazing transformation in the early Seventies with albums like What's Going On and Let's Get It On.
It is never easy to make a market stylistic change musically, particularly as tastes change, but Gaye, like James Brown and others, found a way to do so while releasing an album with pointed social commentary, of which he was warned to avoid as not marketable. He persisted, though, and delivered with a recording that is not only sonically still fresh and impressive, but with messaging that is, obviously, still very relevant and timely.
This is one of the most important points raised in the documentary; that Gaye's achievement was both to create incredible music and powerful statements and, with all that has been "going on" recently in American society with regard to race and social justice, his work very much matters. There are very few artists who can have that be said about them a half-century later.
No comments:
Post a Comment