Marvin Gaye - What's Going On [180g, Gatefold, Back To Black] (LP) Vinyl

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by Marvin Gaye, released on 21 May 1971 by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. It was the first Gaye album to credit him as producer, and the first to credit Motown's in-house session players, the Funk Brothers, by name.

The Album

The title track originated with Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops, who witnessed police violence against anti-war protesters at Berkeley's People's Park in May 1969. Benson and Motown songwriter Al Cleveland built a song around what he had seen; the Four Tops declined it, and Benson offered it to Gaye, who reworked the melody and lyrics and took a share of the writing credit. Gaye cut the song at Hitsville U.S.A. on 1 June 1970, but Berry Gordy held it back, fearing that a political record with a jazz influence would cost Gaye his crossover audience. Motown executives Harry Balk and Barney Ales shipped 100,000 copies to record shops on 20 January 1971 without Gordy's knowledge. It became Motown's fastest-selling single to that point, and Gordy responded by giving Gaye thirty days and full production control to build an album around it.

Gaye returned to Hitsville and recorded the rest of the record in ten working days between 17 and 30 March 1971. Rhythm tracks and overdubs were laid down at Hitsville, or Studio A, with strings, horns and vocals cut at Golden World, or Studio B. The original mix was finalised in Detroit on 5 April, then reworked at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood in early May, where the orchestra was integrated more closely with the rhythm tracks. David Van De Pitte arranged and conducted the orchestra, with James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt on bass. Gaye's signature double-tracked lead vocal came about by accident, when the engineers mixed two separate takes together and he preferred the result.

The record is a concept album, or song cycle, with most tracks segueing into the next. Its narrative is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning home to hatred, suffering and injustice, and the lyrics take in drug abuse, poverty, the war and, on "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", ecological damage well before that became a mainstream concern. The album peaked at number six on the Billboard Top LPs chart and spent nine weeks at number one on the Soul LPs chart. Three singles reached the Hot 100 top ten: "What's Going On" at number two, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" at number four and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" at number nine, making Gaye the first male solo artist to place three top ten Hot 100 singles from one album.

This Pressing

This is the Tamla Back To Black reissue, pressed on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl as a single LP in a gatefold sleeve. The gatefold interior carries the original "Family Photo Album" collage on one panel and the full album lyrics on the other. A voucher is included for an MP3 download of the album. Catalogue number TS-310, barcode 600753534236.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. What's Going On (4:00)
2. What's Happening Brother (2:57)
3. Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky) (3:40)
4. Save The Children (4:06)
5. God Is Love (1:44)
6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (3:03)

Side 2

1. Right On (7:15)
2. Wholy Holy (3:06)
3. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (5:30)