Review of Marvin Gaye: What's Going On / Greatest Hits
Label
Eagle Vision
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On / Greatest Hits Live

Reviewed by R. David Smola

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arvin Gaye was a tortured soul and a brilliant artist. He was constantly fighting against something -- record companies, addictions, ex-wives -- but his most difficult adversary was himself. His relationship with his father, who really, by all accounts, was out of his freaking mind, messed Marvin up from the beginning. By the way, his father, who was a ridiculously strict and tyrannical disciplinarian, was also a preacher and a cross-dresser. That’ll mess up your head, won’t it? All of this information is disseminated in a fascinating documentary entitled “What’s Going On: The Life & Death of Marvin Gaye.” The 100-minute film is riveting and utilizes some archived footage and film of Gaye, interviews with family and colleagues, and some voiceover work from the dulcet tones of the talented Clarke Peters (Detective Lester Freamon from HBO’s “The Wire.”)

The man was fascinating. He married the boss’s daughter at Motown. He had a big ego. He loved wine, women and song, and liked drugs too. He never seemed to be very happy, tortured by the bizarre relationship he had with his equally bizarre father. He loved his mother, and she seemed to really be the only one in his life that could offer him comfort. Some of the reenactments are bit overdramatic and cheesy, but they drive home the point that the man never quite seemed comfortable in his own skin. He constantly was trying to figure out where he wanted to go with his career. Was he an R&B artist, or did he want to croon like Perry Como? He was only allowed to release the classic What’s Going On after a dispute with Barry Gordy about its perceived lack of commercial appeal. This film offers insight into an incredibly valuable and misunderstood artist.

The concert film, Greatest Hits: Live in 76, is a bit too short at 60 minutes. Gaye blasts off a medley of hits by truncating some great songs, including “Ain’t That Peculiar” (:56), “You’re A Wonderful One” (:56), an up-tempo version of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” (:45), and “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” (:38). He seems to rush through these older hits, playing them more as an obligation and blending them all into one giant song instead of giving them the full treatment they deserve. There is some pretty cheesy choreography, including two dancers dressed similarly to Gaye preceding “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler),” that seems unnecessary. With all these criticisms aside, the opportunity to hear that wonderfully distinctive voice in a live setting for an hour is a pleasure. The man was a brilliant vocalist and that is definitely on display here, even though it is in abbreviated form.

This is a combination of two separate releases that Eagle Vision produced. If you don’t have either, they make a very nice package. The stronger release is the documentary, if only because Gaye’s story is so engaging.

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