Marvin Gaye - What's Going On

Reviews

John Bush, All Music Guide

What's Going On is not only Marvin Gaye's masterpiece, it's the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices, a man finally free to speak his mind and so move from R&B sex symbol to true recording artist. With What's Going On, Gaye meditated on what had happened to the American dream of the past — as it related to urban decay, environmental woes, military turbulence, police brutality, unemployment, and poverty. These feelings had been bubbling up between 1967 and 1970, during which he felt increasingly caged by Motown's behind-the-times hit machine and restrained from expressing himself seriously through his music. Finally, late in 1970, Gaye decided to record a song that the Four Tops' Obie Benson had brought him, "What's Going On." When Berry Gordy decided not to issue the single, deeming it uncommercial, Gaye refused to record any more material until he relented. Confirmed by its tremendous commercial success in January 1971, he recorded the rest of the album over ten days in March, and Motown released it in late May. Besides cementing Marvin Gaye as one of the most important artists in pop music, What's Going On was far and away the best full-length to issue from the singles-dominated Motown factory, and arguably the best soul album of all time.

Conceived as a statement from the viewpoint of a Vietnam veteran (Gaye's brother Frankie had returned from a three-year hitch in 1967), What's Going On isn't just the question of a baffled soldier returning home to a strange place, but a promise that listeners would be informed by what they heard (that missing question mark in the title certainly wasn't a typo). Instead of releasing listeners from their troubles, as so many of his singles had in the past, Gaye used the album to reflect on the climate of the early '70s, rife with civil unrest, drug abuse, abandoned children, and the spectre of riots in the near past. Alternately depressed and hopeful, angry and jubilant, Gaye saved the most sublime, deeply inspired performances of his career for "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," and "Save the Children." The songs and performances, however, furnished only half of a revolution; little could've been accomplished with the Motown sound of previous Marvin Gaye hits like "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" and "Hitch Hike" or even "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." What's Going On, as he conceived and produced it, was like no other record heard before it: languid, dark and jazzy, a series of relaxed grooves with a heavy bottom, filled by thick basslines along with bongos, conga, and other percussion. Fortunately, this aesthetic fit in perfectly with the style of long-time Motown sessionmen like bassist James Jamerson and guitarist Joe Messina. When the Funk Brothers were, for once, allowed the opportunity to work in relaxed, open proceedings, they produced the best work of their careers (and indeed, they recognized its importance before any of the Motown executives). Jamerson's playing on "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" functions as the low-end foundation but also its melodic hook, while an improvisatory jam by Eli Fountain on alto sax furnished the album's opening flourish. (Much credit goes to Gaye himself for seizing on these often tossed-off lines as precious; indeed, he spent more time down in the Snakepit than he did in the control room.) Just as he'd hoped it would be, What's Going On was Marvin Gaye's masterwork, the most perfect expression of an artist's hope, anger, and concern ever recorded.

Rob Bowman, All Music Guide

Shortly after Marvin Gaye turned 30, he became the first Motown artist with a measure of creative control. What's Going On was the result, surely Marvin's finest moment and, along with a number of Stevie Wonder's early-'70s releases, one of a handful of great Motown albums. A concept album, What's Going On chronicled a multitude of societal ills. Ironically, Motown owner Berry Gordy did not want to release it. He was convinced it held no commercial potential. Gordy couldn't have been more wrong: What's Going On catapulted Marvin Gaye into superstardom. Three number one singles were pulled from the album: the title song, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)." This was the first album where Marvin overdubbed his voice multiple times, creating a one-man vocal group. The result was a level of timbral integration in the harmonies that became a Gaye trademark.

Don Waller, Amazon.com

Sly & The Family Stone might have psychedelicized soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalized it. Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility for their music and its meaning. Gaye co-wrote the songs and produced the album, flavoring it with layer upon layer of his own multi-tracked vocals, oceans of hand percussion, strings, flutes, and jazzy horn solos. Spacey and loose as a spliff-fueled Sunday afternoon jam in the park, the nine songs all played like a hit single. The title track--inspired by his brother's return from the Vietnam War--and the obvious social commentary of "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" actually were hit singles. Two other tracks ("Wholly Holy" and "Save the Children") would inspire hit covers by Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, respectively. Nevertheless, What's Going On sounds as fresh today as it did the week that it came out. Recommended reading: Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye by David Ritz (McGraw-Hill, 1985).

Martin Johnson, Barnes & Noble

Arguably, the greatest R&B record ever made, WHAT'S GOING ON was only reluctantly released by the storied Motown label. The recording marked an extreme departure from the label's usual method of tightly controlled collections of singles. Instead, Gaye, inspired by the return of his brother from Vietnam, created a 35 minute suite of lushly detailed pieces that blended social commentary and spirituality. Rather than the slick, driving sound of Motown singles, WHAT'S GOING ON featured subdued basslines and a languorous groove that would later become a staple in jazz-funk. The recording produced three major hits, "Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)", the title track, and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"; in addition, Diana Ross covered "Save the Children" and Aretha Franklin did "Wholy Holy." The album inspired other R&B artists to take a similar approach to producing their own work and creating more substantial documents. Gaye went on to create both hit singles and great extended works, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was both a hitmaker and an artist.

Jesse Fahnestock, Ink Blot Magazine

The groove is the message. What's Going On has long been praised as the first and greatest of the socially aware soul records (first, no; greatest, probably) but if the message was important, it was the medium - the oceans-deep groove, the warmest sound ever pressed to vinyl - that made this Marvin Gaye's most important artistic statement.

Maybe he didn't give life to that groove -- there's some disagreement as to who acted as What's Going On's musical director - but it certainly gave life to him, bringing out the best (and, crucially, most understated) vocal performances of his career as well as an observational lyricism that was at times truly inspired. If Marvin didn't orchestrate the swelling, shuffling, bubbling sound of "What's Going On" and "What's Happening Brother," well, he certainly knew what to do with it. Rarely have singer, song, and message been so perfectly matched -- five minutes into this album, and you're in deep.

Significantly, when the groove steps aside and Marvin takes off on his more fanciful flights - the too-obvious drug confessional "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)," and the positively embarrassing "Save the Children" - he loses his way. It is perhaps a measure of reverence with which Marvin Gaye is regarded that the latter song has not been held up to more scorn: it is, in every way, as bad or worse than Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You," or any of Paul McCartney's crassest exercises in sentimentality. But genius is almost always imperfect, and the genius of What's Going On wouldn't be denied.

The groove returns, at first reflective and thoughtful on "God Is Love" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," then, on side 2, with fierce purpose on "Right On." Pleading, aware, full of genuine love and a desire to make the world right - it's hard to imagine a day when this music will no longer move people. "Wholy Holy" sees Marvin reaching for the bible one last time before "Inner City Blues" takes the groove to the ghetto, simmering with frustration and righteous anger before emerging, triumphant and hopeful in spite of it all, for a gospel reprise of the title track's refrain. It remains Marvin's greatest moment, the message and the groove unified, as good as soul music ever got.

1	What's Going On	6	Mercy Mercy Me
2	What's Happening Brother	7	Right On
3	Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)	8	Wholy Holy
4	Save The Children	9	Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
5	God Is Love