Let's Get It On

by Marvin Gaye

Overview

After brilliantly surveying the social, political, and spiritual landscape with What's Going On, Marvin Gaye turned to more intimate matters with Let's Get It On, a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy. Always a sexually charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point on tracks like the magnificent title hit (a number one smash) and "You Sure Love to Ball"; silky and shimmering, the music is seductive in the most literal sense, its fluid grooves so perfectly designed for romance as to border on parody. With each performance laced with innuendo, each lyric a come-on, and each rhythm throbbing with lust, perhaps no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let's Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later -- much copied, but never imitated. [The 2003 reissue adds two single versions as bonus tracks.] ~ Jason Ankeny

Product Details

Release Date:	01/14/2003
Label:	Motown
UPC:	0044006402123

Tracks

1. Let's Get It On
2. Please Stay (Once You Go Away)
3. If I Should Die Tonight
4. Keep Gettin' It On
5. Come Get to This
6. Distant Lover
7. You Sure Love to Ball
8. Just to Keep You Satisfied
9. Let's Get It On
10. You Sure Love to Ball

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Marvin Gaye   Primary Artist,Drums,Vocals (Background),Piano,Vocals,Keyboards
The Miracles   Primary Artist,Guest Artist
The Originals   Primary Artist,Guest Artist
The Monitors   Primary Artist
Herbie Hancock   Guest Artist
Paul Humphries   Drums
Walter Gaines   Vocals (Background)
Henry Dixon   Vocals (Background)
Bill Green   Saxophone
Madeline Ross   Vocals (Background)
Don Peake   Guitar
Eddie "Bongo" Brown   Drums,Bongos,Congas,Percussion
Chuck Findley   Trumpet
James Jamerson   Bass
Earl Van Dyke   Keyboards
Fred Ross   Vocals (Background)
Wilton Felder   Bass
Arthur Wright   Guitar
Buddy Collette   Flute
Paul Humphrey   Drums
Eddie Willis   Guitar
Freddie Gorman   Vocals (Background)
Donald Peake   Piano
Uriel Jones   Drums
Johnny Griffith   Keyboards
Ernie Watts   Saxophone
David T. Walker   Piano,Guitar
Wah Wah Watson   Guitar
Melvin Ragin   Piano,Guitar
Bobbye Hall   Bongos,Congas,Percussion
Rene Hall   Conductor
C.P. Spencer   Vocals (Background)
Lewis Shelton   Guitar
Hank Dixon   Vocals (Background)
Robert White   Guitar
Marvin Jenkins   Piano
Louis Shelton   Piano,Guitar
Joe Sample   Piano
Emil Richards   Mallets,Percussion,Vibraphone,Vocals (Background)
Louie Shelton   Guitar
Plas Johnson   Saxophone
Victor Feldman   Vibraphone,Vocals (Background)
George Bohannon   Trombone

Technical Credits

Katherine Marking   Design
Edward Gordon   Composer
Shawn R. Britton   Mastering
Ernie Field   Copyist,Music Copyist
Bill McMeekin   Engineer
Benjamin Barrett   Contractor,Orchestra Contractor
John Matousek   Digital Mastering
Kenneth Stover   Composer
Gwen Gordy Fuqua   Composer
Sandra Elaine Greene   Composer
T.S. Eliot   Liner Notes
Steve Smith   Engineer
Larry Mizell   Composer
Ben Edmonds   Liner Notes
Ed Townsend   Composer,Producer
Elgie Stover   Composer
Gwen Fuqua   Composer
Anna Gordy Gaye   Composer
Willie Hutch   Composer
Art Stewart   Engineer
Hamilton Bohannon   Composer
Cal Harris, Jr.   Mixing,Engineer,Mixing Engineer
William Robinson   Composer
David Van De Pitte   Arranger,Composer
Edward Townsend   Composer
Robert Gordy   Composer
Kathy Wakefield   Composer
Nelson George   Liner Notes
Rene Hall   Arranger,Orchestral Arrangements
Sandra Greene   Composer
Mel Bolton   Composer
Alana Coghlan   Design
Ezra Bolton   Composer
Marvin Gaye   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Kenny Stover   Composer
Larry Miles   Engineer
Gene Page   Arranger
Smokey Robinson   Composer
Marilyn McLeod   Composer
Michael Henderson   Composer
David Blumberg   Arranger

Editorial Reviews

After brilliantly surveying the social, political and spiritual landscape with What's Going On, Marvin Gaye turned to more intimate matters with Let's Get It On, a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy. Always a sexually-charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point on tracks like the magnificent title hit (a Number One smash) and "You Sure Love to Ball;" silky and shimmering, the music is seductive in the most literal sense, its fluid grooves so perfectly designed for romance as to border on parody. With each performance laced with innuendo, each lyric a come-on, and each rhythm throbbing with lust, perhaps no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let's Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later -- much copied, but never imitated. -- All-Music Guide

Jason Ankeny