What's Going On

by Marvin Gaye

Overview

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 longtime Motown session men 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). Bob Babbitt'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. ~ John Bush

Product Details

Release Date:	07/01/2022
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988031508732

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Marvin Gaye   Primary Artist,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion,Drums,Piano
BJ the Chicago Kid   Primary Artist
David Van De Pitte   Primary Artist,Conductor
Eddie "Bongo" Brown   Bongos,Congas,Percussion
Max Janowsky   String Bass
James Jamerson   Bass
Earl Van Dyke   Guitar,Keyboards
Larry Nozero   Sax (Soprano)
Earl DeRouen   Bongos,Congas
Maurice King   Conductor
Hamilton Bohannon   Drums
Danya Hartwick   Flute
Jack Brokensha   Percussion
Eli Fountain   Sax (Alto)
Ray Parker, Jr.   Guitar
Leroy Emmanuel   Guitar
George Benson   Sax (Tenor)
Thaddeus Markiewicz   Cello
Nathan Gordon   Viola
Walter Gaines   Vocals (Background)
Alvin Score   Violin
Meyer Shapiro   Viola
Beatriz Budinszky   Violin
Edward Korkigian   Cello
Lillian Downs   Violin
Gordon Staples   Violin
Edouard Kesner   Viola
Hank Dixon   Vocals (Background)
Carl Raetz   Trombone
Italo Babini   Cello
Jack Ashford   Kazoo,Marimba,Percussion,Vibraphone
Chet Forest   Drums
Felix Resnick   Violin
Wild Bill Moore   Sax (Tenor)
Michael Henderson   Bass
The Originals   Vocals (Background)
Bob Babbitt   Bass
Robert White   Guitar
William Perich   Flute
Virginia Halfmann   Violin
Angelo Carlisi   Sax (Alto)
Zinovi Bistritzky   Violin
Carole Crosby   Harp
David Joseph Pitte   Conductor
Maurice Davis   Trumpet
Eddie Willis   Guitar
Freddie Gorman   Vocals (Background)
Uriel Jones   Drums
Joe Messina   Guitar
Johnny Griffith   Keyboards
David Ireland   Viola
Wah Wah Watson   Guitar
John Trudell   Trumpet
C.P. Spencer   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Kevin Reeves   Mixing,Mixing Engineer,Mastering Engineer
Ivy Jo Hunter   Composer
Jack Goga   Composer
Lamont Dozier   Composer
Barrett Strong   Composer
Earl DeRouen   Composer
Elgie Stover   Composer
Art Stewart   Recording,Engineer
Maurice King   Arranger,Orchestration
Hamilton Bohannon   Composer
Harry Weinger   Producer
William "Mickey" Stevenson   Composer
Amy Herot   Mixing Direction,Mixing Supervision
Paul Riser   Arranger
David Van De Pitte   Arranger,Recording Arranger,Orchestra Contractor,Orchestral Arrangements
Marvin Gaye   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Jeffrey Bowen   Composer
Melvin Ragin   Composer
Ray Parker, Jr.   Composer
Renaldo Benson   Composer
Rex Rideout   Recording
Al Cleveland   Composer
Brian Holland   Composer
Norman Whitfield   Composer
Frank Edward Wilson   Composer
John Morales   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Katherine Marking   Design
Steve Smith   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Sandra Greene   Composer
Delores Wilkinson   Composer
Joe Atkinson   Engineer,Recording
Frank Wilson   Composer
Ken Sands   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
James Nyx   Composer
Smokey Robinson   Composer
Nickolas Ashford   Composer
Michael Henderson   Composer
George Gordy   Composer
Curtis McNair   Art Direction
Alana Coghlan   Design
James Nyx, Jr.   Composer
Hendin   Photography
The Orchestra   Orchestration
Gwen Gordy   Composer
John Matousek   Mastering
Rob LoVerde   Mastering
Fuller B. Gordy   Composer
Kenneth Stover   Composer
Gwen Gordy Fuqua   Composer
Sandra Elaine Greene   Composer
Lawrence Miles   Mixing,Engineer,Recording,Mixing Engineer
Anna Gaye   Composer
James Green   Engineer,Recording
Eddie Holland   Composer
Russell Elevado   Mixing
Leslie Ann Jones   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Valerie Simpson   Composer
Anna Gordy Gaye   Composer