What's going on --- Marvin Gaye --- Recommended by Surell
This one took me a little by surprise. I'm no big Marvin fan but like everyone I've heard the hits, and I knew two tracks off this, unbeknownst to me. Well, beknownst for one: the title track. I knew I had heard that. The other one was "Mercy mercy me", of which I had heard Robert Palmer's cover.
I have featured this in my journal "Classic albums I have never heard" today, so I'm not gong to go into too much detail here, but just to say this is an incredible album, a concept no less, and says some very brave things for the time. In fact, were the songs not so good and were this Gaye's first album I think that the strong anti-Vietnam war sentiment here might have caused it to have been banned, or at least for Motown to have thought twice about releasing it.
Thankfully that didn't become an issue and we're left with one amazing album that pretty much pulls you by your heartstrings from beginning to end. Great strings section, lovely horns and of course Marvin's soulful gentle voice pleading with us all to be kinder to one another. What more could you want?
Rec rating: 9.5/10