Tuesday, October 16, 2018

If You're Only Going to Buy One Greatest Hits Set By... Marvin Gaye




Marvin Gaye has always been my favorite Motown artist – although the more I find out about him, the less there is to like. He had an unfortunate childhood (he was the father of a minister who drank and occasionally cross dressed; Gaye was often beaten by his father, who in turn had been beaten by his father), and developed an intolerance for authority (resulting in a quick discharge from the Air Force and a longstanding dispute with the IRS over nonpayment of taxes). Gaye was a brilliant musician, however; he started out as one of The Moonglows (whose leader, Harvey Fuqua, would work with Gaye on and off throughout their lives), and became a studio musician for Fuqua’s label Tri-Phi, and later Motown. When he first started recording for the label, he primarily recorded standards as Frank Sinatra did, but his R&B songs became huge hits, so that’s where his career went.

In the 1960s, he made a ton of hits, with 17 songs (either solo or as duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, or Tammi Terrell) making Billboard’s top 20 pop hits. His output slowed down for several years during Terrell’s battle with a brain tumor (she would die in 1970), but he would reemerge in 1971 with What’s Going On, a genuine classic album. Another series of hits followed that would be much more deeply personal (both political and sexual), only to be slowed down by his personal life – a divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy (sister of Motown president Berry Gordy), a stormy remarriage to a woman 17 years his junior, and an ever-worsening cocaine problem. A label switch to Columbia in 1982 yielded one final major hit in “Sexual Healing,” but he would be shot to death two years later – by his father.

Motown (and Columbia) have released lots of hits sets over the years. A quick word of warning: Only buy Motown/BMG greatest hits sets from Marvin Gaye. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. Columbia’s only hit with Gaye was “Sexual Healing,” and he only released one album with them during his lifetime; Columbia released two other albums by scraping together demos and whatever was lying around that Gaye would probably not have wanted the public to hear (Dream of a Lifetime) and second-rate versions of the standards he’d worked on for years (Romantically Yours); those are used to fill up the Columbia sets and should be avoided. And anything on a nonamo label is either grey market or taken from Gaye’s last tour, in which he was completely fried from cocaine (and started dropping his pants halfway through the tour to draw a few more women to the shows). Stick with the real thing.

Unfortunately, UMG has done a pretty lousy job of keeping good anthologies in print and available online. The choice I have here isn’t my favorite, but it’s the best one available.


Here’s the first problem: Motown loved this title so much they released three different albums under this name, which is hugely confusing. The first one is only available on vinyl – it was released in 1973 along with sets by all of their top artists (Gaye, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Stevie Wonder got three-LP sets; acts such as The Marvelettes, Martha & The Vandellas, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Jr. Walker & The All-Stars got two LPs). These are all great finds on LP for vinyl collectors – I bought my copy of this Marvin Gaye Anthology in 1983, not long after being transfixed by the Motown 25 special, and a couple of us went on a Motown purchasing and taping frenzy for the following few months – but by the time of the CD era, most of them were incomplete, so Motown re-released many of them (and gave new sets to acts that had been hitting in the 1970s, such as The Jackson 5, The Commodores, and Diana Ross solo) with revised track listings and new cover art. (I have to say the 1970s cover art looks much better in retrospect than the Day-Glo 1980s versions.) And in the 1990s, Motown revised the track listings for many of them and re-released them again with more new cover art.

The one I’ve got here is the 1990s version. It goes deeper into his 1970s work than the original 1973 release (obviously), but it also excludes a number of 1960s hits as a result, including a couple of top 20s (“Once Upon a Time,” “You’re a Wonderful One”) – and I’m not sure if picking up several unreleased songs from that era was worth the exchange. (Gaye’s career slices so neatly into two sections – before What’s Going On and after – that sometimes his hits releases have to be adjusted occasionally to keep those two groups of songs on separate discs.) And while Motown has occasionally licensed “Sexual Healing” from Columbia, they didn’t for this one, so you’ll have to download it – or spring a lot of money for the box set. Still, two CDs packed to the brim (47 songs, clocking in at just over two and a half hours) for $18.60 for the discs and $18.99 for the download on Amazon ($19.99 on iTunes) is a pretty good deal.

Notes:
1) If you’re shopping on Amazon for the discs, be sure to get the more recent 1994/1995 release (the release dates are apparently best guesses; Wikipedia has it as 8/22/95 release), and not the one with the pink and purple cover – that version isn’t bad, it’s just a different configuration and it’s not the one available for download.
2) And if you want the discs, search for “Anthology Marvin Gaye” in Amazon’s CD & Vinyl section, because the one I’m talking about is only available as an import copy. (Whether or not it’s actually an import is another question; Amazon’s listings aren’t always 100 percent accurate.) For some reason, the CD attached to the Anthology download is a two-disc set called The Very Best of Marvin Gaye – good, but not the same thing. More on that below.
3) Finally, if you’re looking to download on iTunes, searching “Marvin Gaye” won’t yield this album, for whatever reason. Searching “Anthology Marvin Gaye,” however, will.

Here are the other options. The links go to the Wikipedia entries. 

Greatest Hits (1964) – Motown had some chutzpah back then – Gaye had released four albums by the time this came out; three of them were styled like Nat King Cole and filled with standards; the other was the R&B hit That Stubborn Kinda Fellow. Motown took a few standalone singles from 1963 and 1964, attached it to the hits from Stubborn Kinda, and poof, instant hits set. In fact, seven of the ten songs from That Stubborn Kinda Fellow show up here, which is astonishing – if I’d been a Gaye fan back then (unlikely at age two, I know), I would have been furious. Out of print, and it wasn’t even released on CD, so there’s no legal digital version.

Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1967) – Much better. Ten of the 12 songs here were solid chart hits (I have no idea what Motown was thinking when they put “Hey Diddle Diddle” on the track list, however), and even though it must have been tempting to repeat a few songs from the first hits set, they avoided the temptation (pardon the pun). Out of print and unavailable for download, but it appears there was a CD release at some point. 

Marvin Gaye and His Girls (1969) – What a charmingly sexist title. Four songs each from Mary Wells and Kim Weston (which is probably more than you’ll want), as well as Tammi Terrell (which is a little less than I’d like). Since none of the other hits sets included any of the duets, this release made sense at the time. Out of print and unavailable for download; again, there are CD copies out there someplace.

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s Greatest Hits (1970) – Issued a few months after Terrell’s death from brain cancer or a malignant brain tumor, depending on which source you read. Gaye recorded far more than Terrell than he did with Wells or Weston and had much more commercial success with her as well, so this standalone set makes sense. The problem is the third album they did together, Easy (which came out in 1969) is highly disputed – some sources (including Gaye himself) say producer and writer Valerie Simpson sang most of the female vocals, as Terrell was too sick to record at this point. A biography by Terrell’s sister denies this, and Valerie Simpson herself has said Terrell’s vocals were the final ones, but she sang guide vocals with Gaye in the studio, then Terrell was brought in to sing a line or two at a time. It would be nice to have a final answer, but since most of the principals are no longer with us (except Valerie Simpson and Berry Gordy, both of whom would probably have said something definitive by now), I’m not holding my breath. In any case, most of the best-ofs have sidestepped the question by sticking strictly to the songs known to have been completed by Terrell; this one does not (“The Onion Song,” “What You Gave Me”). $15.80 for the CD on Amazon and $9.49 for the download there, but not available on iTunes. It’s also available on Spotify (but you’ll need to use both Gaye and Terrell’s names in the search engines).

Super Hits (1970) – Pure product (Gaye hadn’t been recording much in 1969 and 1970, as he sank into a deep depression over Tammi Terrell’s health problems), but Motown gets lots of brownie points here – 16 songs on a single vinyl album is cool, and the cover (a superhero cartoon of Marvin saving a sweet young thing) may be worth the purchase itself. There are plenty of repeats from the first two hits sets, but this one is wall-to-wall top hits. $38.99 for the CD on Amazon, which indicates to me they’re clearing out stock, and unavailable for download – look for a used copy on CD or vinyl if you like this idea.

Marvin Gaye’s Greatest Hits
(1976) – More product; not sure what Motown was thinking here. This ranges from “Can I Get a Witness” and “How Sweet It Is (To be Loved by You),” both of which had been on three of Gaye’s four previous hits sets (so why are they needed here?) to “I Want You,” which had just been released six months before. Meanwhile, “Inner City Blues” is left off, along with “You’re the Man (Part 1),” a minor hit released only as a single. Out of print and not available for download.

Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye (1983) – Released by Motown after the Motown 25 special and “Sexual Healing” (thus, the Every Great Motown Hit title), this is a perfectly good one-LP vinyl collection (two more songs were added to the CD version, bringing the total to 17) that encompasses his entire career with the label. The focus is on his highest-charting hits; the only song here that wasn’t a top 10 pop hit is the live version of “Distant Lover,” and the only top 10 song that didn’t make the album is “Pride and Joy” (what’s up with that, Motown?). At $9.49 for the download on Amazon ($9.99 on iTunes), this is the cheapest option you’ll find for download. Also available on Spotify.

Motown Remembers Marvin Gaye
(1986) – It’s not a greatest hits set, but it’s interesting, at least. Most of the songs here were previously unreleased, and Motown decided to graft some 1980s rhythm tracks to the originals – which, surprisingly, works okay. (Several songs have since been re-released on version anthologies with their original mixes.) A later release has an extended version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” but I have the original on vinyl, and I don’t hate it at all. Out of print and unavailable for download.

The Marvin Gaye Collection
(1990) – not the box set you want. All the solo hits are on the first disc, the duets are on the second (I have no idea who Oma Page is, but previously-unreleased duets with her are there), live and unreleased songs on the third disc, and “The Ballads” (standards Gaye had recorded and revised throughout his career) on the fourth disc. The cover art is hideous – a very young Gaye looks like he’s getting his picture taken for the high school yearbook. There are a couple of songs here worth hunting down (“Pops, We Love You,” recorded with Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder after the death of Berry Gordy Sr.), but for the most part this can be skipped. Out of print and unavailable for download, but not impossible to find at used record stores.

Seek and You Shall Find: More of the Best (1963-1981)
– As with several other Motown acts, Rhino stepped in to create a secondary “hits” CD after Motown/MCA figured they’d issued enough music. Other than “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home),” a very early album track, and “Ego Tripping Out,” which was released as a standalone single in 1979 and later added to CD copies of In Our Lifetime, there’s nothing you absolutely need here, but it’s interesting. Out of print and unavailable for download.

The Norman Whitfield Sessions
(1994) – Whitfield was primarily known as The Temptations’ producer and chief songwriter during their glory years, as well as creating music for Edwin Starr, The Undisputed Truth, and (after he left Motown) Rose Royce. But he also worked frequently with Gaye from 1965 to 1969, so Motown was able to put this collection together. Obviously nothing here from “What’s Going On” onward, but it does have a few songs unavailable elsewhere. Out of print (and I’ve never seen it), and unavailable for download.

Love-Starved Heart: Rare and Unreleased
(1996) – Just what it says; more rarities, not hits. Originally released with 18 tracks and a hideous cover; later re-released with ten additional tracks and a cover to make it part of Motown’s Lost and Found series (other heritage artists have gotten the same treatment). Some of the Motown Remembers Marvin Gaye tracks show up here in their original versions. I like it fine, but be aware you won’t be familiar with most of the material. $17.49 for the CD and $10.49 for the download on Amazon (you don’t need to spend seven dollars for the liner notes), $10.99 for the download on iTunes, available on Spotify.

The Very Best of Marvin Gaye
(1994/2001) – Another record company trick; release two completely different configurations under the same name years apart (1994: a one-disc version with a George Hurrell-type studio shot from the mid-1960s; 2001: a two-disc set with a cover picture from the Let’s Get It On era), and see if the lemmings will buy both. The one-disc version has one unreleased track (“Lucky Lucky Me”), as well as a what’s-this-doing-here song (“Abraham, Martin, and John”), but is missing several key songs (“Inner City Blues,” “I Want You,” “The End of Our Road,” “I’ll Be Doggone”) and is more expensive than Every Great Motown Hit. The two-disc version has 34 songs, including a rarity (“Where Are We Going?”), but lacks the breadth of Anthology (and its running time is about a half hour less). About the only good news is both of them have “Sexual Healing,” which Motown must have leased from Sony. The two-disc version is the one that pops up for purchase when you click on the physical disc link for Anthology, so be careful. One disc: $9.13 for the disc, $11.49 for the download on Amazon, $11.99 for the download on iTunes, available on Spotify. The two-disc version can be had on Amazon for $14.97, but is not available for download or on Spotify.

The Master (1961-1984)
(1996) – If you’re getting a box set, this is the one you want. Every pop top 40 hit is here except one (“You’re a Special Part of Me,” a not-so-special duet with Diana Ross from 1973, part of an album of duets between the two that nobody was particularly happy with), along with a healthy dollop of rarities and two of the ballads Gaye obsessive worked on (they were released, finally, a few years later under the title Vulnerable). If you’re a Gaye obsessive like me, this is a must-have. Out of print on disc (but you can probably find it used, and the liner notes by Gaye biographer and “Sexual Healing” lyricist David Ritz may be worth it), $37.99 for the download on Amazon and $39.99 on iTunes, available on Spotify.

Love Songs
(2000/2002/???) – Just don’t. There are several configurations with a title like this; one is mostly duets, the others are highly questionable as love songs, either because they’re not about love (“What’s Going On,” “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)”) or they’re really boink songs (“You Sure Love to Ball”). Get something else and make a playlist if you must. They’re probably available on Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify, but I’m not going to check.

20th Century Masters Collections (2000) – Gaye has three of these: one of 1960s hits, one of 1970s hits, and one with Tammi Terrell, and all are out of print. The Terrell set has a couple of oddities, it’s the same price as their greatest hits set on Amazon and $9.99 on iTunes (also available on Spotify). The 1970s version has “My Last Chance,” which became a top 20 hit on the R&B charts in 2001 and seems to be available nowhere else (also $9.49 on Amazon for the download, $9.99 on iTunes, and on Spotify). The 1960s version is skimpy, of course (all of the 20th Century Masters sets are budget releases), but iTunes inexplicably has it for $3.99, which might be a cheap way to fill in some gaps in the Gaye collection if you’ve already got most of his later hits.

The Complete Duets
(2001) – A two-disc set of everything Marvin recorded with Tammi Terrell, along with a bunch of Terrell solo recordings, some alternate takes, and the questionable songs from Easy. The two-disc set, at $11.84, is quite a bargain, but I don’t think I’d want the download ($23.99 on Amazon, $24.99 on iTunes); that’s a little much for a lot of repetitive material. Available on Spotify.

Marvin Gaye Gold
(2005) – Another two-disc set; this might be worth searching out if it were still in print – it has a few rarities (“His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” “Where Are We Going?”), along with “Sexual Healing.” But it’s out of print and unavailable for download; it is on Spotify, so try it out there and if you love it, search the used record stores.

Playlist: The Best of Marvin Gaye (2008) – Don’t say I didn’t warn you. “Sexual Healing” is here, along with a live version of “What’s Going On” (I’m not sure where it’s from and the Spotify version of the album skips this track – Motown 25 maybe?), there are no major pop hits here. There are a couple of minor R&B hits from Gaye’s first Columbia album Midnight Love, along with “Sanctified Lady” from his posthumous Dream of a Lifetime, which was originally called “Sanctified P***y” and was altered by his brother-in-law Gordon Banks for release. (Better this than some of the other tracks from Dream of a Lifetime, “Masochistic Beauty” and “Savage in the Sack.”) Stay far away. Not available for download, $14.99 for the disc (yikes!), and available on Spotify except “What’s Going On” – if anybody reading this has the album and can identify the source of that performance, I’d be interested.



And if you’re looking for one list of his hits and where you’ll find them, look no further.

Song
Year Released
Pop Charts
R&B Charts
Anthology (version 3)
The Master
Every Great Motown Hit
Stubborn Kind of Fellow
1962
46
8
Yes
Yes

Hitch Hike
1962
30
12
Yes
Yes

Pride and Joy
1963
10
2
Yes
Yes

Can I Get a Witness
1963
22
3
Yes
Yes

I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby
1963
77
-



You're a Wonderful One
1964
15
3

Yes

Once Upon a Time [w/ Mary Wells]
1964
19
3

Yes

What's the Matter With You Baby [w/ Mary Wells]
1964
17
2
Yes
Yes

Try It Baby
1964
15
6
Yes
Yes

Baby Don't You Do It
1964
27
14
Yes
Yes

What Good Am I Without You [w/ Kim Weston]
1964
61
28



How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
1964
6
3
Yes
Yes
Yes
I'll Be Doggone
1965
8
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Pretty Little Baby
1965
25
16

Yes

Ain't That Peculiar
1965
8
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
One More Heartache
1966
29
4
Yes
Yes

Take This Heart of Mine
1966
44
16
Yes
Yes

Little Darling (I Need You)
1966
47
10
Yes
Yes

It Takes Two [w/ Kim Weston]
1966
14
4
Yes
Yes

Ain't No Mountain High Enough [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1967
19
3
Yes
Yes

Your Unchanging Love
1967
33
7
Yes
Yes

Your Precious Love [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1967
5
2
Yes
Yes
Yes
You
1967
34
7
Yes
Yes

If I Could Build My Whole World Around You [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1967
10
2
Yes
Yes
Yes
If This World Were Mine [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1968
68
27

Yes

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1968
8
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
You're All I Need to Get By [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1968
7
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Chained
1968
32
8
Yes
Yes

Keep on Lovin' Me Honey [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1968
24
11

Yes

I Heard It Through the Grapevine
1968
1
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1969
30
11

Yes

Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
1969
4
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
That's the Way Love Is
1969
7
2
Yes
Yes
Yes
What You Gave Me [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1969
49
6



How Can I Forget
1969
41
18

Yes

Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got
1970
67
26



The Onion Song [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1970
50
18



California Soul [w/ Tammi Terrell]
1970
56
-



The End of Our Road
1970
40
7

Yes

What's Going On
1971
2
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
1971
4
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
1971
9
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
You're the Man (Part 1)
1972
50
7
Yes
Yes

Trouble Man
1972
7
4
Yes
Yes
Yes
Let's Get It On
1973
1
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
You're a Special Part of Me [w/ Diana Ross]
1973
12
4



Come Get to This
1973
21
3
Yes
Yes

You Sure Love to Ball
1974
50
13



My Mistake (Was to Love You) [w/ Diana Ross]
1974
19
15
Yes
Yes

Don't Knock My Love [w/ Diana Ross]
1974
46
25



Distant Lover (Live)
1974
28
12
Yes
Yes
Yes
I Want You
1976
15
1
Yes
Yes

After the Dance
1976
74
14
Yes
Yes

Got to Give It Up (Part 1)
1977
1
1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father) [w/ Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder]
1978
59
26



A Funky Space Reincarnation
1979
106
23

Yes

Ego Tripping Out
1979
-
17
Yes
Yes

Praise
1981
101
18
Yes


Heavy Love Affair
1981
-
61
Yes


Sexual Healing
1982
3
1

Yes

'Til Tomorrow
1983
-
31



Joy
1983
-
78



Sanctified Lady
1985
101
2



It's Madness
1985
-
55



My Last Chance
1991
-
16



Music [w/ Erick Sermon - vocals from "Turn On Some Music"]
2001
21
2



Let's Get It On [M.P.G. Groove Mix]
2005
-
94