MARVIN GAYE: MOODS OF MARVIN GAYE (1966)
1) I'll
Be Doggone; 2) Little Darling (I Need You); 3) Take This Heart Of Mine;
4) Hey Diddle Diddle; 5) One More Heartache; 6) Ain't That Peculiar; 7) Night
Life; 8) You've Been A Long Time Coming; 9) Your Unchanging Love; 10) You're
The One For Me; 11) I Worry About You; 12) One For My Baby.
General verdict: A formulaic
collection this time, but at least the formula is right.
There is an abundance of hit singles on this
record — five out of six songs on Side A, to be precise, and another one on
Side B, all of them landing within the Top 50 on the general charts and within
the Top 20 on the R&B charts, meaning, cumulatively, the highest
recognition Marvin had received to that date. Nevertheless, in retrospect I
would say that Moods Of Marvin Gaye
is not a particularly great album from that period. It does have maybe one or
two moments of utter pop brilliance, but too many of these songs seem content
with repeating the formula of previous successes — and then, too, there are
occasional sightings of the Broadway ghosts that do not make things easier (now
that Marvin had given up on the idea of fully «adult-oriented» LPs, he was
still trying to sneak in a couple lounge / show tunes, hoping in vain that such
inclusions would somehow ennoble the overall listening experience).
The best, as it often happens, comes first:
ʽI'll Be Doggoneʼ, contributed by Smokey Robinson and his co-writers from The
Miracles, is a prime example of old-school male chauvinism masquerading as adorable
pop catchiness — the transition from cheerful verse to riled-up bridge and to
the oddly pacified chorus is a fine catch of one man's confused and
contradictory feelings. Not a lot of chances you'll be hearing that one on a contemporary
vocal talent show (who in his right mind would want to sing how "every
woman should try to be whatever her man wants her to be?" these days), but
that does not make the vocal melody, spiced up by perfectly placed response
vocals from The Miracles and The Andantes, any less of a knock-out. The
funniest thing is that the accompanying instrumental melody is not so much
R&B as it is folk-pop, almost directly ripping off the basic chords of
ʽNeedles And Pinsʼ — something that The Searchers never failed to notice, and
faithfully returned the service by covering ʽI'll Be Doggoneʼ themselves almost
as soon as the single came out in 1965 (and a pretty good cover that was, too).
After that, however, things take a turn for
the... well, somewhat less exciting. This is still very decent Motown fare,
written by the usual professionals, recorded by the usual session greats,
backed by the usual wonderful teams of back vocalists, and sung by Marvin as
best he can, but it can hardly be denied that the Motown factory recycled
trends even more often than it set them, and here there is a bit too much
recycling for my tastes. For instance, ʽAin't That Peculiarʼ, one of Marvin's
biggest hits, clearly recycles vocal and instrumental parts from ʽCan I Get A
Witnessʼ, but without carrying over that song's subtle sense of irony — this
here is a soulful-sentimental declaration that will not put a smile on your face
(yet is still too bouncy and poppy to put a tear in your eye). And on the other
side of the LP, ʽYour Unchanging Loveʼ is an open attempt to repeat the formula
of ʽHow Sweet It Isʼ, but without an equally penetrating and convincing hook.
In fact, I would say that, in general, much of
this album sounds like an inferior preview of Marvin's upcoming duet albums
with Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell — the songwriting is more or less equally
formulaic in both cases, but at least the duet setting opened up more room for
lively drama and artistry. As it is, ʽLittle Darling (I Need You)ʼ sounds like
Marvin covering The Supremes; ʽTake This Heart Of Mineʼ sounds like Marvin
covering Martha & The Vandellas; ʽOne More Heartacheʼ sounds like Marvin
covering The Temptations; and ʽNight Lifeʼ sounds like Marvin covering Ray
Price... oh wait a minute, it is
Marvin covering Ray Price. It's all good enough, but the music offers few emotional
revelations or technical advances, and the level of soulful depth is beginning
to get just a tad too shallow for 1966 (although, admittedly, half of these
singles were released in the much more innocent 1965 — isn't it amazing how,
back in that time, one tiny year in music
seemed like an entire epoch?).
The overall level of fun, however, only begins to seriously drop down by the time we
reach the last bunch of songs — for some reason, Marvin decided to finish the
record on a serious Broadway note, burrowing himself into oldies such as ʽI
Worry About Youʼ and ʽOne For My Baby (And One For The Road)ʼ, the latter
dragging on for an interminable four and a half minutes as Marvin slowly and
stubbornly tries on Frank's nicely polished shoes. Then you remember that the
title of the album, after all, is clearly a throwback to the title of his first album (The Soulful Moods), and, once again, the suspicion arises that
Marvin felt himself restricted and cheapened by Motown's teen formula, and that
all those covers of oldies were some sort of subconscious protest against
that... admirable, perhaps, but just not particularly exciting. In any case, Moods Of Marvin Gaye is still a good proposition
for those who simply want more Marvin
Gaye rather than a new-and-improved Marvin Gaye. Fortunately, the times kept
a-changin', and the new-and-improved Marvin Gaye was also waiting just around
the corner.
You could do revisions of Laura Marling's records, please.
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