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"What's Going on"
Sly & The Family Stone might have
psychedelicized soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalized it.
Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release
the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued
in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about
every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility
for their music and its meaning. Marvin Gaye's co-wrote the songs
and produced the album, flavoring it with layer upon layer of
his own multi-tracked vocals, oceans of hand percussion, strings,
flutes, and jazzy horn solos. Spacey and loose as a spliff-fueled
Sunday afternoon jam in the park, the nine songs all played like
a hit single. The title track--inspired by his brother's return
from the Vietnam War--and the obvious social commentary of "Inner
City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy
Me (The Ecology)" actually were hit singles. --Don Waller |
