Marvin Gaye Live!

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Marvin Gaye Live!
Tamla
ProducerMarvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye chronology
Diana & Marvin
(1973) 		Marvin Gaye Live!
(1974) 		I Want You
(1976)

Marvin Gaye Live! is the second

Tamla Records
.

Overview

Returning to live performances

In 1973, Gaye released his greatest-selling album,

Kennedy Center
, and briefly in the 1973 film Save the Children. But with the success of Let's Get It On and Gaye's now-increasing spending habit, he reluctantly agreed to start touring again in the beginning of 1974.

After rescheduling the concert for January 4, 1974, at the

Oakland Coliseum Arena, Gaye took the stage in front of 14,000-plus screaming fans. He performed a new song which he dedicated to his girlfriend Janis Hunter titled "Jan", as well as songs from his 1970s repertoire, only including his 1960s classics in a sped-up "Fossil Medley". Throughout his tours, Gaye began developing performance anxiety and had feared the public reception. To test the public, he reportedly forced his younger brother Frankie to come out before being confident enough to come out afterwards. The biggest fan response on the album came when Gaye retooled his song, "Distant Lover
", into a slower-paced version. The performance soon became a Gaye trademark onstage and the singer continued to perform the song in that similar style until his final performances in the early 1980s.

Reception

Commercially, the album was a big success and proved that, despite his fears, Gaye was still as convincing as a live performer as he was as a recording artist during the early-1970s. On August 31, 1974, the album peaked at #1 on the R&B album chart for two weeks while resting at #8 on the pop album chart. The live version of "Distant Lover" created such a frenetic response that Motown issued the live song as a single where it reached #28 on the pop chart and #15 on the R&B charts in the late summer of 1974. The album would go on to sell over a million copies.

The live album earned Gaye his fifth Grammy Award nomination for

Boogie on Reggae Woman" by fellow Motown artist and close friend Stevie Wonder.[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[3]
Tom HullB[4]

Track listing

Original LP

Side A
  1. "Introduction" – 0:34
  2. "Overture" (Marvin Gaye) – 2:24
  3. "Trouble Man" (Gaye) – 6:36
  4. "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (Gaye, James Nyx) – 3:55
  5. "Distant Lover" (Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Gaye, Sandra Greene) – 6:14
  6. "Jan" (Gaye) – 2:56
Side B
  1. Fossil Medley: "I'll Be Doggone"/"Try It Baby"/"Can I Get a Witness"/"You're a Wonderful One"/"Stubborn Kind of Fellow"/"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" – 11:36
  2. "Let's Get It On" (Gaye, Ed Townsend) – 4:43
  3. "What's Going On" (Renaldo Benson, Al Cleveland, Gaye) – 4:49

1998 CD remaster

  1. "Introduction" – 0:34
  2. "Overture" (Gaye) – 2:24
  3. "Trouble Man" (Gaye) – 6:36
  4. "
    Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)"/"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
    " - 4:28
  5. "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (Gaye, Nyx) – 3:55
  6. "Distant Lover" (Gordy Fuqua, Gaye, Greene) – 6:14
  7. "Jan" (Gaye) – 2:56
  8. "
    Keep Gettin' It On
    " (Gaye, Townsend) - 3:07
  9. Fossil Medley: "I'll Be Doggone"/"Try It Baby"/"Can I Get a Witness"/"You're a Wonderful One"/"Stubborn Kind of Fellow"/"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" – 11:36
  10. "Thanks to the Orchestra" - 0:55
  11. "Let's Get It On" (Gaye, Townsend) – 4:43
  12. "What's Going On" (Benson, Cleveland, Gaye) – 4:49

See also

  • List of number-one R&B albums of 1974 (U.S.)

References

  1. ^ "Winners & Nominees".
  2. ^ link
  3. ISBN 089919026X
    . Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ Hull, Tom (November 2013). "Recycled Goods (#114)". A Consumer Guide to the Trailing Edge. Tom Hull. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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