What’s Going On

Täydellistä, kun Marvin saa kans erinomaisen musiikin lisäksi sanoa jotain maailmasta. 5/5

Great album, high production, everything just flows. Mercy Mercy Me is a particular favourite.

Considering how much I didn't care for the other Marvin Gaye album we got, I was shocked by how much I liked this one. Great songs and messages and extreemly well made. It's pretty good.

Marvin Gayes masterpiece. Just an absolute beautiful album, which sadly a lot of the themes are still true today, over 50 years later.

Annoyingly smooth

This is one of the most powerful and heartfelt musical statements ever made, and would be a strong contender for greatest album of all time in my book. I have always admired the atmosphere he was able to capture and maintain throughout the record. Although it has its emotional ups and downs, it really is one big musical statement - like a symphony with different movements and recurring themes. The arrangements are bold and intricately layered, but never overdone. The tracks seem to effortlessly flow into one another in a way that just hypnotizes you. The music is obviously meticulously composed and constructed, yet it feels so natural and organic that it almost seems like it could have been miraculously collectively improvised somehow. As you know, right before our last jam, I listened to this on the way up and damn near had a religious experience in my car. I mean I had heard this album dozens of times before but for some reason this album, and everything he was saying on it, just seemed so relevant to what we're still experiencing today and it hit me so hard. I kept turning the volume up, and up, and up, and heard it in whole new way all these years later. This album is a cry for help in an increasingly complicated and difficult world, but it retains a distinct and heartbreakingly beautiful sense of optimism. An optimism that we so desperately need to hold on to.

Today's album is a concept album by Marvin Gaye surrounding themes of the Vietnam war, and veterans returning home, and the state of the world around that time. The whole album flows together like it is one big 35 minute song.

Marvin is a phenomenal soul singer, and the overall message of this album was deep, and real. As applicable to today's society as it was to 1970's America.

Overall, a great album today. I got this on St. Patrick's Day, which is traditionally known as a partying/drinking day, so it was kind of a hard day to fully digest this album like it deserves because my mind just wasn't in the mood for mournful, Slow music. I can, however, appreciate the talent that is on this album, and will absolutely revisit this one on a better day to give it the appreciation it deserves!

Favourite songs: What's Going On, What's Happening Brother, God is Love, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Right On, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Least favourite songs: Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)

4/5