What's going on

What's going on
Studio album by Marvin Gaye
Publication (s)	May 21, 1971
admission	June 1, 1970 - May 5, 1971
Label (s)	Tamla Records
Format (s)	LP , CD , MC , SACD , BD
Genre (s)	soul
Title (number)	9/11 (CD)
length	35:28
occupation	Marvin Gaye - vocals , piano The Funk Brothers - backing vocals The Andantes - backing vocals Detroit Symphony Orchestra
production	Marvin Gaye
Studio (s)	Motown Recording Studios , Detroit The Sound Factory, Los Angeles
chronology That's the Way Love Is (1970) What's going on Trouble Man (1972)

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye . It was released on May 21, 1971. What's Going On is also the title track of the album. What's Going On is the most successful and most important album by Marvin Gaye, who for the first time brought the soul music and Motown sound of earlier years to an artistic and political expressiveness in a concept album .

It became one of the most famous soul albums and differed due to the musical arrangements (use of elements from jazz and classical music ) as well as the lyrics (political statements on environmental protection, political corruption, drug abuse and the Vietnam War) from other productions of the genre of the time and in particular the Motown productions .

Emergence

In the album, Gaye processed his horror at the reports of his brother Frankie, who had just returned from the Vietnam War. He tells, among other things. the story of an African-American Vietnam veteran who, on his return, finds a country that is still hostile to him, despite having gone to war for that country. Further inspiration was his grief over the early (brain tumor) death of his longtime duet partner Tammi Terrell and various private problems.

The first impetus came from the musicians Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Al Cleveland, who encouraged Gaye in June 1970 to co-produce their new song What's Going On and publish it on Motown. Eventually it was decided that Gaye should take over the vocal part himself. Berry Gordy initially refused to release the single because he thought it was too critical and commercially unpromising. It was only when Gaye threatened never to sing for Motown again that Gordy gave in. After the single had huge success at number one on the R&B and number two on the US pop charts, Gordy turned around and asked Gaye to produce an album in this style. Gaye was given wide-ranging freedoms. The resulting album of the same name had four top ten singles, the title track, Mercy Mercy Me , Inner City Blues and Save The Children . What's Going On is a "self-contained" album, as the individual songs mostly merge into one another without pauses.

Marvin Gaye produced an album himself for the first time and thereby achieved greater independence, which allowed him the complexity of the choice of topics and the musical variety. The songs are also interwoven in terms of content.

What's Going On is the first record on which the legendary Motown studio band The Funk Brothers is officially mentioned.

occupation

• Vocals , piano , mellotron (track 6) , cajón (track 1) - Marvin Gaye
• Backing vocals - Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, Louvain Demps, Mel Farr, Charlie Sanders , Lem Barney , Dave Bing , Bobby Rogers, Elgie Stover, Kenneth Stover
• Violin - Gordon Staples, Zinovi Bistritzky, Beatriz Budinzky, Richard Margitza, Virginia Halfmann, Felix Resnick, Alvin Score, Lillian Downs, James Waring
• Viola - Edouard Kesner, Meyer Shapiro, David Ireland , Nathan Gordon
• Violoncello - Italo Babini, Thaddeus Markiewicz, Edward Korkigan
• Double bass - Max Janowsky
• Harp - Carole Crosby
• Flute - Dayna Hardwick, William Perich
• Saxophone - Larry Nozero , Angelo Carlisi, George Benson , Tate Houston
• Trumpet - John Trudell , Maurice Davis
• Oboe - Nilesh Pawar
• Trumpet - Carl Raetz
• Alto saxophone - Eli Fontaine
• Tenor Saxophone - Wild Bill Moore
• Celesta - Johnny Griffith
• Keyboard - Earl Van Dyke
• Vibraphone , percussion - Jack Brokensha
• Guitar - Joe Messina, Robert White
• Bass - James Jamerson , Bob Babbitt (Tracks 6,7,8,9)
• Drums - Chet Forest
• Tambourine , percussion - Jack Ashford
• Bongos , Congas - Eddie Brown, Earl DeRouen, Bobbye Hall (Track 9)
• Conductor - David Van DePitte

Track list

page A

1. What's Going On (Al Cleveland, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson ) - 3:53

2. What's happening Brother (James Nyx, Marvin Gaye) - 2:43

3. Flyin 'High (In the Friendly Sky) (Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy Gaye, Elgie Stover) - 3:49

4. Save the Children (Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson) - 4:03

5. God is Love (Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy Gaye, Elgie Stover, James Nyx) - 1:41

6. Mercy Mercy Me (Marvin Gaye) - 3:16

Side B

7. Right On (Earl DeRouen, Marvin Gaye) - 7:31

8. Wholy Holy (Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson) - 3:08

9. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (Marvin Gaye, James Nyx, Anna Gaye, Elgie Stover) - 5:26

CD bonus tracks

1. God Is Love (Single Version) - 2:48
2. Sad Tomorrows (Marvin Gaye, Fuller B. Gordy, Delores Wilkinson) - 2:22

successes

The album was number one on the US R&B charts for nine weeks and reached number 6 as the highest ranking in the US pop charts. The single releases achieved the following placements in 1971: What's Going On (R&B - 1st place, Pop - 2nd place), Mercy Mercy Me (R&B - 1st place, Pop - 4th place), Inner City Blues (R&B - 1st place, Pop - 9th place ), Save The Children (UK - 9th place).

reception

source	rating
All music
Jazzwise
Laut.de

What's Going On is considered Gaye's masterpiece and appears in various leaderboards at the top.

The music magazine Rolling Stone led What's Going On in 2003 at No. 6 of the 500 best albums of all time and the theme song to # 4 on the 500 best songs of all time . In a renewed vote, carried out in 2020, the album took first place.

In the selection of the 500 best albums of all time of the New Musical Express reached What's Going On Course 25th

The Guardian named What's Going On the best album of all time in 1997.

Uncut magazine ranked it 13th out of the 200 best albums.

Pitchfork leads What's Going On number 49 of the 100 best albums of the 1970s and the theme song to # 3 on the 200 best songs of the decade.

The German magazine Musikexpress chose the song What's Going On as number 4 of the 100 best songs of all time.

The magazine Time took What's Going On in the compilation of the 100 most important albums.

The album is one of the 1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

In 1998 What's Going On was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame , and in 2003 into the National Recording Registry .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Review by John Bush on Allmusic (accessed January 5, 2017)
2. ↑ Review by Kevin Le Gendre on Jazzwise (accessed January 5, 2017)
3. ↑ Review by Dani Fromm on Laut.de (accessed January 5, 2017)
4. ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on Rolling Stone (accessed November 23, 2018)
5. ↑ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time on Rolling Stone (accessed November 23, 2018)
6. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on Rolling Stone (accessed October 21, 2020)
7. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100-1 on nme.com (accessed January 5, 2017)
8. ↑ The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever on Discogs (accessed November 23, 2018)
9. ↑ Uncut: 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time on Rate Your Music , from: Uncut 02/2016 (accessed November 23, 2018)
10. ↑ The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s on Pitchfork (accessed November 23, 2018)
11. ↑ The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s on Pitchfork (accessed November 23, 2018)
12. ↑ The 100 best songs of all time on Musikexpress (accessed November 23, 2018)
13. ↑ All-Time 100 Albums on Time (accessed November 23, 2018)
14. ↑ Grammy Hall Of Fame on Grammy (accessed November 23, 2018)
15. ↑ What's Going On at Library of Congress (PDF) (accessed November 23, 2018)

Web links

• What's Going On at AllMusic (English)