Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On

Released - August 1973

Genre - Soul

Producer - Marvin Gaye & Ed Townsend

Selected Personnel - Marvin Gaye (Vocals/Piano); David T. Walker (Guitar); Eddie Willis (Guitar); Robert White (Guitar); Don Peake (Guitar); Wilton Felder (Bass); James Jamerson (Bass); Joe Sample (Piano); Eddie Brown (Drums); Plas Johnsson (Percussion); Emil Richards (Percussion); Victor Feldman (Percussion); David Van De Pitte (Orchestral Arrangements)

Standout Track - Let's Get It On

In 1973, having established himself as one of the first Motown artists to try and inject social commentary and conceptual structures into the previously simple templates of soul music via the landmark album What's Going On, Marvin Gaye went on to cast himself in the role he is probably best remembered as today, that of the music world's most iconic sex symbol. In the title track to Let's Get It On he created a song that has become such a gold standard sex anthem that its presence in films and TV series has long ago become a tedious comedy trope (one that I've resorted to in previous comedy routines myself before I remembered how terribly unimaginative it was). But the album it sits proudly at the front of is in itself one of the most passionate and heartfelt odes to sex and love ever recorded, and one that's actually far more thoughtful and intelligent than the "Bom chicka wah wah" reputation its title track has unfairly earned.

It was with great surprise that I initially learned of Gaye's troubled relationship with sex prior to the release of Let's Get It On. Though he had already recorded countless love songs and his stage presence had always been infused with an energy and passion bordering on sexual, he was far from the suave lothario he has been remembered as. Growing up under the puritanical influence of his preacher father Marvin Gay, Snr. (who would eventually become notorious for tragically shooting and killing Gaye himself in the 80s), Marvin Gaye had the fundamentalist Christian messages of the evils of sexual urges drilled into him from an early age, made all the more severe by his father's physically abusive nature. This upbringing manifested itself in adulthood via a combination of impotence and a tendency towards sadomasochistic fantasies that wracked him with guilt and depression. Far from being something he was totally comfortable with, the idea of sex was one that both fascinated and terrified and disgusted him all at once. In 1972 Gaye was also suffering from a kind of myopic depression stemming from writers' block in the wake of the enormous success of What's Going On and from his ongoing difficulty being separated from his wife Anna Gordy. Ultimately, he would triumph over this writers' block by confronting his fears and problems with sex head-on, and by finally managing to develop some kind of methodology for sex where he was able to render himself comfortable with it, via equating it with a spiritual love for God.

The sexuality of Let's Get It On, then, is no covert mood of sensual soul Gaye snuck into the writing process, it becomes a guiding manifesto for the entire record, which initially came complete with a short treatise by Gaye in which he proclaimed "I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together," before concluding "I don't believe in overly moralistic philosophies." The sensual groove of the music on the album represented Gaye coming to terms with love and sex as a natural part of humanity's spiritual journey towards God, and it's from that final sense of acceptance that the album's enormous sense of passion and steaminess stems from, and in that sense it's so much more than a comically overt sex album, it's a genuinely profound and intelligent exploration into what love means, and how one can make sense of it.

Largely, Gaye recruits most of the same cohorts from the hugely successful What's Going On sessions, from the orchestral arrangements of David Van De Pitte to the rhythm tracks of the Funk Brothers, who are generally more prominent throughout here than on that earlier record. Van De Pitte's orchestrations rarely carry the melody as they did frequently before, and it's notable that the song that's driven more than any other by the strings, the fairly downbeat and uninspired closer "Just To Keep You Satisfied" is probably the weakest moment on the album. Driven by Gaye's sense of passion and spiritual and romantic longing, Let's Get It On succeeds far better in the more upbeat and rhythmic tracks, though Van De Pitte's orchestrations do provide wonderful support throughout. The standout moment is, of course, that title track, instantly iconic in that three-note opening guitar riff from Funk Brothers guitarist Don Peake. It's a shame it's a song that's become so steeped in cliche, as if one really tries to listen to it for what it is, its epic majesty is quickly apparent. Gaye's vocal performance is perhaps the best he's ever given, from impassioned, orgiastic cries to smooth, sultry croons. Curiously, Gaye had initially written the song as a spiritual piece before Motown songwriter Kenneth Stover rewrote it as a political piece. The album's producer Ed Townsend was the one to suggest it be done as a straightforward romantic/sexual song, thereby finally bringing the song home to the mood it was always destined to encapsulate, so much so that imagining a different rendition of the song that explored social issues instead is almost unthinkable. To this day, perhaps the only song to rival it in the "most iconic sex song" stakes is Gaye's own huge 1982 hit "Sexual Healing." The reprise of "Let's Get It On" at the end of the album's first half, this time titled "Keep Gettin' It On," is slightly more restrained and frames the idea of sex in a wider socio-political context with talk of making love "as opposed to war," but it's perhaps the only point on the record Gaye even tries to ape the sloganeering and political commentary of What's Going On.

"Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" is a powerfully ecstatic paean of love that builds in intensity with its intensely rhythmic percussion and funk-styled guitar and swirling strings, and of course Gaye's declamatory, pleading vocals. "Come Get To This" is probably the best song on the album that a new listener will probably already be unfamiliar with - again, it's the loping, thudding percussive sound that really steals the show, and sees Gaye at his most playfully jubilant in an invitation to a sexual encounter with a loved one. Other than "Come Get To This," the album's second side is less strong than the first, with the slow and fairly by-the-numbers ballad "Distant Lover" and the aforementioned damp squib of a closer. "You Sure Love To Ball," perhaps the most overt track on the album with the ecstatic moans that kick it off, is an enjoyable song that goes for a more mysterious and sultry vibe with its sustained strings and smoky sax, rather than the more ecstatic and upbeat tone of most of the rest of the album.

Altogether, despite a couple of duff moments, Let's Get It On strikes me as an infinitely more consistent and enjoyable album than What's Going On, albeit perhaps less groundbreaking in its themes and conception. Whereas the sermonising figure of that earlier album was occasionally a little overbearing, the more unrestrained and liberated figure that comes across on this album is altogether more enjoyable and more soulful, and it's for that sense of unfettered delight that this album really takes off. So far, beyond those two albums and a Greatest Hits compilation, I've not gotten round to listening to any more Marvin Gaye, although I might try to find time at some point. Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of Let's Get It On is that the spiritually fulfilled and passionate character that comes through it would not last and by the early 80s Gaye would be swamped with debts to the IRS and crippled by drug addiction, ultimately becoming suicidal and paranoid before an ongoing feud with his father resulted in a fatal shooting in 1984. Let's Get It On is a brief insight into the great music he was able to make when he found a way to overcome the demons that troubled him habitually, and would continue to do so all the way up until his tragic death.

Track Listing:

1. Let's Get It On (Marvin Gaye & Ed Townsend)

2. Please Stay (Once You Go Away) (Marvin Gaye & Ed Townsend)

3. If I Should Die Tonight (Marvin Gaye & Ed Townsend)

4. Keep Gettin' It On (Marvin Gaye & Ed Townsend)

5. Come Get To This (Marvin Gaye)

6. Distant Lover (Marvin Gaye; Gwen Gordy & Sandra Greene)

7. You Sure Love To Ball (Marvin Gaye)

8. Just To Keep You Satisfied (Marvin Gaye; Anna Gordy Gaye & Elgie Stover)