Let's Get It On [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Marvin Gaye
Artist: The Miracles; The Originals; Herbie Hancock
Engineer: Bill McMeekin; Calvin Harris; Larry Miles; Art Stewart; Steve Smith
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: This 2-CD deluxe edition of LET'S GET IT ON features various session recordings leading up to or associated with the landmark 1973 release, which is also included in its original form. Personnel includes: Marvin Gaye (vocals, piano); Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin, Don Peake, Arthur Wright, Louis Shelton, David T. Walker, Robert White, Eddie Willis (guitar); Plas Johnson, Bill Green, Ernie Fields, Buddy Collete, Ernie Watts (saxophone, flutes); Chuck Findley (trumpet); George Bohannon (trombone); Joe Sample, Marvin Jenkins, Herbie Hancock (piano); Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith (keyboards); Emil Richards, Victor Feldman (vibraphone); Wilton Felder, James Jamerson (bass); Paul Humphrey, Uriel Jones (drums); Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Bobbye Hall Porter (congas, bongos); The Miracles; The Originals; The Monitors. Producers include: Marvin Gaye, Ed Townsend, David Van DePitte, Hal Davis, Willie Hutch. Principally recorded between 1970 and 1973. LET'S GET IT ON originally released on Tamla (329). Includes liner notes by Ed Townsend, David Ritz, Ben Edmonds and Harry Weinger. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Marvin Gaye (piano, keyboards); Marvin Gaye (vocals); Eddie Willis, Robert White , Robert White (guitar); Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith (keyboards); Wilton Felder (bass instrument); Paul Humphrey , Paul Humphrey & the Cool Aid Chemists , Uriel Jones (drums); Hall Bobby Porter, Bobbye Porter (congas, bongos); Hank Dixon, Fred Ross, Freddie Gorman, Walter Gaines, C.P. Spencer (background vocals); David T. Walker, Donald Peake, Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin, Louis Shelton (guitar); Ernie Watts, Plas Johnson (saxophone); Joe Sample, Marvin Jenkins (piano); Victor Feldman, Emil Richards (vibraphone); Eddie "Bongo" Brown (congas, bongos, percussion). Audio Mixers: Carl Cadden-James; Calvin Harris ; Jeff Glixman. Liner Note Authors: Marvin Gaye; Ben Edmonds. Recording information: Hitsville, Detroit, MI; Motown Studios-Hitsville West, Los Angeles, CA. Photographer: Jim Britt. Arrangers: David Blumberg; Gene Page; Rene Hall; David Van De Pitte. Relishing the artistic freedom afforded by the success of WHAT'S GOING ON, Marvin Gaye recorded this sultry paean to sex. Where its predecessor relied on complex arrangements, the straightforward sound of LET'S GET IT ON focused attention on its tight rhythms, strong melodies, and Gaye's expressive, nuanced singing. For sheer sensual come-on, it's hard to beat the title track, one of the finest celebrations of the joys of human chemistry ever recorded. But the self-explanatory "Come Get to This" and "You Sure Love to Ball" aren't far behind in terms of passionate execution and visceral impact. Though LET'S GET IT ON has its reflective moments, notably the beautiful ballad "Distant Lover," Gaye's focus is on the here and now, and the intensity of his vocal performances and the silky, fluid feel of the arrangements inform the sensual "carpe diem" philosophy. Just as WHAT'S GOING ON opened the floodgates for political soul music, LET'S GET IT ON defined the "lover man" genre populated by luminaries like Al Green, Barry White, and Isaac Hayes. After brilliantly surveying the social, political, and spiritual landscape with What's Going On, Marvin Gaye turned to more intimate matters with Let's Get It On, a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy. Always a sexually charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point on tracks like the magnificent title hit (a number one smash) and "You Sure Love to Ball"; silky and shimmering, the music is seductive in the most literal sense, its fluid grooves so perfectly designed for romance as to border on parody. With each performance laced with innuendo, each lyric a come-on, and each rhythm throbbing with lust, perhaps no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let's Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later -- much copied, but never imitated. [The 2003 reissue adds two single versions as bonus tracks.] ~ Jason Ankeny

Rolling Stone (1/23/03, p.68) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A perfect seduction-groove record... Rolling Stone (1/23/03, p.68) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A perfect seduction-groove record... Uncut (5/03, p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...His deliberations on the boundaries between love and sex are beautifully sung..." Uncut (5/03, p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...His deliberations on the boundaries between love and sex are beautifully sung..."

Marvin Gaye began his career in the late 1950s, singing with various R&B vocal groups. Soon he moved on to work as a session drummer and vocalist at Motown. Gaye's own '60s albums are marked by propulsive, high-energy R&B, and duets with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell. In the '70s, he crafted a unique, highly personal vision of R&B, incorporating socio-political issues, atmospheric arrangements, and unified album themes. His early, violent death robbed the world of a true genius.

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