I never get bored with the spine chilling introduction to I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Too Busy Thinking About My Baby is still a favourite of mine. All these records, while part of the Motown hit factory, were in my opinion, individual original entities owing to their production, the songs themselves, and of course Marvin’s unique voice. Marvin’s collaborations with various ladies, particularly Tammi Terrell and Kim Weston produced memorable masterpieces like Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and dancefloor favourites, It Takes Two and Two Can Have A Party.

'one of the greatest records ever'

Into the seventies and perhaps for the first time, Marvin was given more artistic freedom to write and sing about what he really wanted to. This resulted in a series of slower songs with thought provoking lyrics giving us a glimpse into the troubled mind of Marvin Gaye.

Abraham, Martin & John, Save The Children, Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues, and one of the greatest records ever, What’s Going On.

This wasn’t the hit formula that Motown had built it’s reputation on, and Berry Gordy initially dismissed the work as nonsense. The album, What’s Going On was released despite Gordy’s misgivings, and went on to become the best selling Motown album of all time.

Shortly after the release of What’s Going On, Marvin produced, Come Get To This, which was the flip side to Distant Lover on the Tamla label.

Any modern room worth it's salt will be playing Come Get To This, it's just fabulous!

Click The Record Below To Play

It’s worthy of note, that owing mainly to the dedication of the northern modern soul scene in the UK, several hitherto unreleased items such as Love Starved Heart and Where Are We Going have been issued on various compilation albums.

A few years later after moving to record company CBS, and just when it seemed the complexities in Marvin's life had overwhelmed him, he emerged triumphant again with another dynamite tune Sexual Healing.