CoronaVinyl Day 53 (Soul): What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is soul.  If I were to build a Mount Rushmore of Soul -- and I plan to do so, assuming my PPP loan application ever gets approved -- it would include James Brown, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Otis Redding.  Other than Cooke, I have vinyl albums by all of them, but I've already featured Otis, and the one James Brown album I have is awesome, but I have to go with Marvin Gaye's seminal 1971 album What's Going On.

It was Gaye's eleventh studio album, and it represented a departure from his earlier, more poppy material.  Gaye delved into social issues on What's Going On -- which is not a question, but a statement -- and it was kind of a concept album, as the songs are told from the viewpoint of a Vietnam vet returning to the U.S. and what he encountered upon his return.  The songs touch on social injustice, war, drug abuse, environmental issues, and poverty.

What's Going On was ranked #6 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time and has been otherwise lauded too many times to list.  It was Gaye's highest-charting album up to that time, reaching #6 on the Billboard album chart and #1 on the Billboard R&B album chart.  All three singles released from the album in the U.S. hit #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and were top ten on the Billboard Hot 100:  "What's Going On" (#2), "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (#4), and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (#9).


The Spotify version of the album is the deluxe version, so it includes 35 songs -- 26 more than on the actual album.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "What's Going On"
Co-written by Four Tops member Obie Benson and Al Cleveland (and Gaye), in response to a police brutality incident Benson witnessed during an anti-war protest, the title track is a soul classic.  It's not solely a protest song, though, as its message is one of love and understanding.  After all, as he says, "For only love can conquer hate."  The lyric at the beginning of the second verse -- "Father father / We don't need to escalate" -- was sadly prescient, as Gaye and his father had a rocky relationship, culminating in April 1984, when Gaye's father fatally shot Gaye in the heart from point-blank range.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Right On"
The seven-plus minute first track on Side 2 is another ode to the power of love.  It has a great groove, and it kind of reminds me of a few songs from Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly (which would come out a year later).