CoronaVinyl Day 442 (G): Marvin Gaye Live! by Marvin Gaye

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "G," and again, I don't have anymore albums by G artists who I haven't already featured on CoronaVinyl, so I'm going back to one of my favorite soul singers, Marvin Gaye, and his 1974 live album, the descriptively titled Marvin Gaye Live!

By 1974, Gaye was already an established superstar, and his 1973 album Let's Get It On had been a huge hit.  However, he had suffered from stage fright after his duet partner Tammi Terrell collapsed into Gaye's arms on stage during a concert in Virginia in 1967, only to find out she had a malignant brain tumor.  She died in 1970.  In the interim, Gaye only performed live a handful of times, but because of the success of Let's Get It On and the prodding of Motown (his record label), he agreed to return to touring in 1974.

Marvin Gaye Live! features songs from a concert at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in January 1974.  The first side features some of his "newer" songs, and the second side starts with a medley of some of his "older" hits, followed by "Let's Get It On" and "What's Going On."  It's a pretty good live album, and it showed that, even though he hadn't performed live much over the previous several years, Gaye still had the goods and could captivate a crowd.

The album reached #8 on the Billboard album chart and #1 on the Billboard R&B album chart, and the live version of "Distant Lover" from the album went to #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

The version of the album on Spotify is an extended version with a few extra tracks.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Trouble Man"
The title track off of Gaye's 1972 album that also doubled as the soundtrack for the film of the same name, Gaye's live version of "Trouble Man" is punchy and soulful.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Fossil Medley"
This one is kind of cheating because it's an 11+-minute medley of some of Gaye's most beloved songs -- "I'll Be Doggone," "Try It Baby," "Can I Get a Witness," "You're a Wonderful One," "Stubborn Kind of Fellow," and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" -- but hey it's a six-in-one song, so I'll take it.