Let's Get It On

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Let's Get It On
Studio album by Marvin Gaye
Released	August 28, 1973
Recorded	1970-1973, Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan (Studio A) Hitsville West, Los Angeles, California
Genre	R&B/Soul Funk
Length	31:36
Label	Tamla TS-329
Producer	Marvin Gaye, Ed Townsend
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A-) link iTunes (favorable) [1] Rolling Stone (favorable) link RS Album Guide link
Marvin Gaye chronology
Trouble Man (1972) Let's Get It On (1973) Diana & Marvin (1973)

Let's Get It On is a landmark soul album by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla (Motown) label on August 29, 1973. Described by critics as a sexually and romantically charged album that "remains a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy" ^[2], Let's Get it On was Gaye's second venture into funk music, was his most successful album with Motown and helped to push his multi-tracking vocals to the forefront.

[edit] History

I mumble things into the microphone, I don't even know what I'm saying, and I don't even try to figure it out. If I try, it doesn't work. If I relax, those mumbles will finally turn into words. It's a slow, evolving process, something like the way a flower grows.

—Marvin Gaye^[3]

By the spring of 1973, Marvin Gaye was suffering from writer's block. After releasing his most successful album up to that point, 1971's What's Going On and the popular soundtrack to the film, Trouble Man in 1972, Gaye had struggled to come up with material. He recorded some more politically conscious material, including the released single "You're the Man" and the then unreleased "The World is Rated X" and "Where Are We Going" - the latter track later covered and released by Donald Byrd. Gaye had planned a release of an album titled You're the Man but was later shelved for unknown reasons. After a discussion with old friend and former singer Ed Townsend of "For Your Love" fame, Gaye agreed to record the rough draft of a song Townsend had worked on: "Let's Get It On". Originally the song was a religious ode to life and was later re-written by Gaye confidant Kenneth Stover. Upon hearing Gaye's demo of the political version of the song, Townsend protested that the song was about "making sweet love". Gaye and Townsend then rewrote the lyrics with the arrangements and musical accompaniment of the demo intact. The song gave Gaye inspiration to revive old recordings of songs he had yet to finish, including the doo-wop-leaning "Come Get to This", "Distant Lover" and "Just to Keep You Satisfied". Gaye and Townsend worked on four songs together, including the ballad "If I Should Die Tonight" while Gaye composed the majority of the remaining four songs reexamining older songs. "...Satisfied" was originally recorded by least three Motown groups: The Miracles, The Originals and the Monitors and had been originally recorded as a song dedicated to long-standing love. By the time Gaye recorded his own version, he had re-written the lyrics and arrangement of the song to talk about the demise of his real marriage to Anna Gordy Gaye, who was, ironically, the original song's co-writer.

[edit] Release and reaction

Released on August 28, 1973, Let's Get It On surpassed What's Going On as the biggest-selling recording of his tenure with Motown. Peaking at number two on the pop albums chart and staying at number-one on the R&B album chart (then the Top Black Albums chart) for eleven weeks, making it the biggest-selling R&B album that year and was at that time in Motown's history the label's largest-selling recording ever, selling over three million units between 1973 and 1975. Two of the singles reached the top forty including "Let's Get It On", which became Gaye's second number-one pop single, and the top thirty hit "Come Get to This" which peaked at number twenty-three on the chart. A third single, "You Sure Love to Ball" was a more modest charted hit peaking at number fifty while it registered at number thirteen on the R&B singles chart.

[edit] Legacy

Many musicians have since copied aspects of the album. The album's success would influence the music of mid-1970s sex symbol R&B singers such as Barry White, Smokey Robinson and Teddy Pendergrass and the careers of future soul musicians such as Rick James and Prince. Some have gone so far as to take Gaye's fashion style on the cover of the album, with his red kufi, unshaven beard, and singular earring as part of their look. Rapper Common is among those who have taken that image to promote his material.

In 2004, the album was inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 165 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[4]

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

Tracks 1-4 produced by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend

1. "Let's Get It On" (Gaye/Townsend) – 4:52
2. "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" (Gaye/Townsend) – 3:28
3. "If I Should Die Tonight" (Gaye/Townsend) – 3:03
4. "Keep Gettin' It On" (Gaye/Townsend) – 3:09

[edit] Side B

Tracks 5-8 produced by Marvin Gaye

1. "Come Get to This" (Gaye) – 2:40
2. "Distant Lover" (Gaye/Gordy/Greene) – 4:15
3. "You Sure Love to Ball" (Gaye) – 4:43
4. "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (Gaye/Gordy-Gaye/Stover) – 4:26

[edit] Deluxe Edition 2001

[edit] Disc 1

1. "Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye/Ed Townsend) – 4:52
2. "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" (Marvin Gaye/Ed Townsend) – 3:28
3. "If I Should Die Tonight" (Marvin Gaye/Ed Townsend) – 3:03
4. "Keep Gettin' It On" (Marvin Gaye/Ed Townsend) – 3:09
5. "Come Get to This" (Marvin Gaye) – 2:40
6. "Distant Lover" (Marvin Gaye/Gwen Fuqua/Sandra Greene) – 4:15
7. "You Sure Love to Ball" (Marvin Gaye) – 4:43
8. "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (Marvin Gaye/Anna Gordy-Gaye/Elgie Stover) – 4:26
9. "Song #3" (instrumental) (David Van De Pitte/Marvin Gaye) - 5:28
10. "My Love is Growing" (Marvin Gaye) - 4:20
11. "Cakes" (David Van De Pitte/Marvin Gaye) - 3:14
12. "Symphony" (Marvin Gaye/Smokey Robinson) - 2:51
13. "I'd Give my Life for You" (Marvin Gaye) - 3:29
14. "I Love You Secretly" (Anna Gordy-Gaye/Elgie Stover/Marvin Gaye) - 4:18
15. "You're the Man" (Alternate Version 1) (Kenneth Stover/Marvin Gaye) - 7:24
16. "You're the Man" (Version 2) (Kenneth Stover/Marvin Gaye) - 4:44
17. "Symphony" (Demo Version) (Marvin Gaye/Smokey Robinson) - 2:48

[edit] Personnel

• All lead and background vocals by Marvin Gaye except where notified:
  • Background vocals on "Just to Keep You Satisfied" by The Originals
• Produced by Marvin Gaye
• Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by David van De Pitte

• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers:
  • Marvin Gaye: drums, piano, keyboards
  • James Jamerson: bass guitar
  • Uriel Jones: drums
  • Robert White: guitar
  • Eddie Willis: guitar
  • Other instrumentation by assorted Los Angeles musicians

[edit] Chart and single history

[edit] References