Trouble Man (album)

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Trouble Man
Soundtrack by Marvin Gaye
Released	December 8, 1972
Recorded	1972, Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan Hitsville West, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Soul/Funk
Length	38:25
Label	Tamla
Producer	Marvin Gaye
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone (not rated) link
Marvin Gaye chronology
What's Going On (1971) Trouble Man (1972) Let's Get It On (1973)

Trouble Man is a 1972 soundtrack album by Marvin Gaye.

Fresh off the left-field base success of his classic 1971 album, What's Going On, Gaye was intrigued by Hollywood. Early in Gaye's career, he was given a chance to play his idol Sam Cooke in a proposed movie about the slain singer's life, but turned it down because he felt it odd about a movie based on a soul singer being shot to death^{[citation needed]}. Gaye had also acted in two films, including The Ballad of Andy Crocker and Hot Chrome and Leather. The singer moved to Los Angeles in 1972 after he accepted the offer to do a soundtrack album.

Like Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield, Gaye took to recording a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film. Trouble Man, a thriller based in the ghetto, was made solely for the soundtrack Gaye composed and produced himself. Unlike Super Fly (soundtrack) and Shaft, the soundtrack to Trouble Man doesn't feature love songs; except for a few vocal jabs by Gaye, it is made up entirely of instrumental pieces. The title track was released in several different mixes. The vocal version became another big hit for Gaye, reaching #7 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1973.

Critics deem Trouble Man on par with Hayes and Mayfield's albums. Gaye was soon followed by other contemporaries including James Brown (Black Caesar), Willie Hutch (The Mack; Foxy Brown) and Barry White (The Together Brothers) .

The "Trouble Man" song was Gaye's venture into a more blues influenced sound missing from his previous work. According to Gaye, the song was autobiographical to his nature. Years after his death, the message of "Trouble Man" has reigned as true as anything Gaye has recorded, and was also the title of a Marvin Gaye biography: Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Marvin Gaye.

1. "Main Theme From Trouble Man (2)" – 2:30
2. "'T' Plays It Cool" – 4:27
3. "Poor Abbey Walsh" – 4:13
4. "The Break In (Police Shoot Big)" – 1:57
5. "Cleo's Apartment" – 2:10
6. "Trouble Man" – 3:49
7. "Theme From Trouble Man" – 2:01
8. "'T' Stands For Trouble" – 4:48
9. "Main Theme From Trouble Man (1)" – 3:52
10. "Life is a Gamble" – 2:32
11. "Deep in It" – 1:25
12. "Don't Mess with Mister 'T'" – 3:04
13. "There Goes Mister 'T'" – 1:37

[edit] Credits

[edit] Musicians

• Marvin Gaye: all vocals, drums, keyboards, piano
• Trevor Lawrence: alto, tenor and baritone saxophone
• Dale Oehler: horns
• Gene Page: strings
• Bob Ragland: piano, strings
• James Anthony Carmichael: horns

[edit] Arrangers and producers

• Composed, written and produced by Marvin Gaye
• Arranged by Dale Oehler, Marvin Gaye, Gene Page, Jack Hayes, J.J. Johnson, Bob Ragland and Leo Shunker

[edit] Covers

• "Trouble Man" was covered by long-time Gaye admirer, Chico DeBarge.