Published on Feb 9, 2004
I can’t see anything wrong with sex between consenting
anybodies. I think we make far too much of it.
That’s what Marvin Gaye wrote in the liner notes to introduce
his album
Let’s Get it On, arguably the king of make-out albums.
However, its greatness is also intimidating. Typically, love making
is never as smooth, sultry and flat-out sensual as this 30-minute
groove fest.
Gaye’s socially-conscious work,
What’s Going On, and
Let’s Get it On made one of the most powerful social
statements of the ’70s. One album looked on with a sense of
defeatism as he saw social injustice destroying the world. It was a
great testament of an artist looking outward and trying to make
sense of his world. With
Let’s Get it On, Gaye shifts the focus inward.
Unfortunately, over-commercialism has not been kind to this
album. It’s hard not to have your mind play back scores of bad
commercials with the title track. Pepsi, pet products, insurance
companies, dammit, this is not what Gaye was aiming for when he
recorded “Let’s Get it On.” Still, the album had all of the Motown
signatures: jazzy instrumentation, butter-smooth vocals and
gorgeous production.
Even though the album has a certain…theme to it, Gaye’s
demons occasionally creep into the album, namely in the song, “If I
Should Die Tonight.” Gaye’s tragic death makes the song all the
more chilling. His ability to provoke is demonstrated in “You Sure
Love to Ball” — opening with the moaning ecstasy of a certain
lady. It’s pretty harmless in today’s world, but thirty years ago
— eyebrows were likely raised by many who preferred Gaye’s more
traditional forays into soul.
The album ends with “Just to Keep You Satisfied” — with Gaye
crooning, “It’s too late, babe…” If there’s a flaw to
Let’s Get it On, it’s in its relative briefness and
similarity of songs. The listener has eight, basic dead-on ballads.
It’s ironic that this album is considered to be the epitome of
romantic albums, since it was recorded in a haze of pot smoke by an
artist who was constantly battling his inner demons. But Gaye’s
smooth voice holds it all together.