by
Marvin Gaye
- Record Label: Motown
- Release Date: May 31, 2011
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Q MagazineAug 9, 2011It still sounds fabulous and relevant too, though this Super Deluxe Edition with lots of superfluous add-ons and a super £50-plus price tag to match is surely for completists only. [Aug 2011, p.133]
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Aug 4, 2011Greatest protest album ever made? Most stirring soul-music symphony? Yes and yes. And then some.
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Aug 4, 2011An indelible quiet-storm jeremiad.
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UncutAug 3, 2011Gaye's music was on the move, but it never moved quite like What's Going On: still seraphic, still turbulent. [Aug 2011, p.95]
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Aug 2, 2011What's Going On was Marvin Gaye's masterwork, the most perfect expression of an artist's hope, anger, and concern ever recorded.
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Aug 2, 2011His symphonic-soul innovations here would map out the course of much 1970s soul music, while his use of multi-layered vocals – the happy result of an engineer accidentally running two vocal takes in the same mix – added an extra element to Gaye's vocal armoury which he would use extensively throughout the rest of his career.
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Aug 2, 2011The most perfect suite of music recorded in my lifetime.
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Aug 2, 2011In any form, What's Going On is an album that everyone should have in their collection; no matter how many times you play it, there is always something else to discover.
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Aug 2, 2011What's Going On is not only a remarkable album, but an opportunity to discover a seminal artist at the peak of his powers; an insight into a true modern genius of pop music.
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Aug 2, 2011For die-hards, the most alluring part of the package may be the second compact disc, which features 18 mostly instrumental demos recorded in Gaye's post-What's Going On honeymoon period, when his vast artistic ambitions and abilities were being embraced by the greater public. These somewhat experimental demos--deep, in-the-pocket funk in the vein of Sly Stone, George Clinton, and Jimi Hendrix--clearly laid the groundwork for much of his subsequent 70s material.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 81 out of 88
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Mixed: 1 out of 88
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Negative: 6 out of 88
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Aug 10, 2011
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Aug 15, 2011
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Jan 4, 2013