Douglas Laman Gets A Tune-Up (Entry #3): What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

DOUGLAS LAMAN GETS A TUNE-UP

ENTRY #3: What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

Douglas Laman Gets A Tune-Up is a new weekly series wherein Douglas Laman listens to an album of music he's never fully listened to before (though he may have heard one or two songs from it) and writes up his brief thoughts on it.

For the next entry in this series, we head only a few years after 1967 when The Velvet Underground & Nico was released but we do head into a different genre of music entirely. Marvin Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On clearly belongs to the world of soul music, a genre reliant on African-American culture and one that served as an artistic outlet for African-Americans in both the 20th and 21st century. While American music was still struggling to recognize African-American artists on a regular basis in the 1960's and 1970's, the terrain of soul and jazz music served as one of the few go-to avenues for African-American musicians looking to express themselves in an authentic way.


One of these musicians was Marvin Gaye, whose 1971 album What's Going On (his third highest charting album on the US Billboard 200 chart) is full of incredible music that shows just what kind of art the genre of soul provides that no other genre can capture or accurately emulate.  The album begins with two tracks whose very titles seem like amiable greetings from Gaye himself, welcoming all to listen to his tunes and soak in the easygoing atmosphere of these tracks which are entitled What's Going On and What's Happening Brother. The latter song's lyrics are full of Gaye harmonizing various conversation starters while being accompanied by a light but memorable instrumental accompaniment that makes great recurring use of the musical instrument the triangle.

It's after What's Happening Brother that one notices the seamless transition between the second track and the third song on the album, Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky). The instrumental section of the former song directly segues into the latter song, creating a sense of unity between the majority of the tracks. Thanks to this, the catchy rhythm and spirits of the individual tracks don't feel like they're concluding, they just morph into differing tones and stories. Some of the transitions between tracks even came off to me as an attempt to emulate the experience of Gaye having an extended conversation with the listener, one where he talks to them in an engaging manner on all kinds of topics ranging from easygoing introductory small talk (the first two tracks) to larger questions on theology (the songs God Is Love and Wholy Holy).

His vocals are supported by a variety of instruments that vary from song to song but typically carry a mellow but thoroughly enjoyable sound to them. The piano and saxophone get a notable amount of time in the spotlight and the frequent use of instruments like the triangle show a level of ingenuity and variety in his music. Just as the various tracks of What's Going On share a similar instrumental component, there's also a recurring sense of optimism in his songs while also recognizing the struggles and pain that exist in the world. For instance, the track Wholy Holy makes sure to heavily emphasize how he wants people to "come together" and "rock the world" by being better to one a, a noble goal that turns out to be an overt signifier of the more hopeful outlook frequently reflected in his work here.

That sense of optimism does get heavily subdued at times though, such as in Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) where he talks about problems facing the world like overpopulation and pollution harming our oceans. The recurring hopeful vibe of What's Going On also gets muted for the album's final track, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), though even here a song that has the word "blues" in its title has a hint of optimism to it in terms of coming to terms with the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the future as Gaye harmonizes "Who knows where we're headed". It's not a celebration of the future of course but it does come off as him coming to terms with some form of acceptance with the unclear future. This may be the best track on the entire album too for my money, with Gaye's beautiful vocals joined by limited instrumental accompaniment as he croons a melancholy tune that ends on an appropriately somber note with his voice fading out into a distant echo.

Marvin Gaye's voice really is a thing of beauty, this soft-spoken yet immediately attention-getting voice that manages to make both a chipper welcoming attitude and a more weary & experienced demeanor sound equally realistic across the album's various tracks. In What's Going On, we get to explore his mind, including his greater thoughts on what specific problems are plaguing humanity, by way of some impeccably created soul music that has plenty of thought-provoking lyrics paired up with instantly memorable instrumental beats and vocal deliveries. All in all, yes, I would say this album is slightly better than the Charlie Puth/Meghan Trainor song Marvin Gaye. Slightly.