Izdavač: Ostalo
Žanr: Fank i Soul
Poreklo: Strani izvođač

Original, made in Germany

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knjizica 5- Cd 5

Studio album by Marvin Gaye
Released May 21, 1971
Recorded
March 17–30 and May 5, 1971
(except June 1 – September 21, 1970 for `What`s Going On`)[1]
Studio
Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World and United Sound (Detroit)
The Sound Factory (Los Angeles)
Genre Soul
Length 35:32
Label Tamla
Producer Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye chronology
Super Hits
(1970) What`s Going On
(1971) Trouble Man
(1972)

What`s Going On is the eleventh studio album by the American soul singer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye`s first album to credit him as producer and to credit Motown`s in-house session musicians, known as the Funk Brothers.

What`s Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next and has been categorized as a song cycle. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye`s introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issues before the public outcry over them had become prominent (`Mercy Mercy Me`).

What`s Going On stayed on the Billboard Top LPs for over a year and became Gaye`s second number-one album on Billboard`s Soul LPs chart, where it stayed for nine weeks, and on the No. 2 spot for another 12 weeks, respectively. The title track, which had been released in January 1971 as the album`s lead single, hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and held the top position on Billboard`s Soul Singles chart five weeks running. The follow-up singles `Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)` and `Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)` also reached the top 10 of the Hot 100, making Gaye the first male solo artist to place three top ten singles on the Hot 100 from one album.

The album was an immediate commercial and critical success, and came to be viewed by music historians as a classic of 1970s soul. Multiple critics, musicians, and many in the general public consider What`s Going On to be one of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark recording in popular music. In 1985, writers on British music weekly the NME voted it the best album of all time. In 2020, it was ranked number one on Rolling Stone`s list of the `500 Greatest Albums of All Time`.

All songs produced by Marvin Gaye. Songwriters as shown in the 1971 original album liner notes release:[63]

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. `What`s Going On`
Marvin GayeAl ClevelandRenaldo `Obie` Benson
3:51
2. `What`s Happening Brother`
GayeJames Nyx Jr.
2:57
3. `Flyin` High (In the Friendly Sky)` Gaye 3:40
4. `Save the Children`
GayeClevelandBenson
4:03
5. `God Is Love`
GayeAnna GayeElgie StoverNyx
2:31
6. `Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)` Gaye 3:05
Total length: 19:08
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. `Right On`
GayeEarl DeRouen
7:20
2. `Wholy Holy`
GayeBensonCleveland
3:20
3. `Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)`
GayeNyx
5:28
Total length: 15:56

Personnel
All lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
Produced by Marvin Gaye
Members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Conducted and Arranged by David Van De Pitte
Backing vocals:
Marvin Gaye
The Andantes (Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps)
Mel Farr, Charlie Sanders and Lem Barney of the Detroit Lions
Dave Bing of the Detroit Pistons
Bobby Rogers of The Miracles
Elgie Stover
Kenneth Stover
Strings, woodwinds and brass
Gordon Staples, Zinovi Bistritzky, Beatriz Budinzky, Richard Margitza, Virginia Halfmann, Felix Resnick, Alvin Score, Lillian Downs, James Waring – violin
Edouard Kesner, Meyer Shapiro, David Ireland, Nathan Gordon – viola
Italo Babini, Thaddeus Markiewicz, Edward Korkigan – cello
Max Janowsky – double bass
Carole Crosby – harp
Dayna Hardwick, William Perich – flute
Larry Nozero, Angelo Carlisi, George Benson, Tate Houston – saxophone
John Trudell, Maurice Davis – trumpet
Nilesh Pawar – oboe
Carl Raetz – trombone
The Funk Brothers – Instrumentation, spoken interlude (`What`s Going On`) and solo horns
Eli Fountain – alto saxophone `What`s Going On`
Wild Bill Moore – tenor saxophone `Mercy Mercy Me`
Marvin Gaye – piano, Mellotron (`Mercy Mercy Me`), box drum (`What`s Going On`)
Johnny Griffith – celeste, additional keyboards
Earl Van Dyke – additional keyboards
Jack Brokensha – vibraphone, percussion
Joe Messina, Robert White – electric guitar
James Jamerson – bass guitar `What`s Going On`, `What`s Happening Brother`, `Flyin` High`, `Save the Children`, `God Is Love`, and the b-side `Sad Tomorrows`
Bob Babbitt – bass guitar `Mercy Mercy Me`, `Right On`, `Wholy Holy` and `Inner City Blues`
Chet Forest – drums
Jack Ashford – tambourine, percussion
Eddie `Bongo` Brown – bongos, congas
Earl DeRouen – bongos and congas `Right On`
Bobbye Hall – bongos `Inner City Blues`[64]
Katherine Marking – graphic design
Alana Coghlan – graphic design
John Matousek – mastering
Vic Anesini – Digital Remastering
James Hendin – Photography
Curtis McNair – Art Direction