MARVIN GAYE - WHAT'S GOING ON (INTERNATION COLORED VERSION / LP)

MARVIN GAYE What's Going On (2025 UK/EU limited edition 9-track remastered LP pressed on Evergreen Vinyl, his 1971 masterpiece is arguably the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music.Gaye uses the album to reflect on theclimate of the early 1970s: Vietnam, civil unrest, drugs, riots... The question mark was intentionally left out of the title. This is a statement, not an inquiry. This is a must-have for the title track alone. Gatefold picture sleeve with 70s series sticker, factory sealed. Recommended)
#Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time

TRACKLISTING AND EXTRA INFORMATION
Ranked #1 in the Rolling Stone Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time

Sly and the Family Stone might have psychedelicised soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalised it. Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other black artist on the planet to take greater responsibility for their music and its meaning.

Gaye co-wrote the songs and produced the album, flavouring it with layer upon layer of his own multi-tracked vocals, oceans of hand percussion, strings, flutes, and jazzy horn solos. spacey and loose as a spliff-fuelled Sunday afternoon jam in the park, the nine songs all played like a hit single. The title track - inspired by his brother's return from the Vietnam war - and the obvious social commentary of "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" actually were hit singles. Two other tracks ("Wholly Holy" and "Save The Children") would inspire hit covers by Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, respectively.

Nevertheless, What's Going On sounds as fresh today as it did the week that it came out.

Side 1
1. What's Going On
2. What's Happening Brother
3. Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)
4. Save the Children
5. God is Love
6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

Side 2
7. Right On
8. Wholy Holy
9. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)