Customer Reviews

Marvin Gaye - Greatest Hits Live in '76

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This disk is in a word "terrible". I couldn't finsh it. The sound quality is awful. The video is worst. I think that who ever publish this work has done a grave disservice to a legend.

I love Marvin Gaye. He was a great performer and there is no other like him. However, the sound quality (mono) on this DVID is terrible.

I just watched a PBS version of this concert. Marvin sounded great though I agree the technical quality was poor. I realize this was almost thirty years ago but; I wouldn't pay for this. The main reason: It's one giant medley. Marvin mailed this one in IMHO. I heard three actual complete songs. Stick to the original Tamala and Motown recordings if you need a dose of Marvin. RIP Marvin Gaye.

A wonderful concert film capturing the troubled genius of soul in a memorable, intimate, honest, and musically rich performance featuring a full and capable band. Marvin Gaye was an absolutely superb singer with an astounding vocal and emotional range who also happened to be a gifted writer and stylistic innovator. From early Motown hits like "Hitch Hike" and "Ain't that Peculiar" to "Heard it Through the Grapevine," his legendary duets, soul concept discs like "What's Going On," Soundtracks like "Trouble Man," and musical expressions of sexuality like "Let's Get it On," nobody but nobody covers a greater range of Soul and R&B than Marvin Gaye. The show is a nice anthology of most of Marvin's work and actually lives up to the suspect title, "Greatest Hits." And good lord, the man can sing!

Advertised on the box as 5.1 surround sound. Horse feathers! Its mono.

I've Seen This Concert Performance Many Times Over The Years&it still is Right On Time.Marvin Gaye was A Genius In The Studio&On Stage.He Gives His Classics a Whole New Meaning Live.A Must Have.

This dvd looks and sounds like it was recorded on someone's hand-held betamax camcorder. The picture is blurry, and is often dirtied with wavy interference lines or green spots and streaks caused by bright lights shining into the camera. The music sounds like a mushy mess recorded out of a handheld mike.

That being said, it is remarkable, almost magical, how clear and true Marvin's voice rings through on the recording. It leads me to wonder how he would sound today with all the technology presently available. He was truly one of the greatest, as even this garage production of a concert video ironically testifies.

The concert rockets through all of Marvin's Motown hits within less than an hour, which means that many of the songs are thus compressed into medleys or shortened versions that fly by before you know it. But the concert at least touches on every one of Marvin's vintage soul classics, including the duets (but not "Sexual Healing," of course).

Ultimately, this appears to be the only snapshot of this legend available to us. Those obsessed with the hi-fi, surround sound bells and whistles will hate it. But those who want a glimpse of Marvin at the peak of his Motown fame may want to check it out.