Customer Reviews

Mpg / That's the Way Love Is

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These are the last two solo CD's Marvin released before truly breaking out on his own ("What's Going On"). While "MPG" has a a number of gems on it, namely "Too Busy Thinking...", "The End of Our Road", and "I Got To Get To California", the overall production is sometimes shady ("Try My True Love") and it makes the album feel more like the single track sessions that they were, instead of a cohesive suite of songs.

By contrast, "That's The Way Love Is" is pure genius. The entire album is produced and nine of the twelve songs are co-written by Norman Whitfield. I have combed this list of twelve tracks trying to single a few out for merit, but there really is no reason to, it's all top notch. By itself, this CD would rate 4.5 to 5 stars.

As an additional note, for the collector's/audiophiles out there, the entire "That's The Way Love Is" album was previously available in a 1994 remastered version titled "The Norman Whitfield Sessions". The sound on this release is considerably clearer, and makes it well worth the purchase.

There's really only one question left to ask...

Why can't we get these and other Motown out of print releases in the U.S?

These import two-fers' are terrific. They feature terrific sound quality and great packaging. The albums included are:

M.P.G. (1969) **** (4 out of 5) Despite Marvin's long stream of hit singles, this was his first album to actually crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart and is his biggest seller of the sixties. M.P.G. reteams Marvin with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine-producer Norman Whitfield, and the two manage to overcome the typical Motown formula and create a surprisingly focused work.

A sense of consistency (which is what's missing from most sixties Motown efforts) is brought to the set by the blisteringly lean arrangements and some of Marvin's most impassioned vocals ever. The big smash hit is "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (#4 Pop, #1 R&B), which is easily one of his best singles. The song's bouncy timbre made it the perfect (and somewhat surprising) follow up to the bone-chilling smash "I Heard It Through The Grapevine."

Some irresistible light blues is brought to the set with the incredible cuts "Seek And You Shall Find," "More Than A Heart Can Stand," and the hit "End Of The Road" (#40 Pop, #7 R&B). The disc plays out in a surprising satisfying manner, with the clever refrain of "Only A Lonely Man Would Know" laying down nicely beside the funky "It's A Bitter Pill To Swallow." The only tracks that miss the boat is the forgettable cover of "This Magic Moment" (which is also placed too early in the album) and the banal "Memories," which has nothing to distinguish it aside from Marvin's powerful performance. Thankfully these two missteps are listenable and M.P.G. emerges as Marvin's best solo album of the sixties.

THAT'S THE WAY LOVE IS (1970) **** (4 out of 5) Produced by Norman Whitfield again, THAT'S THE WAY LOVE IS continues the excellence of M.P.G. and is possibly the most underrated album from the first decade of Marvin's career. The tense and mournful title track (#7 Pop, #2 R&B) was another hit single, cracking the Top Ten on both charts. The formulaic "How Can I Forget" (#41 Pop, #18 R&B) was almost a hit, but it (along "No More Tears") is actually one of the disc's weakest moments. The sweeping "Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got (which received some airplay as the flip side of the "How Can I Forget" single) is really splendid and should have been a A-side release. Four covers appear on this recording, and they may be the most surprising songs here.

Marvin's renditions of "Yesterday" and "Abraham, Martin, and John" are stunning and absolutely heartbreaking. Shockingly enough, both manage to top the original recordings (by The Beatles and Dion, respectively). The remaining two covers ("Groovin'" and "Cloud Nine") are much less effective, but they're perfectly solid. Throw in the vintage Motown sound of "Gonna Keep Tryin' Till I Win You're Love" and a few other catchy numbers and you have another excellent Gaye-Whitfield release. On this record, there are flashes of the brilliance that would come later in Marvin's career; although it's still pretty unbelievable that the peerless masterpiece WHAT'S GOING ON would be released in little less than a year.

Both of these albums are great!!! The remastered sound quality if phenomenal!!! I felt like Marvin was rite here singing in my ear. I have to say that my favorite track is his version of "Yesterday." As far as I'm concerned, that song is HIS! A real treasure and a must have for real music lovers.

By the end of the sixties Motown's sound had softened considerably. The gritty grooves that had previously held sway had largely been sweetened to a more AOR radio friendly mix, with larger orchestral flourishes and extra instrumentation. The artist was generally at the mercy of the producers as to how their record would sound. Marvin Gaye was no exception and was becoming increasingly unhappy with being at the hard end of the production line.

It is noticeable on M.P.G., released in April 1969, how on some tracks the drums have been mixed down and his vocal placed forwards in the mix. The recordings, produced by Norman Whitfield, Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter, George Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Henry Cosby, Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, unsurprisingly lack coherence, with, for example, the girl chorus in the left speaker on one song and in the right on the next. He is forced by the arrangements into a Levi Stubbs-like style on one song while he is made an uneasy balladeer on others. Actually, a number of the songs do sound better suited to the Four Tops. The album was made between March 1967 and March 1969, apart from this This Magic Moment which came from the same July 1966 session that provided two other Drifters covers on his previous album, perhaps from an abandoned project of Drifters covers?

M.P.G. (Marvin Pentz Gay) kicked off with his recent hit single and also included the follow-up hit That's The Way Love Is and the minor hit The End of Our Road, released the following year. As Too Busy Thinking About My Baby was recycled on the other album included on this pairing, it is omitted from the M.P.G. selection. Some of the songs seem formulaic, even clumsy by Marvin Gaye standards. Got To Get To California seems prescient as Marvin Gaye moved to Los Angeles to record his landmark album in 1971.

That's The Way Love Is, released January 1970, is actually by far the better album, and the sound occasionally prefigures that of What's Going On. Marvin Gaye manages to find new territory even in an over-recorded standard like Yesterday, though coasts through a chestnut like Groovin'. Norman Whitfield was at the helm for the entire album, all recorded in 1969 apart from the previously-released title track and possibly the album closer So Long (which was recorded in August 1966 according to the estimable Don't Forget The Motor City website, but sounds more recent), and it shows in consistency. Marvin Gaye sounds far more confident throughout than on M.P.G. and is more stretched vocally, and his sincerity on a song such as Abraham, Martin And John is manifest. Listening to the song That's The Way Love Is I realized where Tricky had found the keyboard sample on Overcome.

There are no bonus tracks but there is a playing time of over 70 minutes, and the non-album B-sides of the time had been pulled from earlier albums, recorded in 1962 and 1963, despite there being several gems in the vaults, as we know since they were later released on albums such as Love Starved Heart.

The first album featured here, MPG, was released in 1969 and the second, That's the way love is, was released in 1970.

The collection opens with Too busy thinking about my baby, a top five hit for Marvin in Britain and America. The follow-up single, That's the way love is, was atop ten American hit but missed the chart completely in Britain. How can I forget you became a minor American hit, but in Britain it was put on the B-side of Abraham Martin and John (my favorite Marvin Gaye song). The tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F Kennedy gave Marvin a top ten UK hit, but it was Smokey Robinson and the Miracles who had the American hit with that song. From these two albums, there was one other minor American hit, The end of our road, which was not released as a single in Britain.

The other tracks making up these albums include covers of This magic moment (Drifters), Yesterday (Beatles) and Grooving (Rascals) as well as songs that had been hits for other Motown artists and some interesting but obscure original songs.

If you already have one of Marvin's hits collections and wish to explore further, you will certainly enjoy the two albums presented here.

These 2 albums from Marvin Gaye's late 60's output are great! "That's the Way Love Is" & "Too Busy Thinking..." are the 2 major hits and they are both great, revealing 2 different sides of Mr. Gaye. The former is done in an intense, brooding "Grapevine" style, while the latter is a good time uptemo song which sounds like something Sam Cooke might have done. Many people complain that Motown kept re-doing the same songs with its artists. Personally, I like comparing the different versions. His take on "I Wish It Would Rain" doesn't take anything from the Temptations' original, but is still a very good version with a harder edge. Several other songs "Keep on Tryin" & "Give Her All the Love I've Got" have been done before by the Temptations and other artists, but Mr. Gaye's versions are very enjoyable. He also does "End of Our Road" (Originally done by Gladys Knight & Pips)in a similar style to his version of "Grapevine" and it is a great track. Some of the non-Motown covers are quite good, particularly "Groovin" and "Yesterday". Also, his version of "Abraham, Martin & John" is very moving. His version of "This Magic Moment" is nice, too. Some of the other "filler" ("Bitter Pill" "Only A Lonely Man" "Memories, etc) is all quite good. I also have the "In The Groove" (later "I Heard it Through the Grapevine") CD and taken together these 3 CD's are a great listening experience for any Motown/Soul fan.