The Very Best of Marvin Gaye is the title of two compilations (American and European) by Motown artist Marvin Gaye.
The Very Best of Marvin Gaye | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 1994 | |||
Recorded | 1962–82 | |||
Genre | R&B, soul, funk | |||
Label | Motown | |||
Producer | Marvin Gaye, Norman Whitfield, Ashford & Simpson, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Hal Davis | |||
Marvin Gaye chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from The Very Best of Marvin Gaye | ||||
|
Released in 1994, The Very Best is the best-selling (and highest charting) Marvin Gaye album in the UK – selling over 250,000 copies, peaking at #3 in the UK charts, and receiving a million-plus sales certificate in 2001. The album featured an unreleased track ("Lucky, Lucky Me") that would also be released as a single.
The Very Best of Marvin Gaye | |
---|---|
Greatest hits album by | |
Released | July 17, 2001 |
Recorded | 1962-82 |
Genre | R&B, pop, soul, psychedelic soul, funk |
Length | 127:00 |
Label | Motown, Universal Music |
Producer | Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy, Larkin Arnold, Jeff Moskow, Harry Weinger, Fonce Mizell, Freddie Perren, Smokey Robinson, Valerie Simpson, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Art Stewart, Ed Townsend, Norman Whitfield, Leon Ware, Nickolas Ashford, Johnny Bristol, Henry Cosby, Lamont Dozier, Harvey Fuqua, Brian Holland |
Released in the US in 2001, the two disc edition is a chronological look back at American R&B/soul singer Marvin Gaye's three decade-plus music career throughout his tenure in Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s concluding with his final big hit, 1982's "Sexual Healing" from his brief tenure with Columbia Records before the singer's death in 1984. Re-released later in 2005 under Universal Records' Gold series, it has since been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Artist Direct | link |
Robert Christgau | (A) |
Tom Hull | A [1] |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Origin | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "What's Going On" | Al Cleveland, Gaye, Renaldo "Odie" Benson | What's Going On , 1971 | 3:52 |
2. | "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" | Gaye | What's Going On | 3:13 |
3. | "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" | Gaye, James Nyx Jr. | What's Going On | 5:28 |
4. | "You're the Man, Pts. I & II" | Gaye, Kenneth Stover | Non-album single, 1972 | 5:48 |
5. | "Where Are We Going?" | Gaye, Larry Mizell | Previously unreleased, 1994; originally recorded for Let's Get It On , 1973 | 3:57 |
6. | "Trouble Man" | Gaye | Trouble Man soundtrack, 1972 | 3:51 |
7. | "Let's Get It On" | Gaye, Ed Townsend | Let's Get It On | 4:53 |
8. | "Come Get to This" | Gaye | Let's Get It On | 2:42 |
9. | "Distant Lover" (Live at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California, January 4, 1974) | Gaye, Gwen Gordy, Sandra Greene | Marvin Gaye Live! , 1974; originally from Let's Get It On | 6:19 |
10. | "I Want You" (Edited version) | Leon Ware, Arthur "T-Boy" Ross | I Want You , 1976 | 3:57 |
11. | "Got to Give It Up" | Gaye | Live at the London Palladium , 1977 | 11:53 |
12. | "Anger" | Delta Ashley, Gaye, Townsend | Here, My Dear , 1978 | 4:03 |
13. | "Ego Tripping Out" | Gaye | 1994 re-release of In Our Lifetime (originally released in 1981) | 7:14 |
14. | "Praise" | Gaye | In Our Lifetime | 4:53 |
15. | "Sexual Healing" (Single version) | Odell Brown, Gaye, David Ritz | Midnight Love , 1982 | 3:59 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Brazil | — | 21,000 [2] |
France (SNEP) [3] | Gold | 100,000* |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [4] | Gold | 7,500^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [5] | 2× Platinum | 600,000 |
United States (RIAA) [6] | Gold | 500,000^ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 5,000,000 [2] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Easy is an album recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and released by Motown Records on September 16, 1969 under the Tamla Records label. One song on the album, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy To Come By", was a hit single and remains popular to this day. Terrell had been ill, suffering from complications caused by a brain tumor, since the fall of 1967. Marvin Gaye later claimed that as a result, most of the female vocals on this album were performed by Valerie Simpson, who served as co-songwriter and co-producer for the LP with her boyfriend and future husband Nickolas Ashford.
Tammi Terrell was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
United is a studio album by soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released August 29, 1967 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol produced all of the tracks on the album, with the exception of "You Got What It Takes" and "Oh How I'd Miss You". Fuqua and Bristol produced "Hold Me Oh My Darling" and "Two Can Have a Party" as Tammi Terrell solo tracks in 1965 and 1966, and had Gaye overdub his vocals to them in order to create duet versions of the songs.
You're All I Need is the second studio album by soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released in August 1968 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Highlighted by three hit singles written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, You're All I Need was recorded throughout 1966 and 1967 and features two Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". It peaked at #60 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album Chart. You're All I Need was the two singers' final collaboration effort, as Terrell would become ill following recording, before succumbing to a brain tumor in 1970.
Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations is, as the title implies, a collaborative album combining Motown's two best selling groups, Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations. Issued by Motown in late 1968 to coincide with the broadcast of the Supremes/Temptations TCB television special, the album was a success, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200. Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations spent four weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Love Child is the fifteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label in 1968. The LP was the group's first studio LP not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, who had previously overseen most of the Supremes' releases.
American music artist Marvin Gaye released 25 studio albums, four live albums, one soundtrack album, 24 compilation albums, and 83 singles. In 1961 Gaye signed a recording contract with Tamla Records, owned by Motown. The first release under the label was The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye. Gaye's first album to chart was a duet album with Mary Wells titled Together, peaking at number forty-two on the Billboard pop album chart. His 1965 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, became his first album to reach the top ten of the R&B album charts and spawned four hit singles. Gaye recorded more than thirty hit singles for Motown throughout the 1960s, becoming established as "the Prince of Motown". Gaye topped the charts in 1968 with his rendition of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", while his 1969 album, M.P.G., became his first number one R&B album. Gaye's landmark album, 1971's What's Going On became the first album by a solo artist to launch three top ten singles, including the title track. His 1973 single, "Let's Get It On", topped the charts while its subsequent album reached number two on the charts becoming his most successful Motown album to date. In 1982, after 21 years with Motown, Gaye signed with Columbia Records and issued Midnight Love, which included his most successful single to date, "Sexual Healing". Following his death in 1984, three albums were released posthumously while some of Gaye's landmark works were re-issued.
Marvin Gaye and His Girls is a 1969 compilation album of duets recorded by Marvin Gaye and various female singers on the Tamla label. Among the ladies Gaye sung with were Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. It was the original album release of "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By," which later appeared on Easy. His solo album M.P.G., was released simultaneously, on Gaye's thirtieth birthday.
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Greatest Hits is a 1970 compilation album released by Motown stars Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell on the Tamla label. It is a collection of the duo's recording material, penned and produced by the songwriting-producing team of Ashford & Simpson except for two tracks. The album was released shortly after the death of Terrell, who died of a brain tumor at the age of 24.
The Master (1961–1984) is a chronological box set album looking back at American R&B/soul Marvin Gaye's 23-year recording career. Spanning four discs, the box set goes over all portions of Gaye's career with a repertoire that spanned doo-wop, R&B, soul, psychedelic soul and funk with a mixture of themes including dance songs, love ballads, duets, socially conscious material, sensual material and autobiographical revelations. The set includes rarities such as a recorded 1981 live track of Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips each singing their seminal hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", Gaye's famed 1983 performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at an NBA All-Star game and an a cappella performance of "The Lord's Prayer" taped during Gaye's exile in Belgium.
The Complete Duets is a two-disc compilation album of duet recordings by Motown Records artists Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, recorded between 1965 and 1969. The set compiles all of the tracks from the duo's three albums - United,You're All I Need and Easy - as well as several of Tammi Terrell's solo recordings and other previously unissued material.
"Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" is a duet released in 1969 on the Tamla label by singers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
"You Ain't Livin' till You're Lovin'" is a 1968 single released on the Tamla-Motown label by Motown vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA is the tenth studio album by Boyz II Men. It was released on November 13, 2007 by Decca Records. The album was produced by American Idol's Randy Jackson and Boyz II Men. David Simone and Winston Simone were Executive Producers for the album. The album is a tribute to some of Motown's classic songs, including "Just My Imagination" by The Temptations, "The Tracks of My Tears" by The Miracles and "Reach Out I'll Be There" by The Four Tops. The first single off the album is "The Tracks of My Tears".
Tamla Motown Gold: The Sound of Young America is a three-disc compilation album released by the Tamla Motown label in 2001. It features all the hits from the label in the 1960s, by various artists.
Marvin Gaye: The Love Songs is a 2000 compilation album recorded by Motown singer Marvin Gaye. Included are his UK hits, "Abraham, Martin & John", his two duets with Diana Ross: "You Are Everything" and "Stop, Look, Listen " and his international hits including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "What's Going On" and "Sexual Healing". The album was only released in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number eight on the UK albums chart.
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
A coletânea "The Very Best of Marvin Gaye" vendeu cinco milhões de discos no mundo, 21 mil deles, no Brasil. Translation: The compilation "The Very Best of Marvin Gaye" sold five million records worldwide, 21,000 of it in Brazil.