The second Marvin Gaye tribute album assembled by Motown within a five-year period, Marvin Is 60 brings little to the table but faithful renditions of its 13 selections. While many of the artists present owe obvious debts to the singer, only a couple are able to do more than hint at Gaye's greatness: for instance, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo do a charming if hardly earthshaking cover of the Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "Your Precious Love." Jon B and new Motown-signed Profyle lay down note-for-note copies of What's Going On treasures, while dull-edged romancers such as Brian McKnight and Will Downing do the same for classics from Let's Get It On. Finally, Zhane's weak-voiced take on "Got to Give It Up" illuminates Gaye's own record by reminding us just how much he could do with a little falsetto breathiness. Anyone looking to understand Gaye's genius would do better with a copy of the box set The Master. --Rickey Wright
Marvin Is 60: A Tribute Album,Various Artists,Motown / Pgd,Adult Contemporary,Club/Dance,Contemporary R&B,Dance-Pop,Hip-Hop,Motown,Neo-Soul,Pop,Pop-Rap,Quiet Storm,R&B,Smooth Soul,Soul,Soul/R & B Collections,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues,Urban
Average customer rating:
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Marvin Is 60: The Tribute Album
Various Artists Manufacturer: Motown ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00000JBG4 Release Date: 1999-06-22 |
Tracks:
- Your Precious Love - Erykah Badu/D'Angelo
- Distant Lover - Brian McKnight
- You Sure Love To Ball - Will Downing
- Mercy Mercy Me - Jon B.
- What's Going On - Profyle
- Got To Give It Up - Zhane
- I Want You - Montell Jordan
- Let's Get It On - Gerald Levert
- Sexual Healing - El Debarge
- Soon I'll Be Loving You Again - Joe
- Til Tomorrow - Chico Debarge
- Just To Keep Her Satisfied - Kenny Lattimore
- If This World Were Mine - Grenique/Tony Rich
Tracks:
- Your Precious Love
- Distant Lover
- You Sure Love To Ball
- Mercy Mercy Me
- What's Going On
- Got To Give It Up
- I Want You
- Let's Get It On
- Sexual Healing
- Soon I'll Be Loving You Again
- TIl Tomorrow
- Just To Keep Her Satisfieid
- If This World Were Mine
Customer Reviews:
The Marvin CD is sweet.......2003-09-12
Marvin would be proud!!!.......2003-08-25
Got to Give it up!.......2002-10-09
Finally..........2000-08-18
WOW.......2000-05-01
Average customer rating:
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Marvin Is 60: A Tribute Album
Various Artists Manufacturer: Motown ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00000JBG2 Release Date: 1999-06-22 |
Tracks:
- Your Precious Love - Erykah Badu/D'Angelo
- Distant Lover - Brian McKnight
- You Sure Love To Ball - Will Downing
- Mercy Mercy Me - Jon B.
- What's Going On - Profyle
- Got To Give It Up - Zhane
- I Want You - Montell Jordan
- Let's Get It On - Gerald Levert
- Sexual Healing - El Debarge
- Soon I'll Be Loving You Again - Joe
- Til Tomorrow - Chico Debarge
- Just To Keep Her Satisfied - Kenny Lattimore
- If This World Were Mine - Grenique/Tony Rich
Amazon.com
The second Marvin Gaye tribute album assembled by Motown within a five-year period, Marvin Is 60 brings little to the table but faithful renditions of its 13 selections. While many of the artists present owe obvious debts to the singer, only a couple are able to do more than hint at Gaye's greatness: for instance, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo do a charming if hardly earthshaking cover of the Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "Your Precious Love." Jon B and new Motown-signed Profyle lay down note-for-note copies of What's Going On treasures, while dull-edged romancers such as Brian McKnight and Will Downing do the same for classics from Let's Get It On. Finally, Zhane's weak-voiced take on "Got to Give It Up" illuminates Gaye's own record by reminding us just how much he could do with a little falsetto breathiness. Anyone looking to understand Gaye's genius would do better with a copy of the box set The Master. --Rickey WrightCustomer Reviews:
Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby.......2007-07-10
It's tough to lay down tracks that Marvin's already cannonized. So I acknowledge that these artists had their work cut out for them, but...I always enjoy cover tunes that branch out and take the material to a new place. I'd have to disagree with one reviewer who said that someone like me would be the first to complain about changing the arrangements. Far from it. I prefer cover tunes to be different arrangements from the original. Leaving the arrangement the same is so...unimaginative. Why not just listen to the original? You know you'll like it better anyway. I would've expected that plundering the Marvin Gaye songbook would've been rich with possibilities. But apparently not for these artists -- there really is nothing "new" about these "interpretations" and that's sad. Once I got the notion that these tracks were going to be banal carbon copies of the originals I thought that maybe the artists voices and spirits would bring out something interesting in the music. That isn't the case. If anything it shows how indebted so many of these artists are to the vocal stylings of Marvin; so much, in fact, that they can't think to do anything but echo his voice. It's almost like Marvin Gaye karoake with professional singers. They even remain faithful to his improvisational yelps and moans. That's just...well...unimaginative.
There were only two songs on this CD where the artists tried to do something interesting. Montell Jordan's "I Want You" has a nice minimalist arrangement with only an essential percussive track but he managed to leave in in the lush strings reminiscent of the original. Tasteful...but certainly not worth more than a couple of listens. Then there was the closing track, "If This World Were Mine" (the original is an underrated classic duet with Tammi Terrell), by Grenique and Tony Rich. The gentle tempo and beautiful acoustic guitar really bring out something special. And the interplay between the singers is wonderful (compare this to the opening track where Erykah Badu and D'Angelo do a paint-by-numbers approach and mimic the exact vocal lines that Tammi and Marvin made classic). It's simply too bad more of the tracks didn't take on this kind of inventiveness.
If you want to hear some nifty takes on Marvin's songs, go find Toots Hibbert's cover of "Grapevine" (done up as if it was always intended as a Reggae tune) or Ben Harper's distinctive take on "Sexual Healing" (which strips the song down to it's grittiest sensuality) or Neneh Cherry doing "Trouble Man" (with a very hip bluesy sound). It's not impossible to shoot for the moon and come up with something great. Still, you wonder how nearly all of the artists on "Marvin is 60" couldn't even manage to fall among the stars.
Worth the purchase!.......2005-01-20
Only a few of these artist can channel Marvin's soul..........2002-09-30
In all, this cd had the potential to be one of the best tribute albums. With marvin Gaye as your inspiration and his music as your muse, one could create a beautiful album. It's just disappointing that they didn't do better with the material that they had.
Marvin would have been pleased...........2001-09-21
A Nice Effort.......2001-02-18
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