Genre
Soul, funk, and R&B. Gaye's first venture into the funk genre, "Let's Get It On" also incorporates smooth soul and doo-wop styles alongside sexually suggestive lyrics - one critic calling it "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded." Gaye himself wrote in the liner notes that the album was a plea for sexual liberation and spiritual healing, fusing the sacred and the erotic in a way unprecedented in American popular music.
Release
Released on August 28, 1973, by Tamla Records, a Motown subsidiary. Recording sessions took place at Hitsville U.S.A. and Golden World Studio, Detroit, and at Hitsville West, Los Angeles.
Production
Produced by Ed Townsend and Marvin Gaye. Arrangements by Rene Hall, David Van DePitte, Gene Page and David Blumberg.
Reception
The title single became Gaye's most successful single for Motown, selling over four million copies in 1973 and 1974. The album topped the Billboard 200 and the R&B Albums chart and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. It expanded the range of the soul genre and raised Gaye to iconic status. "Rolling Stone" ranked it No. 45 on its 2023 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It appears on the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" list.
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (April 2, 1939, Washington D.C. – April 1, 1984, Los Angeles) was an American singer, songwriter, and producer, one of the most celebrated artists in the history of soul music. After a celebrated run of Motown singles and duets in the 1960s, he transformed the possibilities of R&B with the politically conscious "What's Going On" (1971) - which he self-produced against Motown's wishes - and then with the sensuous "Let's Get It On". A turbulent personal life - two broken marriages, severe financial difficulties, and drug dependency - darkened his final years. He was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984, the day before his 45th birthday. He was posthumously inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" in 1987 and received the "Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award" in 1996. "Rolling Stone" ranked him No. 18 on its 2023 list of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time".
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