Arguably the greatest soul album ever recorded, this 1971 classic was a commercial and critical success upon release and has rightly remained high in the lists of ‘best ever albums’. It was Gaye’s for first album to bear his name as a producer and the first to credit Motown’s in-house band The Funk Brothers as musicians. The album was conceived as a concept with many of the tracks seguing into each other – the unforgettable opening title track drifts into its twin brother, with both standing as a powerful anti-war protest as well as an incisive observation of social and economic problems of the day, as seen through the eyes of a returning Vietnam veteran. The more conventionally formed tracks like the ecologically conscious ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) and the dark, brooding ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) sit side by side with more ethereal numbers like the drifting, sketched-in ‘Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky)’ which dealt with drug dependency and the lingering, impassioned ‘Wholy Moly’, as plea for togetherness. The Latin tinged ‘Right On’ is the album’s most upbeat yet still carries a deep message of the division in society and its effects. ‘What’s Going On’ is an album that will (in some ways, sadly) never fail to be relevant.
Absolutely essential.
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Listen
What’s Going On
What’s Happening Brother
Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky)
Save The Children
God Is Love
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
Right On
Wholy Holy
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
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