|
Marvin Gaye was making his comeback in the pop world when he was shot dead by his father.
Two years before the charts had been dominated by Sexual Healing.
A couple of years before that he’d laid the foundations for kick starting his career by a barnstorming performance at the most unlikely of places, the Montreux Jazz Festival.
That’s where this double CD collection comes from and it shows an artist finding new belief in his talents.
Gaye had been shunned by the US throughout much of the 70s, so much so, that he’d relocated to Europe to earn some respect.
If ever he needed evidence that his Motown star was not forgotten it was with this performance.
Entering the jazz hot-bed he wooed his audience with a heavy dose of funk in the form of Got To Give It Up and A Funky Space Reincarnation.
What’s good about this CD is you get plenty of Marvin patter, name-checking artists like Al Jarreau.
It’s not wall to wall hits but it’s pure cabaret, including medley’s incorporating Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.
And it’s worth the admission price alone for the OTT version of Heard It Through The Grapevine, complete with Marvin associate telling the soul star he’s seen his woman with another man.
The conversation continues until "friend" disappears to leave Marvin singing his big hit.
Marvin Gaye: Live in Montreux 1980 is released by Eagle Records EDGCD234
3/5
|
