Release Date: (May 20, 1971)
Label: Motown
Producer: Marvin Gaye

December  Hotel 
Overall Rating:  +++++  

(Mercy Mercy Me)

The groove is the message. What's Going On has long been praised as the first and greatest of the socially aware soul records (first, no; greatest, probably) but if the message was important, it was the medium - the oceans-deep groove, the warmest sound ever pressed to vinyl - that made this Marvin Gaye's most important artistic statement.

Maybe he didn't give life to that groove -- there's some disagreement as to who acted as What's Going On's musical director - but it certainly gave life to him, bringing out the best (and, crucially, most understated) vocal performances of his career as well as an observational lyricism that was at times truly inspired. If Marvin didn't orchestrate the swelling, shuffling, bubbling sound of "What's Going On" and "What's Happening Brother," well, he certainly knew what to do with it. Rarely have singer, song, and message been so perfectly matched -- five minutes into this album, and you're in deep.

Significantly, when the groove steps aside and Marvin takes off on his more fanciful flights - the too-obvious drug confessional "Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)," and the positively embarrassing "Save the Children" - he loses his way. It is perhaps a measure of reverence with which Marvin Gaye is regarded that the latter song has not been held up to more scorn: it is, in every way, as bad or worse than Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You," or any of Paul McCartney's crassest exercises in sentimentality. But genius is almost always imperfect, and the genius of What's Going On wouldn't be denied.

The groove returns, at first reflective and thoughtful on "God Is Love" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," then, on side 2, with fierce purpose on "Right On." Pleading, aware, full of genuine love and a desire to make the world right - it's hard to imagine a day when this music will no longer move people. "Wholy Holy" sees Marvin reaching for the bible one last time before "Inner City Blues" takes the groove to the ghetto, simmering with frustration and righteous anger before emerging, triumphant and hopeful in spite of it all, for a gospel reprise of the title track's refrain. It remains Marvin's greatest moment, the message and the groove unified, as good as soul music ever got.
 

~ Jesse Fahnestock