Marvin Gaye: The Real Thing - In Performance 1964-1981
The scarcity of any Marvin Gaye on DVD is reason enough to welcomeThe Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981, but the fact that this 16-track compilation is superb in nearly every respect is cause for genuine celebration. What we get is not just a collection of songs but a career trajectory, tracing Gaye's evolution from a cog in the wheel that was Berry Gordy's Motown into a mature artist with his own matchless vision. The early (i.e., from the 1960s) stuff includes songs like "Hitch Hike," "Can I Get a Witness," and "Ain't That Peculiar"; watching Gaye mime these hits onAmerican Bandstandand elsewhere in front of all-white studio audiences and perky go-go girls is sometimes a little silly, but the sound is terrific, thanks to the DVD producers' decision to replace the TV tracks with audio remastered from the original stereo recordings. It isn't until the eighth track, a version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" from 1969, that we get any actual live performances, but the wait proves well worth it. With "What's Going On," Gaye proved that he could defy Gordy's formulaic approach and prosper both financially and creatively while heeding the dual voices of his conscience and his muse, and the 1972 performance of that song is quite simply transcendent, with the great James Jamerson on bass and a middle section, featuring just Gaye's voice and piano with conga backing, that liner notes writer Rob Bowman rightly calls "perhaps the high point of this whole DVD." A steamy "Let's Get it On," recorded in Belgium in '81, is nearly as good. Those two clips alone justify buying this collection, but overall, despite a couple of minor missteps (the promo film for "A Funky Space Reincarnation" is pretty hokey),The Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981, which also includes several interview segments between tunes and a section that features only the vocal tracks from the first seven numbers, is an invaluable confirmation of a truly great musician.--Sam Graham