Let's Get It on
Marvin Gaye's 1973 album,Let's Get It On, is a marvel of sexual blandishment every bit the artistic equal of, say, John Donne's best seduction poems. The difference, though, is that the poetry here isn't in the verse--which gets a trifle clichéd--but in the supple pulse of the grooves and in the aching need of Gaye's sensual voice. The marvelous title track, a No. 1 hit, riffs on the earlier hook of Gaye's "What's Going On" to reach a more primal climax, and everything else here--a steamy swirl of sax, strings, and backing voices--is sexy, beautiful, and simply sublime.--David Cantwell