Let's Get It On
Encyclopedia
Let's Get It On is the twelfth studio album
by American soul
musician Marvin Gaye
, released August 28, 1973, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 1970 to July 1973 at Hitsville U.S.A.
and Golden World Studio in Detroit, and at Hitsville West in Los Angeles
. Serving as Gaye's first venture into the funk
genre and romance-themed music, Let's Get It On incorporates smooth soul
, doo-wop
, and quiet storm
. It has been noted by critics for its sexually suggestive lyrics, and was cited by one writer as "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded".
Following the breakthrough success of his socially conscious album What's Going On
(1971), the album helped establish Marvin Gaye as a sex icon and furthered his mainstream appeal. It spawned three singles, "Let's Get It On
", "Come Get to This
", and "You Sure Love to Ball
", that each attained Billboard
chart success. Let's Get It On became the most commercially successful album of Gaye's recording career, and it further expanded his creative control during his tenure with Motown. Its sexual balladry, multi-tracking
of Gaye's vocals, and seductive, funk sound influenced later R&B artists and production.
The album has been regarded by many music writers and critics as a landmark recording in soul music. It furthered funk music's popularity during the 1970s, and its smooth soul sound marked a change for his record label's previous success with the "Motown Sound" formula. In 2001, Let's Get It On was reissued by Motown Records as a two-disc deluxe edition release featuring extensive liner notes and digital remastering, as well as several material from the initial recording sessions. In 2003, the album was ranked number 165 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
(1971), and the soundtrack album
to the blaxploitation
film Trouble Man (1972), Gaye had struggled to come up with new material after Motown Records
had renegotiated a new contract with him. The contract provided him with more creative control over his recordings. The deal was worth $ 1 million, making him the highest-earning soul artist, as well as the highest-earning black artist, at the time. He was also struggling with deciding whether or not to relocate to Los Angeles, following Motown-CEO Berry Gordy
's move of the record label and replacement of the Detroit-based Hitsville U.S.A.
(Motown Studio A) recording studio with the Hitsville West studio in Los Angeles. Amid relocation and his lack of material, Gaye was struggling with his conscience, as well as dealing with expectations from his wife, Gordy's sister Anna. Gaye's separation from Gordy pressured him emotionally. During this time, he had also been attempting to cope with past issues that had stemmed from his childhood.
During his childhood, Gaye had been physically abused by his preacher father Marvin Gay, Sr., who disciplined his son under extremely moralistic and fundamentalist Christian teachings. As a result, the meaning and practice of sex had later become a disturbing question for Gaye. As an adult, he suffered with sexual impotence and became plagued by sadomasochistic fantasies, which haunted him in his dreams and provoked some guilt in his conscience. According to Gaye's biographer David Ritz
, "his view of sex was unsettled, tormented, riddled with pain". Gaye learned to cope with his personal issues with a newly found spirituality. He began incorporating his new outlook into his music, as initially expressed through the socially conscious album What's Going On, along with promotional photos of him wearing a kufi
in honor of African traditional religion
s and his faith.
and romance, which would be used by Gaye as a metaphor for God's love. In his book Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, David Ritz wrote of Gaye and the musical inspiration behind Gaye's second landmark record:
Gaye proceeded to record some more politically-conscious material at the Golden World Records
studio, known as Motown's Studio B, as well as the preliminary vocals and instrumentation for some of the material to be featured on Let's Get It On. Following the earlier sessions in Detroit at Golden World, Gaye recorded at Hitsville West in Los Angeles from February to July 1973. Accompanied by an experienced group of session musician
s called The Funk Brothers
, who had contributed to Gaye's What's Going On, and received their first official credit, Gaye recorded the unreleased songs "The World is Rated X" and "Where Are We Going" and the single "You're the Man
" (1972) at Golden World. "Where Are We Going" was later covered by trumpeter Donald Byrd
. Gaye had planned the release of an album titled You're the Man, but it was later shelved for unknown reasons. The songs that were to be included on it, along with other unreleased recordings from Hitsville West and Golden World, were later featured on the 2001 re-release of Let's Get It On.
The album's first recording, "Let's Get It On
", was composed by Gaye with friend and former Motown label mate, singer-songwriter Ed Townsend
, of "For Your Love" fame. Following a brief discussion with him, Gaye agreed to record the rough draft of a song the two artists had worked on together. Townsend assisted Gaye with production for the rest of the album, which was to be titled after the former song. Let's Get It On was recorded at several sessions throughout 1970 to 1973.
Originally, the opening song and title track on Let's Get It On was written as a religious ode to life, but was later re-written as a more political first draft of the song by Motown songwriter, producer and singer Kenneth Stover
. Upon hearing Gaye's preliminary mix of the political version of "Let's Get It On", Townsend protested and claimed that the song would sound and fare better with sexual and romantic overtones. In his words, he thought the song "should be about making sweet love." Gaye and Townsend then rewrote the song's lyrics together with the original arrangements and musical accompaniment of the demo intact. The well-known single version of "Let's Get It On" was inspired by Janis Hunter, whom Gaye had become infatuated with, following their introduction to each other by Ed Townsend during the initial sessions. Townsend later cited Hunter's presence during recording of the album as motivational for Gaye's emotional input. Gaye's intimate relationship with Hunter later would become the basis for his next studio album I Want You (1976).
The single version of "Let's Get It On" featured soulful and emotional vocalizing and performing by Gaye with multi-tracked
background singing, also provided by Gaye, accompanied by the song's signature, and most notable feature, the funky guitar instrumentation by studio session player Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin. Music journalist Jon Landau
has dubbed the song "a classic Motown single, endlessly repeatable and always enjoyable". In a 1973 article on Let's Get It On for Rolling Stone, Landau elaborated on the song's notable style and sound, as he wrote:
"Let's Get It On" was reprise
d on the fourth track of the album as "Keep Gettin' It On
", also known as "Let's Get It On, Pt. 2", which served as the sequel and continuation of the original song. While continuing with the title track's overall sensual theme, it also carried some political, as demonstrated in the line "won't you rather make love, children/as opposed to war, like you know you should." The track ended the first side of the album, which was entirely produced by Townsend and Gaye together. Throughout the recording of the title track, Gaye became inspired to revive previous recordings from his 1970 sessions at the Hitsville U.S.A. Studio, which he had yet to finish.
-leaning "Come Get to This
", "Distant Lover
", and "Just to Keep You Satisfied
". "Distant Lover" has Gaye crooning over serene instrumentation, leading to soulful screams near the end; from a heartbroken croon to an impassioned wail. The song's lyrics chronicled the yearning its narrator feels for a lover who is "so many miles away", as he pleads for her return and laments the emptiness he feels without her. Music writer Donarld A. Guarisco later wrote of the song's sound, in that "Marvin Gaye's studio recording enhances the dreamy style of the song with stately horn and strings, tumbling drum fills that gently nudge the song along, and mellow, doo wop-styled background vocals that echo "love her, you love her" under his romantic pleas. The song later became a concert favorite for Gaye and a live concert version, featuring female fans screaming in the background, was released as a single off of his Marvin Gaye Live!
album in 1974. Gaye and Townsend worked on four songs together, including the ballad "If I Should Die Tonight
", while Gaye composed the majority of the remaining four songs, re-examining older songs.
The smooth soul
album closer "Just to Keep You Satisfied" was originally recorded by Motown groups, including The Originals
and The Monitors, and had been originally recorded as a song dedicated to long-standing love. By the time Gaye recorded his own version, he had re-written the lyrics and arrangement of the song to talk about the demise of his volatile marriage
to Anna Gordy Gaye, who was, ironically, the original song's co-writer. Background vocals for the material on Let's Get It On were contributed by Marvin Gaye with the exception of "Just to Keep You Satisfied", which were done by The Originals, and featured a classic doo-wop vocalizing style. Most of the instrumentation for the album was done by members of The Funk Brothers, including bassist James Jamerson
, guitarists Robert White
and Eddie Willis
, and percussionist Eddie "Bongo" Brown. Marvin also contributed on piano during the recording sessions.
"You Sure Love to Ball
", recorded at Hitsville West, is one of Gaye's most sexually overt and controversial singles, with its intro and outro featuring moaning sounds made by a man and woman engaged in sex. The sexual-explicit and risqué nature of the album's content were, at the time, controversial, and the recording of such an album was deemed as a commercial risk by Motown A&R
's (Artists and Repertoire) and label executives. In the album's liner notes, Gaye explained his views on the themes of sex and love, stating "I can't see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. I think we make far too much of it. After all, one's genitals are just one important part of the magnificent human body ... I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such. Time and space will not permit me to expound further, especially in the area of the psyche. I don't believe in overly moralistic philosophies. Have your sex, it can be exciting, if you're lucky. I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky."
chart, succeeded by The Rolling Stones
's Goats Head Soup
(1973), while it also managed to reach number one in Cash Box for one week, as well as two weeks at the top of Record World
s music charts.. Let's Get It On charted for 61 weeks on the Billboard charts, and remained at the top of the Billboard Soul Albums
for 11 weeks, becoming the best-selling soul album of 1973. The album's lead single, "Let's Get It On", became one of Gaye's most successful singles, as it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
chart on September 8, 1973. It remained at number one for two weeks, while also remaining at the top of the Billboard Soul Singles
chart for eight weeks. The single was at that time Motown's largest-selling recording ever, selling over three million copies between 1973 and 1975. On June 25, 2007, it was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
for shipments of one million copies in the United States.
Two of the album's singles reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including "Let's Get It On", which became Gaye's second number-one US single, and the top-30 hit "Come Get to This", which peaked at number 23 on the chart. The album's third single, "You Sure Love to Ball
", charted at number 50 on the Hot 100 and at number 13 on the Soul Singles chart. Along with the album's music and sexual content, Let's Get It Ons commercial success and promotion helped establish Marvin Gaye as a sex icon, while helping further expand his artistic control during his tenure at Motown. This commercial success also lead to a much publicized tour for Gaye to promote Let's Get It On and expand on his repertoire as a live performer. Successful concert performances of the album's material helped Gaye gain an increasing popularity and fan base in the pop market, while earning him a reputation as one of the top live performers of the time. His performance at the Oakland Coliseum during the 1973-1974 tour was released on the 1974 LP Live!, which would serve as Gaye's only release during his sabbatical period in the mid-1970s.
s, who praised its seductive sound, groove, and Gaye's sexual innuendo and lyrics. Billboard
called it "fine in terms of vocal attack and material [...] touches on the excellent in terms of instrumental support", while citing the title track and "Distant Lover" as the album's best recordings. Jon Landau of Rolling Stone
found Gaye's performance on-par with that of What's Going On and complimented its themes of love and sex, stating "he continues to transmit that same degree of intensity, sending out near cosmic overtones while eloquently phrasing the sometimes simplistic lyrics". Landau found its second side "more daring and self-conscious" than the first and concluded by elaborating on its flaws and strengths, "Let's Get It On is as personal as What's Goin' On but lacks that album's series of highpoints. Instead, it ebbs and flows, occasionally threatening to spend itself on an insufficiency of ideas, but always retrieved, just in time, by Gaye's performance. From first note to last, he keeps pushing and shoving, and if he sometimes takes one step back for every two ahead, he gets there just the same — and with style and spirit to spare". In his consumer guide for The Village Voice
, critic Robert Christgau
gave the album an A- rating and described it as "Post-Al Green
What's Going On, which means it's about fucking rather than the human condition, thank the wholly holey". He viewed its title track "as much a masterpiece as 'Inner City Blues
'", concluding that "this album prolongs its seductive groove to an appropriate thirty minutes plus".
Since its initial reception, Let's Get It On has been viewed by writers as a milestone in soul music. In his book The Best Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time, music critic Jimmy Guterman stated, "Let's Get It On was a bit more conventional musically (soul crossing into mild funk) and much more focused lyrically than its predecessor, What's Going On". Chicago Tribune
writer Greg Kot
commended Gaye for using "the multi-tracked vocals perfected on What's Going On, this time to convey his most intimate desires", commenting that "while the album is replete with erotic imagery, both implied and explicit, it is also as much preoccupied with distance and unfulfilled need". Jason Ankeny of Allmusic called it "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy", writing that "Always a sexually charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point [...] With each performance laced with innuendo, each lyric a come-on, and each rhythm throbbing with lust, perhaps no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let's Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later — much copied, but never imitated." Ankeny dubbed it "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded." Allmusic's Lindsey Planer has cited the album as a "hedonistic R&B masterpiece." BBC Online's Daryl Easlea found Gaye "in supreme command of his material", and viewed it as "much more than an album about simple lust [...] an iconic, rapturous work, but one very much laced with Gaye’s doubt and uncertainty. That said, many will be too busy basking in the glorious mood that the album creates to notice any dissent whatsoever".
Much like What's Going On, Let's Get It On has been included in a significant amount of "best album" lists by critics and publications. It was ranked number 58 on The Times
' s 1993 publication of the 100 Best Albums of All Time. Blender
magazine ranked the album number 15 on its list of the 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time. In 2003, it was ranked number 165 on Rolling Stone
s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time publication, his second highest entry on the list, as well as one of three Marvin Gaye albums to be included; What's Going On (number 6) and Here, My Dear
(number 462). In 2004, Let's Get It On was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
and cited by The Recording Academy as a recording of "historical significance".
. The Motown sound was typified by characteristics such as the use of tambourine
s to accent the back beat
, prominent and often melodic electric bass guitar
lines, distinctive melodic
and chord
structures, and a call and response
singing style that originated in gospel music
. In addition, pop production techniques were simpler than that of Gaye's 1970s concept albums. Complex arrangements and elaborate, melisma
tic vocal riffs were avoided by Motown musicians. Following his breakthrough with What's Going On, an "experiment in collating a pseudo-classical suite of free-flowing songs", Gaye used his artistic control to modify the sound and incorporate funky instrumentation, melismatic vocalization, and heavy vocal multi-tracking, in much contrast to the established production style at the label. In contrast to Motown's previously successful process of emphasizing an artist's single releases rather than their album, Gaye and fellow producer Ed Townsend followed a similar formula previously used on What's Going On, in which the album's songs flow together in a suite-form arrangement, opposing label CEO Berry Gordy's strong emphasis on hit single success.
and Rick James
, were influenced by much of the elements of Gaye's recording style for their work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The slow jam sound and modern soul music production in general were greatly influenced by the album's use of vocal multi-tracking and instrumentation. Renown engineer Russell Elevado
's work in the neo soul
genre, including his production for D'Angelo
's Voodoo (2000) and Erykah Badu
's Mama's Gun
(2000), has been influenced by Gaye's and Townsend's production techniques and sound. The music atmosphere of the 1970s was heavily influenced by its success and sexual content, as its sexual-explicitness bended creative barriers in the music industry and led to an increased popularity of sexual themes in music at the time. Music writer Rob Bowman
later cited Let's Get It On as "one of the most erotic recordings known to mankind." The album's success helped spark a series of similarly-styled releases by such smooth soul artists as Barry White
(Can't Get Enough
), Smokey Robinson
(A Quiet Storm
) and Earth, Wind & Fire
(That's the Way of the World
). The commercial success of such recording artists led to a change of trend from socially-conscious aesthetics to more mainstream, sensually-themed music. Gaye himself experienced subsequent success with his follow-up release I Want You (1976), featuring more sexually-explicit lyrics and expanded use of vocal multi-tracking, and with Here, My Dear (1978), which he based entirely on his tumultuous marriage to Anna Gordy. In an interview with music author Michael Eric Dyson, hip hop artist Q-Tip
discussed the album's influence and significance to its time period, stating:
Following the success of funk records such as Sly & the Family Stone
's There's a Riot Goin' On
(1971) and James Brown
's late 1960s and early 1970s singles, Gaye's Let's Get It On helped further the funk genre's reach and influence in the music industry, as well as increase its mainstream appeal. Several contemporary R&B musicians, such as Prince
, D'Angelo and R. Kelly
, were greatly influenced by its vintage sound and seductive themes, incorporating much of Gaye's musical style into their music.
deluxe edition release, featuring 24-bit
digital remastering of the original album's recordings, previously unissued material and a 24-page booklet which contains the original LP liner notes
by Marvin Gaye, as well as essays from Gaye biographers David Ritz and Ben Edmunds.
Original album & sessions (Disc one)
Demos, alternate mixes & more (Disc two)
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
musician Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, released August 28, 1973, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 1970 to July 1973 at Hitsville U.S.A.
Hitsville U.S.A.
"Hitsville U.S.A." is the nickname given to Motown's first headquarters. A former photographers' studio located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, it was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959 and converted into both the record label's administrative building and recording...
and Golden World Studio in Detroit, and at Hitsville West in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Serving as Gaye's first venture into the funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
genre and romance-themed music, Let's Get It On incorporates smooth soul
Smooth soul
Smooth soul is a subgenre of soul music that developed in the early 1970s from soul, funk and pop music in the United States. The subgenre experienced mainstream success from the time of its development to the late 1970s, before its succession by disco and quiet storm.Smooth soul is characterized...
, doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
, and quiet storm
Quiet storm
Quiet storm is a late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Smokey Robinson's like-titled hit single, released in 1975 as the title track to his third solo album, lent its name to the format...
. It has been noted by critics for its sexually suggestive lyrics, and was cited by one writer as "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded".
Following the breakthrough success of his socially conscious album What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
(1971), the album helped establish Marvin Gaye as a sex icon and furthered his mainstream appeal. It spawned three singles, "Let's Get It On
Let's Get It On (song)
"Let's Get It On" is a song and hit single by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released June 15, 1973 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. The song was recorded on March 22, 1973 at Hitsville West in Los Angeles, California. The song features romantic and sexual lyricism and funk instrumentation by...
", "Come Get to This
Come Get to This
"Come Get to This" is a 1973 hit for American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label.The song, released a few months after his seminal anthem of seduction, "Let's Get It On", was built among a fast-paced doo-wop-like recording....
", and "You Sure Love to Ball
You Sure Love to Ball
"You Sure Love to Ball" is a song by Marvin Gaye, released in 1974. While it was initially a modest pop success peaking at #50, it rode to #13 on the R&B chart. The song was one of Gaye's most sexually overt and controversial singles....
", that each attained Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
chart success. Let's Get It On became the most commercially successful album of Gaye's recording career, and it further expanded his creative control during his tenure with Motown. Its sexual balladry, multi-tracking
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
of Gaye's vocals, and seductive, funk sound influenced later R&B artists and production.
The album has been regarded by many music writers and critics as a landmark recording in soul music. It furthered funk music's popularity during the 1970s, and its smooth soul sound marked a change for his record label's previous success with the "Motown Sound" formula. In 2001, Let's Get It On was reissued by Motown Records as a two-disc deluxe edition release featuring extensive liner notes and digital remastering, as well as several material from the initial recording sessions. In 2003, the album was ranked number 165 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Background
In the spring of 1972, Marvin Gaye was suffering from writer's block. Following the release of his most commercially successful album up to that point, What's Going OnWhat's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
(1971), and the soundtrack album
Trouble Man (album)
Trouble Man is a soundtrack album by soul singer Marvin Gaye, released December 8, 1972 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. As the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name, the Trouble Man soundtrack was a more contemporary move for Gaye, following his landmark...
to the blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
film Trouble Man (1972), Gaye had struggled to come up with new material after Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
had renegotiated a new contract with him. The contract provided him with more creative control over his recordings. The deal was worth $ 1 million, making him the highest-earning soul artist, as well as the highest-earning black artist, at the time. He was also struggling with deciding whether or not to relocate to Los Angeles, following Motown-CEO Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
's move of the record label and replacement of the Detroit-based Hitsville U.S.A.
Hitsville U.S.A.
"Hitsville U.S.A." is the nickname given to Motown's first headquarters. A former photographers' studio located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, it was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959 and converted into both the record label's administrative building and recording...
(Motown Studio A) recording studio with the Hitsville West studio in Los Angeles. Amid relocation and his lack of material, Gaye was struggling with his conscience, as well as dealing with expectations from his wife, Gordy's sister Anna. Gaye's separation from Gordy pressured him emotionally. During this time, he had also been attempting to cope with past issues that had stemmed from his childhood.
During his childhood, Gaye had been physically abused by his preacher father Marvin Gay, Sr., who disciplined his son under extremely moralistic and fundamentalist Christian teachings. As a result, the meaning and practice of sex had later become a disturbing question for Gaye. As an adult, he suffered with sexual impotence and became plagued by sadomasochistic fantasies, which haunted him in his dreams and provoked some guilt in his conscience. According to Gaye's biographer David Ritz
David Ritz
David Ritz is an American author, most of whose books are biographies of soul music and R&B legends such as Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Janet Jackson. On four occasions, his co-authored autobiographies of musicians have been awarded the Ralph J...
, "his view of sex was unsettled, tormented, riddled with pain". Gaye learned to cope with his personal issues with a newly found spirituality. He began incorporating his new outlook into his music, as initially expressed through the socially conscious album What's Going On, along with promotional photos of him wearing a kufi
Kufi
A kufi or kufi cap is a brimless, short, rounded cap worn by many populations in West Africa of all religions and throughout the African diaspora.-African and African-American Usage:...
in honor of African traditional religion
African Traditional Religion
The traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...
s and his faith.
Concept and recording
By winning over record executives with the success of his previous studio album, Gaye had also achieved artistic freedom, which he would use, following his brief separation from wife Anna Gordy, to record a studio album that was meant, according to Gaye's intentions, to surface themes beyond sex. As with What's Going On, the album was also intended to have a deeper meaning than the general theme that was used to portray it; in the case of the former, politics, and with its follow-up effort, loveLove
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
and romance, which would be used by Gaye as a metaphor for God's love. In his book Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, David Ritz wrote of Gaye and the musical inspiration behind Gaye's second landmark record:
Gaye proceeded to record some more politically-conscious material at the Golden World Records
Golden World Records
Golden World Records was a record label owned by Ed Wingate and Joanne Bratton . The recording studio was located in Detroit, MI., first on 11801 12th Street , and then on 3246 West Davison, within the area of the present-day Davison Freeway...
studio, known as Motown's Studio B, as well as the preliminary vocals and instrumentation for some of the material to be featured on Let's Get It On. Following the earlier sessions in Detroit at Golden World, Gaye recorded at Hitsville West in Los Angeles from February to July 1973. Accompanied by an experienced group of session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s called The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...
, who had contributed to Gaye's What's Going On, and received their first official credit, Gaye recorded the unreleased songs "The World is Rated X" and "Where Are We Going" and the single "You're the Man
You're the Man
"You're the Man" is a two-part 1972 funk single released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label. On this song, Gaye blatantly attacks the policies set by the government which he felt had not giving people in America the benefits to live in society. The song was a blatant attack on...
" (1972) at Golden World. "Where Are We Going" was later covered by trumpeter Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
. Gaye had planned the release of an album titled You're the Man, but it was later shelved for unknown reasons. The songs that were to be included on it, along with other unreleased recordings from Hitsville West and Golden World, were later featured on the 2001 re-release of Let's Get It On.
The album's first recording, "Let's Get It On
Let's Get It On (song)
"Let's Get It On" is a song and hit single by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released June 15, 1973 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. The song was recorded on March 22, 1973 at Hitsville West in Los Angeles, California. The song features romantic and sexual lyricism and funk instrumentation by...
", was composed by Gaye with friend and former Motown label mate, singer-songwriter Ed Townsend
Ed Townsend
Edward Benjamin 'Ed' Townsend was an American attorney, songwriter, and producer. He was best known for performing his composition, "For Your Love," a rhythm and blues doo wop classic, and as the co-writer of "Let's Get It On" with Marvin Gaye.-Biography:Although he was born in Fayetteville,...
, of "For Your Love" fame. Following a brief discussion with him, Gaye agreed to record the rough draft of a song the two artists had worked on together. Townsend assisted Gaye with production for the rest of the album, which was to be titled after the former song. Let's Get It On was recorded at several sessions throughout 1970 to 1973.
Title track
Originally, the opening song and title track on Let's Get It On was written as a religious ode to life, but was later re-written as a more political first draft of the song by Motown songwriter, producer and singer Kenneth Stover
Kenneth Stover
Kenneth Stover is an American former Motown songwriter, producer and singer, most notably known for contributing background vocals on Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On, and for writing the first draft of Gaye's 1973 single, "Let's Get It On".Alongside his brother, Elgie Stover, after...
. Upon hearing Gaye's preliminary mix of the political version of "Let's Get It On", Townsend protested and claimed that the song would sound and fare better with sexual and romantic overtones. In his words, he thought the song "should be about making sweet love." Gaye and Townsend then rewrote the song's lyrics together with the original arrangements and musical accompaniment of the demo intact. The well-known single version of "Let's Get It On" was inspired by Janis Hunter, whom Gaye had become infatuated with, following their introduction to each other by Ed Townsend during the initial sessions. Townsend later cited Hunter's presence during recording of the album as motivational for Gaye's emotional input. Gaye's intimate relationship with Hunter later would become the basis for his next studio album I Want You (1976).
The single version of "Let's Get It On" featured soulful and emotional vocalizing and performing by Gaye with multi-tracked
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
background singing, also provided by Gaye, accompanied by the song's signature, and most notable feature, the funky guitar instrumentation by studio session player Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin. Music journalist Jon Landau
Jon Landau
Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen.He is currently the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
has dubbed the song "a classic Motown single, endlessly repeatable and always enjoyable". In a 1973 article on Let's Get It On for Rolling Stone, Landau elaborated on the song's notable style and sound, as he wrote:
"Let's Get It On" was reprise
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
d on the fourth track of the album as "Keep Gettin' It On
Keep Gettin' It On
"Keep Gettin' It On", or "Let's Get It On, Pt. 2", was a sequel of the title track on Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On.The song, while sticking with the album's overall sensual and erotic theme, also carried some political overtones especially with the lyric, "won't you rather make love,...
", also known as "Let's Get It On, Pt. 2", which served as the sequel and continuation of the original song. While continuing with the title track's overall sensual theme, it also carried some political, as demonstrated in the line "won't you rather make love, children/as opposed to war, like you know you should." The track ended the first side of the album, which was entirely produced by Townsend and Gaye together. Throughout the recording of the title track, Gaye became inspired to revive previous recordings from his 1970 sessions at the Hitsville U.S.A. Studio, which he had yet to finish.
Content
The tracks from the earlier sessions includes the doo-wopDoo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
-leaning "Come Get to This
Come Get to This
"Come Get to This" is a 1973 hit for American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label.The song, released a few months after his seminal anthem of seduction, "Let's Get It On", was built among a fast-paced doo-wop-like recording....
", "Distant Lover
Distant Lover
"Distant Lover" is the sixth song issued on singer Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On and was later issued as a live recording in 1974. The live version of the song was Gaye's most successful single during the three-year gap between Let's Get It On and his following 1976 album, I Want...
", and "Just to Keep You Satisfied
Just to Keep You Satisfied
"Just to Keep You Satisfied" is a song by soul singer Marvin Gaye. The song was the b-side to Marvin's modest 1974 hit, "You Sure Love to Ball" and was the eighth and final song issued on the singer's 1973 album, Let's Get It On.-Background:...
". "Distant Lover" has Gaye crooning over serene instrumentation, leading to soulful screams near the end; from a heartbroken croon to an impassioned wail. The song's lyrics chronicled the yearning its narrator feels for a lover who is "so many miles away", as he pleads for her return and laments the emptiness he feels without her. Music writer Donarld A. Guarisco later wrote of the song's sound, in that "Marvin Gaye's studio recording enhances the dreamy style of the song with stately horn and strings, tumbling drum fills that gently nudge the song along, and mellow, doo wop-styled background vocals that echo "love her, you love her" under his romantic pleas. The song later became a concert favorite for Gaye and a live concert version, featuring female fans screaming in the background, was released as a single off of his Marvin Gaye Live!
Marvin Gaye Live!
Marvin Gaye Live! is the second live album issued by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on June 19, 1974 by Tamla Records.-Returning to live performances:...
album in 1974. Gaye and Townsend worked on four songs together, including the ballad "If I Should Die Tonight
If I Should Die Tonight
"If I Should Die Tonight" is a 1973 song written by Ed Townsend and Marvin Gaye and recorded by Marvin as a single issued on his Let's Get It On album as the third track on the album....
", while Gaye composed the majority of the remaining four songs, re-examining older songs.
The smooth soul
Smooth soul
Smooth soul is a subgenre of soul music that developed in the early 1970s from soul, funk and pop music in the United States. The subgenre experienced mainstream success from the time of its development to the late 1970s, before its succession by disco and quiet storm.Smooth soul is characterized...
album closer "Just to Keep You Satisfied" was originally recorded by Motown groups, including The Originals
The Originals
The Originals were a successful Motown R&B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits "Baby I'm For Real", "The Bells" and the disco classic, "Down to Love Town"...
and The Monitors, and had been originally recorded as a song dedicated to long-standing love. By the time Gaye recorded his own version, he had re-written the lyrics and arrangement of the song to talk about the demise of his volatile marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
to Anna Gordy Gaye, who was, ironically, the original song's co-writer. Background vocals for the material on Let's Get It On were contributed by Marvin Gaye with the exception of "Just to Keep You Satisfied", which were done by The Originals, and featured a classic doo-wop vocalizing style. Most of the instrumentation for the album was done by members of The Funk Brothers, including bassist James Jamerson
James Jamerson
James Lee Jamerson was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s , and he is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history...
, guitarists Robert White
Robert White (guitarist)
Robert Willie White was an African-American musician. Of note for being one of the main guitarists for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, White is best known for performing the familiar guitar riff on The Temptations' number-one hit single "My Girl", but played the guitar on...
and Eddie Willis
Eddie Willis
Eddie "Chank" Willis is an African-American musician. Willis played electric guitar and occasional electric sitar for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s....
, and percussionist Eddie "Bongo" Brown. Marvin also contributed on piano during the recording sessions.
"You Sure Love to Ball
You Sure Love to Ball
"You Sure Love to Ball" is a song by Marvin Gaye, released in 1974. While it was initially a modest pop success peaking at #50, it rode to #13 on the R&B chart. The song was one of Gaye's most sexually overt and controversial singles....
", recorded at Hitsville West, is one of Gaye's most sexually overt and controversial singles, with its intro and outro featuring moaning sounds made by a man and woman engaged in sex. The sexual-explicit and risqué nature of the album's content were, at the time, controversial, and the recording of such an album was deemed as a commercial risk by Motown A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
's (Artists and Repertoire) and label executives. In the album's liner notes, Gaye explained his views on the themes of sex and love, stating "I can't see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. I think we make far too much of it. After all, one's genitals are just one important part of the magnificent human body ... I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such. Time and space will not permit me to expound further, especially in the area of the psyche. I don't believe in overly moralistic philosophies. Have your sex, it can be exciting, if you're lucky. I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky."
Commercial performance
Released on August 28, 1973, Let's Get It On surpassed Gaye's previous studio effort, What's Going On, as the best-selling record of his tenure with Motown. The album peaked at number two on the US Billboard Top LPsBillboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, succeeded by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
's Goats Head Soup
Goats Head Soup
Goats Head Soup is the 11th British and 13th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1973. It featured the song "Angie", which went to #1 as a single in the US and UK.-Recording:...
(1973), while it also managed to reach number one in Cash Box for one week, as well as two weeks at the top of Record World
Record World
Record World magazine was one of the three main music industry trade publications in the United States, along with Billboard and Cash Box magazines. It was founded in 1946 under the name Music Vendor, but since 1964 changed it to Record World, under the ownership of Sid Parnes and Bob Austin, both...
s music charts.. Let's Get It On charted for 61 weeks on the Billboard charts, and remained at the top of the Billboard Soul Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
for 11 weeks, becoming the best-selling soul album of 1973. The album's lead single, "Let's Get It On", became one of Gaye's most successful singles, as it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart on September 8, 1973. It remained at number one for two weeks, while also remaining at the top of the Billboard Soul Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart for eight weeks. The single was at that time Motown's largest-selling recording ever, selling over three million copies between 1973 and 1975. On June 25, 2007, it was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
for shipments of one million copies in the United States.
Two of the album's singles reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including "Let's Get It On", which became Gaye's second number-one US single, and the top-30 hit "Come Get to This", which peaked at number 23 on the chart. The album's third single, "You Sure Love to Ball
You Sure Love to Ball
"You Sure Love to Ball" is a song by Marvin Gaye, released in 1974. While it was initially a modest pop success peaking at #50, it rode to #13 on the R&B chart. The song was one of Gaye's most sexually overt and controversial singles....
", charted at number 50 on the Hot 100 and at number 13 on the Soul Singles chart. Along with the album's music and sexual content, Let's Get It Ons commercial success and promotion helped establish Marvin Gaye as a sex icon, while helping further expand his artistic control during his tenure at Motown. This commercial success also lead to a much publicized tour for Gaye to promote Let's Get It On and expand on his repertoire as a live performer. Successful concert performances of the album's material helped Gaye gain an increasing popularity and fan base in the pop market, while earning him a reputation as one of the top live performers of the time. His performance at the Oakland Coliseum during the 1973-1974 tour was released on the 1974 LP Live!, which would serve as Gaye's only release during his sabbatical period in the mid-1970s.
Critical response
Let's Get It On received positive reviews from music criticMusic criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
s, who praised its seductive sound, groove, and Gaye's sexual innuendo and lyrics. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
called it "fine in terms of vocal attack and material [...] touches on the excellent in terms of instrumental support", while citing the title track and "Distant Lover" as the album's best recordings. Jon Landau of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
found Gaye's performance on-par with that of What's Going On and complimented its themes of love and sex, stating "he continues to transmit that same degree of intensity, sending out near cosmic overtones while eloquently phrasing the sometimes simplistic lyrics". Landau found its second side "more daring and self-conscious" than the first and concluded by elaborating on its flaws and strengths, "Let's Get It On is as personal as What's Goin' On but lacks that album's series of highpoints. Instead, it ebbs and flows, occasionally threatening to spend itself on an insufficiency of ideas, but always retrieved, just in time, by Gaye's performance. From first note to last, he keeps pushing and shoving, and if he sometimes takes one step back for every two ahead, he gets there just the same — and with style and spirit to spare". In his consumer guide for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album an A- rating and described it as "Post-Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
What's Going On, which means it's about fucking rather than the human condition, thank the wholly holey". He viewed its title track "as much a masterpiece as 'Inner City Blues
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
"Inner City Blues ", often shortened to "Inner City Blues", is a song by Marvin Gaye, released as the third and final single from and the climactic song of his 1971 landmark album, What's Going On...
'", concluding that "this album prolongs its seductive groove to an appropriate thirty minutes plus".
Since its initial reception, Let's Get It On has been viewed by writers as a milestone in soul music. In his book The Best Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time, music critic Jimmy Guterman stated, "Let's Get It On was a bit more conventional musically (soul crossing into mild funk) and much more focused lyrically than its predecessor, What's Going On". Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
commended Gaye for using "the multi-tracked vocals perfected on What's Going On, this time to convey his most intimate desires", commenting that "while the album is replete with erotic imagery, both implied and explicit, it is also as much preoccupied with distance and unfulfilled need". Jason Ankeny of Allmusic called it "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy", writing that "Always a sexually charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point [...] With each performance laced with innuendo, each lyric a come-on, and each rhythm throbbing with lust, perhaps no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let's Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later — much copied, but never imitated." Ankeny dubbed it "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded." Allmusic's Lindsey Planer has cited the album as a "hedonistic R&B masterpiece." BBC Online's Daryl Easlea found Gaye "in supreme command of his material", and viewed it as "much more than an album about simple lust [...] an iconic, rapturous work, but one very much laced with Gaye’s doubt and uncertainty. That said, many will be too busy basking in the glorious mood that the album creates to notice any dissent whatsoever".
Much like What's Going On, Let's Get It On has been included in a significant amount of "best album" lists by critics and publications. It was ranked number 58 on The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
magazine ranked the album number 15 on its list of the 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time. In 2003, it was ranked number 165 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time publication, his second highest entry on the list, as well as one of three Marvin Gaye albums to be included; What's Going On (number 6) and Here, My Dear
Here, My Dear
Here, My Dear is a studio double album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released December 15, 1978 on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room in Hollywood, California from 1976 to 1977. A deeply personal and controversial album, Here, My Dear is notable for...
(number 462). In 2004, Let's Get It On was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
and cited by The Recording Academy as a recording of "historical significance".
Motown
Because of the album and its singles' initial sales and response, Let's Get It On marked a change and transition in sound and production for Motown, which had previously enjoyed success with its trademark "Motown Sound". The label's well-known sound, however, was beginning to fade in popularity among the majority of R&B and soul listeners, while experiencing commercial pressure from contemporary styles that incorporated more diverse elements, such as Philly soul and funkFunk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
. The Motown sound was typified by characteristics such as the use of tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
s to accent the back beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
, prominent and often melodic electric bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
lines, distinctive melodic
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
structures, and a call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
singing style that originated in gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. In addition, pop production techniques were simpler than that of Gaye's 1970s concept albums. Complex arrangements and elaborate, melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
tic vocal riffs were avoided by Motown musicians. Following his breakthrough with What's Going On, an "experiment in collating a pseudo-classical suite of free-flowing songs", Gaye used his artistic control to modify the sound and incorporate funky instrumentation, melismatic vocalization, and heavy vocal multi-tracking, in much contrast to the established production style at the label. In contrast to Motown's previously successful process of emphasizing an artist's single releases rather than their album, Gaye and fellow producer Ed Townsend followed a similar formula previously used on What's Going On, in which the album's songs flow together in a suite-form arrangement, opposing label CEO Berry Gordy's strong emphasis on hit single success.
R&B and soul
The album has affirmed Gaye's influence over later R&B styles and artists. Gaye's change of musical style and production soon became contemporary and popular, prior to the disco era of the late 1970s. Several successful Motown artists, including Lionel RichieLionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
and Rick James
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...
, were influenced by much of the elements of Gaye's recording style for their work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The slow jam sound and modern soul music production in general were greatly influenced by the album's use of vocal multi-tracking and instrumentation. Renown engineer Russell Elevado
Russell Elevado
Russell Elevado , is a recording engineer and record producer based in New York City. Elevado's achievement for recording and mixing contemporary R&B recording artist D'Angelo's critically acclaimedVoodoo album, gained him a Grammy award in 2000...
's work in the neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
genre, including his production for D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
's Voodoo (2000) and Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
's Mama's Gun
Mama's Gun
Mama's Gun is the second studio album by American recording artist Erykah Badu, released November 21, 2000, on Motown Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1999 to 2000 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City...
(2000), has been influenced by Gaye's and Townsend's production techniques and sound. The music atmosphere of the 1970s was heavily influenced by its success and sexual content, as its sexual-explicitness bended creative barriers in the music industry and led to an increased popularity of sexual themes in music at the time. Music writer Rob Bowman
Rob Bowman (music writer)
Rob Bowman is a contemporaneous Canadian professor of ethnomusicology and a music writer. He currently lives in Toronto with both his children....
later cited Let's Get It On as "one of the most erotic recordings known to mankind." The album's success helped spark a series of similarly-styled releases by such smooth soul artists as Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
(Can't Get Enough
Can't Get Enough (Barry White album)
Can't Get Enough is soul singer Barry White's third album. Released in 1974, it is one of White's most successful albums, featuring "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe", which was a #1 hit in the US. The song "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" reached #2 on both US and Dance charts...
), Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
(A Quiet Storm
A Quiet Storm
This is one of the most highly acclaimed soul albums of the 1970s. A longtime innovator at Motown, Robinson responded to the funk revolution in black music with an effective counterpoint: the stylish and mature album A Quiet Storm...
) and Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
(That's the Way of the World
That's the Way of the World
-1999 reissue:-Covers and samples:"Reasons", the album's breakout love ballad, has been covered by Stanley Turrentine, Ramsey Lewis, Maxi Priest and other artists. "Reasons" has also been sampled by Master P on Intro/17...
). The commercial success of such recording artists led to a change of trend from socially-conscious aesthetics to more mainstream, sensually-themed music. Gaye himself experienced subsequent success with his follow-up release I Want You (1976), featuring more sexually-explicit lyrics and expanded use of vocal multi-tracking, and with Here, My Dear (1978), which he based entirely on his tumultuous marriage to Anna Gordy. In an interview with music author Michael Eric Dyson, hip hop artist Q-Tip
Q-Tip (rapper)
Kamaal Ibn John Fareed , better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American hip hop artist, producer, singer, and actor from St. Albans, Queens, New York, part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest...
discussed the album's influence and significance to its time period, stating:
Following the success of funk records such as Sly & the Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
's There's a Riot Goin' On
There's a Riot Goin' On
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly & the Family Stone, released November 20, 1971 on Epic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place primarily throughout 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California...
(1971) and James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
's late 1960s and early 1970s singles, Gaye's Let's Get It On helped further the funk genre's reach and influence in the music industry, as well as increase its mainstream appeal. Several contemporary R&B musicians, such as Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, D'Angelo and R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
, were greatly influenced by its vintage sound and seductive themes, incorporating much of Gaye's musical style into their music.
Original LP
Deluxe edition
On September 18, 2001, Let's Get It On was reissued by Motown as a two-discCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
deluxe edition release, featuring 24-bit
24-bit
Notable 24-bit machines include the ICT 1900 series and the Harris H series.The IBM System/360, announced in 1964, was a popular computer system with 24-bit addressing and 32-bit general registers and arithmetic...
digital remastering of the original album's recordings, previously unissued material and a 24-page booklet which contains the original LP liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
by Marvin Gaye, as well as essays from Gaye biographers David Ritz and Ben Edmunds.
Original album & sessions (Disc one)
- "Let's Get It On" (Gaye, Townsend) – 4:51
- "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" (Gaye, Townsend) – 3:27
- "If I Should Die Tonight" (Gaye, Townsend) – 4:01
- "Keep Getting' It On" (Gaye, Townsend) – 3:13
- "Come Get to This" (Gaye) – 2:41
- "Distant Lover" (Gaye, G. Gordy, Greene) – 4:17
- "You Sure Love to Ball" (Gaye) – 4:46
- "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (Gaye, Gordy-Gaye, Stover) – 4:27
- "Song #3" (instrumental) (DePitte, Gaye) – 5:28
- "My Love Is Growing" (Gaye) – 4:20
- "Cakes" (DePitte, Gaye) – 3:14
- "Symphony" (undubbed version) (Gaye, RobinsonSmokey RobinsonWilliam "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
) – 2:51 - "I'd Give My Life for You" (alternate mix) (Gaye) – 3:29
- "I Love You Secretly" (The MiraclesThe MiraclesThe Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...
version) (Gaye, Gordy-Gaye, E. Stover) – 4:18 - "You're the Man" (alternate version 1) (K. StoverKenneth StoverKenneth Stover is an American former Motown songwriter, producer and singer, most notably known for contributing background vocals on Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On, and for writing the first draft of Gaye's 1973 single, "Let's Get It On".Alongside his brother, Elgie Stover, after...
, Gaye) – 7:24 - "You're the Man" (alternate version 2) (K. Stover, Gaye) – 4:44
- "Symphony" (demo vocal) (Gaye, RobinsonSmokey RobinsonWilliam "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
) – 2:48
Demos, alternate mixes & more (Disc two)
- "Let's Get It On" (demo) (Gaye, Townsend) – 5:12
- "Let's Get It On, Pt. 2" (aka "Keep Gettin' It OnKeep Gettin' It On"Keep Gettin' It On", or "Let's Get It On, Pt. 2", was a sequel of the title track on Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On.The song, while sticking with the album's overall sensual and erotic theme, also carried some political overtones especially with the lyric, "won't you rather make love,...
") (Gaye, Townsend) – 3:13 - "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" (alternate mix) (Gaye, Townsend) – 3:52
- "If I Should Die Tonight" (demo) (Gaye, Townsend) – 4:13
- "Come Get to This" (alternate mix) (Gaye) – 3:07
- "Distant Lover" (alternate mix) (G. Fuqua, Gaye, Greene) – 4:32
- "You Sure Love to Ball" (alternate mix w/alternate vocal) (Gaye) – 5:06
- "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (a capella w/alternate vocal) (Gaye, Gordy-Gaye, Stover) – 4:38
- "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (The OriginalsThe OriginalsThe Originals were a successful Motown R&B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits "Baby I'm For Real", "The Bells" and the disco classic, "Down to Love Town"...
1970 version) (Gaye, Gordy-Gaye, Stover) – 4:00 - "Just to Keep You Satisfied" (The MonitorsThe Monitors (music)The Monitors were an American vocal group who recorded for Motown Records in the 1960s. The group, which consisted of lead singer Richard Street, Sandra Fagin, John "Maurice" Fagin, and Warren Harris, had two minor hits, "Say You", and then a cover of the Valadiers' "Greetings ", which reached...
1968 version) (Gaye, Gordy-Gaye, Stover) – 3:10 - "Where Are We Going?" (alternate mix) (Gordon, Mizell) – 3:56
- "The World Is Rated X" (alternate mix) (Bolton, Bolton, Gordy, McLeod) – 3:52
- "I'm Gonna Give You Respect" (HutchWillie HutchWillie McKinley Hutchison, known professionally as Willie Hutch was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s....
) – 2:56 - "Try It, You'll Like It" (Hutch, Wakefield) – 3:57
- "You Are That Special One" (Hutch) – 3:38
- "We Can Make It Baby" (Hutch) – 3:22
- "Running from Love" (instrumental version 1) (Bohannon, Gaye, Henderson) – 3:47
- "Mandota" (Bohannon, Gaye) – 3:26
- "Running from Love" (instrumental version 2) (Bohannon, Gaye, Henderson) – 3:54
- "Come Get to This" (live from Oakland) (Gaye) – 3:00
Personnel
- Arrangement, Conduction (Orchestra): David Van DePitte (tracks: B1 to B4), Gene PageGene PageEugene Edgar "Gene" Page, Jr. was an influential conductor, composer, arranger and record producer most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s....
(tracks: B1), Rene HallRené HallRené Hall , was an American guitarist and music arranger.He was born in Morgan City, Louisiana, and first recorded as a banjo player with Joseph Robichaux in New Orleans in 1933. He then worked around the country as a member of the Ernie Fields Orchestra, before joining Earl Hines as musical arranger...
(tracks: A4) - Bass: James JamersonJames JamersonJames Lee Jamerson was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s , and he is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history...
, Wilton FelderWilton FelderWilton Lewis Felder is both a saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders. Felder, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded the group while in high school in Houston... - Bongos: Bobbye Hall Porter
- Bongos, Drums: Eddie "Bongo" Brown
- Drums: Paul HumphreyPaul HumphreyPaul Nelson Humphrey is an American jazz and funk/R+B drummer.He worked as a session drummer in the 1960s for jazz artists such as Wes Montgomery, Les McCann, Kai Winding, Charles Mingus, Lee Konitz, Blue Mitchell and Gene Ammons.As a bandleader, he recorded under the name Paul Humphrey and the...
, Uriel JonesUriel JonesUriel Jones was an African-American musician. Jones was a recording session drummer for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s.... - Engineer: William McKeekin, Art Stewart, Steve Smith, Lawrence Miles, Cal Harris
- Guitar: David T. WalkerDavid T. WalkerDavid T. Walker is an American guitarist born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued over twelve albums in his own name.-Career:...
, Eddie WillisEddie WillisEddie "Chank" Willis is an African-American musician. Willis played electric guitar and occasional electric sitar for Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s....
, Lewis Shelton, Melvin Ragin, Robert WhiteRobert WhiteRobert White may refer to:* Robert White , English draughtsman and portrait engraver* Robert White , Motown session guitarist* Robert J... - Percussion (Mallettes): Emil RichardsEmil RichardsEmil Richards, born Emilio Joseph Radocchia on September 2, 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut, is a percussionist who plays a variety of different percussion instruments.-Biography:...
- Percussion (Special Treatment): Bobbye Hall Porter, Ernie WattsErnie WattsErnest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
, Plas JohnsonPlas JohnsonPlas John Johnson Jr. is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most familiar as the lead on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme".... - Piano: Joe SampleJoe SampleJoseph Leslie "Joe" Sample is an American pianist, keyboard player and composer.He is one of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders, the band which became simply The Crusaders in 1971, and remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 .- Biography :Sample began playing the piano...
, Marvin GayeMarvin GayeMarvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Marvin Jerkins - Photography: Jim Britt, Motown Archives
- Production, Lead vocals, Background vocals: Marvin Gaye, except where noted:
- Background vocals: The OriginalsThe OriginalsThe Originals were a successful Motown R&B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits "Baby I'm For Real", "The Bells" and the disco classic, "Down to Love Town"...
("Just to Keep You SatisfiedJust to Keep You Satisfied"Just to Keep You Satisfied" is a song by soul singer Marvin Gaye. The song was the b-side to Marvin's modest 1974 hit, "You Sure Love to Ball" and was the eighth and final song issued on the singer's 1973 album, Let's Get It On.-Background:...
") - Co-production: Ed TownsendEd TownsendEdward Benjamin 'Ed' Townsend was an American attorney, songwriter, and producer. He was best known for performing his composition, "For Your Love," a rhythm and blues doo wop classic, and as the co-writer of "Let's Get It On" with Marvin Gaye.-Biography:Although he was born in Fayetteville,...
(tracks: A1 to A4)
- Background vocals: The Originals
- Vibraphone: Emil RichardsEmil RichardsEmil Richards, born Emilio Joseph Radocchia on September 2, 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut, is a percussionist who plays a variety of different percussion instruments.-Biography:...
, Victor FeldmanVictor FeldmanVictor Stanley Feldman was a British jazz musician, best known as a pianist.-Early history:...
Charts
| Chart (1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top LPs Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| US Billboard Soul LPs Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
| US Billboard Top 200 | 127 |
Accolades
The information regarding accolades attributed to Let's Get It On is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Shapiro | U.S. | The Top 100 Rock Compact Discs | 1991 | * | ||
| Blender Blender (magazine) Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities.... |
U.S. | The 100 Greatest American Albums of All time | 2002 | 15 | ||
| Dave Marsh Dave Marsh Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on... & Kevin Stein |
U.S. | The 40 Best of Album Chartmakers by Year | 1981 | 6 | ||
| Elvis Costello Elvis Costello Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader... (Vanity Fair Vanity Fair (magazine) Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935... , Issue No. 483) |
U.S. | 500 Albums You Need | 2005 | * | ||
| Infoplease.com | U.S. | Must-Have Recordings | 1998 | * | ||
| Jimmy Guterman | U.S. | The 100 Best Rock and Roll Records of All Time | 1992 | 27 | ||
| Kitsap Sun Kitsap Sun The Kitsap Sun is a newspaper in Bremerton, Washington, that covers general news. It serves the West Sound, covering Kitsap, Jefferson and Mason counties, has a circulation of about 30,000 and reaches over 100,000 adult readers seven days a week.... |
U.S. | Top 200 Albums of the Last 40 Years | 2005 | 67 | ||
| Paul Gambaccini Paul Gambaccini Paul Matthew Gambaccini is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom... |
U.S. | The World Critics Best Albums of All Time | 1987 | 84 | ||
| The Recording Academy | U.S. | Grammy Hall of Fame Albums and Songs | 2004 | * | ||
| Robert Dimery | U.S. | 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd... |
2005 | * | ||
| Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... (Steve Pond) |
U.S. | Steve Pond's 50 (+27) Essential Albums of the 70s | 1990 | 39 | ||
| Rolling Stone | U.S. | The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:... |
2003 | 165 | ||
| Vibe | U.S. | 51 Albums representing a Generation, a Sound and a Movement | 2004 | * | ||
| Hot Press | Ireland | The 100 Best Albums of All Time | 1989 | 32 | ||
| Mojo Mojo (magazine) MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music... |
United Kingdom | Mojo 1000, the Ultimate CD Buyers Guide | 2001 | * | ||
| New Musical Express | U.K. | All Times Top 100 Albums | 1985 | 46 | ||
| New Musical Express | U.K. | All Times Top 100 Albums + Top 50 by Decade | 1993 | 145 | ||
| The New Nation | U.K. | Top 100 Albums by Black Artists | 2005 | 27 | ||
| Sounds Sounds (magazine) Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company... |
U.K. | The 100 Best Albums of All Time | 1986 | 24 | ||
| The Times The Times The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... |
U.K. | The 100 Best Albums of All Time | 1993 | 58 | ||
| Time Out | U.K. | The 100 Best Albums of All Time | 1989 | 3 | ||
| The Wire The Wire (magazine) The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music... |
U.K. | The 100 Most Important Records Ever Made | 1992 | * | ||
| Adresseavisen Adresseavisen Adresseavisen is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. It is an independent, conservative newspaper with a daily circulation of approximately 85,000. It is also informally known as Adressa. The newspaper covers the areas of Trøndelag and Nordmøre.Adresseavisen... |
Norway | The 100 (+23) Best Albums of All Time | 1995 | 101 | ||
| Pop | Sweden | The World's 100 Best Albums + 300 Complements | 1994 | 101 | ||
| OOR | Netherlands | Albums of the Year | 1973 | 41 | ||
| VPRO VPRO The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current... |
Netherlands | 299 Nominations of the Best Album of All Time | 2006 | * | ||
| Spex Spex (magazine) Spex is a prominent German rock and pop culture magazine located in Berlin, Germany. Besides music news, Spex also covers literature, cinema, fashion and contemporary social trends... |
Germany | The 100 Albums of the Century | 1999 | 93 | ||
| Rock de Lux | Spain | The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s | 1988 | 39 | ||
| Rock de Lux | Spain | The 200 Best Albums of All Time | 2002 | 53 | ||
| (*) designates lists that are unordered. | ||||||
External links
- Let's Get It On at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- [ Let's Get It On (Deluxe Edition)] at Allmusic