1974 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.
In 1973, Gaye released his greatest-selling album, Let’s Get It On, which made him the biggest-selling Motown artist during his lifetime. Motown Records, Gaye’s label for over a decade, had long wanted Gaye to promote his recordings with a national tour but the rebellious singer, who had begun suffering from stage fright after the collapse of his beloved singing duet partner Tammi Terrell in October 1967 and whom later died of a brain tumor two and a half years later in March 1970, had refused to return to live performing only agreeing to do it only at sporadic times including when he was honored in his hometown in Washington, D.C. in May 1972 and performed at the Kennedy Center and briefly on the 1973 film, Save the Children. But with the success of Let’s Get It On and Gaye’s now-increasing spending habit, he reluctantly agreed to start touring again in the beginning of 1974. After rescheduling the concert for January 4, 1974 at the Oakland Coliseum, Gaye took the stage in front of 14,000-plus screaming fans. He performed a new song which he dedicated to his girlfriend Janis Hunter titled “Jan” and performed most of his 1970s repertoire, only including his 1960s classics in a sped-up “Fossil Medley”. Throughout his tours, Gaye began developing performance anxiety and had feared the public wouldn’t accept him onstage. To test the public, he reportedly forced his younger brother Frankie to come out before being confident enough to come out afterwards. The biggest fan response on the album came when Gaye retooled his song, “Distant Lover”, into a slower-paced version starting the song out as he segued from “Theme from Trouble Man” (seventh track from his Trouble Man album) to the song itself producing female shrieks, which kept up as Gaye continued his show-stopping performance of the song. The performance soon became a Gaye trademark onstage and the singer continued to perform the song in that similar style until his final performances in the 1980s.
Tracks
1 Introduction 0:34
2 Overture 2:24
3 Trouble Man (Marvin Gaye) 6:36
4 Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky) – Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (Anna Gaye, Elgie Stover, Marvin Gaye) 4:28
5 Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (James Nyx, Marvin Gaye) 3:55
6 Distance Lover (Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Marvin Gaye, Sandra Greene) 6:15
7 Jan (Marvin Gaye) 2:56
8 Keep Gettin’ It On (Ed Townsend, Marvin Gaye) 3:07
9 Fossil Medley 11:36
9a I’ll Be Doggone (Marvin Tarplin, Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore)
9b Try It Baby (Berry Gordy)
9c Can I Get A Witness (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland)
9d You’re A Wonderful One (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland)
9e Stubborn Kind Of Fellow (George Gordy, Marvin Gaye, Mickey Stevenson)
9f How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland)
10 Thanks To The Orchestra 0:55
11 Let’s Get It On (Ed Townsend, Marvin Gaye) 4:43
12 What’s Going On (Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson) 4:49
Biography
Musicians
Bass | James Jamerson |
Drums | Ed Greene |
Guitar | Ray Parker Jr |
Guitar | David T. Walker |
Keyboards | Joe Sample |
Sax | Ernie Watts |
Sax | William Green |
Trombone | George Bohanon |
Trumpet | Paul Hubinon |
Violin | Jack Shulman |
Violin | James Getzoff |
Background Vocals | Charles Burns |
Congas | John Clayton |
Percussion | John Arnold |
Background Vocals | Dwight Owens |
Background Vocals | Eric Dolen |
Background Vocals | Michael Torrance |
Background Vocals | Wally Cox |
Vocals | Marvin Gaye |
Liner Notes
Conductor – Gene Page (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12)
Conductor – Leslie Drayton (Track 9)
Engineer – Bill Schnee, Cal Harris
Mixed By – Marvin Gaye
Recording Supervisor – Gene Page
Design – Desmond Strobel, Terry Squire
Photography – Jim Britt
Designed At AGI
Mixed At Motown Recording Studios
Recorded At Oakland Coliseum Arena
Recorded At Wally Heider Recording
Phonographic Copyright Motown Record Corporation
Copyright Motown Record Corporation