Thursday, February 7, 2008

Great moments in Funk History II

Marvin Gaye was married to Anna Gordy, who was seventeen years his senior and just so happened to be Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, but let's just say that things didn't work out. Apparently Marvin was getting his sexual healing on with a younger woman and Anna filed for divorce. Although Marvin had made quite a bit of money by this time, he had been a stubborn kind of fellow when it came to paying taxes and was deep in debt. So, as part of the settlement, the judge decreed that Anna would get half the profits to Marvin's next album. Thus was born Here My Dear.


At first Marvin was going to go in the studio and mail it in, but once he started working on the project, he couldn't help himself. Although the album was universally panned by critics and fans, Here My Dear is a hidden Funk gem. With jams like "A Funky Space Reincarnation" (which features the classic line "Let's razzmatazz and all that jazz...Let's touch each other--let's touch each other's ass) and "Anger," you're missing out on some cold Funk if you don't have this album.

--Abdel

No comments:

Post a Comment