“I know a man ain’t supposed to cry, but these tears I can’t hold inside…”
I was literally just having a conversation with my dear good friend Alia a few days ago about Marvin Gaye’s highly-underrated fifteenth studio album, Here, My Dear. While I have nothing but high praises for What’s Going On, the Trouble Man soundtrack, Let’s Get It On and I Want You, it is the former that is the object of my approbation.
I’m slightly conflicted, as my loyalties tend to shift week-to-week between What’s Going On and Here, My Dear. They are both superbly amazing and perfect records — and distinctly different in their own right, but there’s something that is naturally irresistible about the sound of Here, My Dear that makes it difficult to choose between the two. Perhaps it’s me subconsciously acknowledging that the latter was released during a time when disco dominated the radio airwaves, yet the ambience of the album completely shoved any cliché trends to the wayside.
But I digress. On what would have been his 77th born day, Counterweight Records’ DJ Devastate and Segerfalk pay tribute to The Prince of Soul with a reimagining of “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” originally penned by Motown Records’ Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Listen to the song, which also features emcees Chapee and Joe Lefty below.
Below are two favorites off Here, My Dear — “Is That Enough” and “A Funky Space Reincarnation.”
