This is one of my favorite albums by Marvin Gaye, which came at a transitional time for him. After recording several pop influenced songs from Motown during the mid 1960s he was interested in changing music, both harmonically, and lyrically. This album opened up several conversations about the social struggles that were happening back then (and are still happening now). It’s also one of the first concept albums in R&B history.

I remember when I first heard the title song, when I was little and didn’t understand the words yet, it was the jazz influence that spoke to me: the alto saxophone improvising in the very beginning of the song. Then one day while I was taking a bus to school, the driver switched the radio station just before it got to the third verse “Mother mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong…” I was a little disappointed, because I was just getting into the vocals, and wanted to ask the driver why, (I thought it sounded beautiful), however, I wasn’t very verbal yet. Then once I checked the song out again, I just enjoyed how simple the lyrics were. That’s also the first time I learned the history about the song, “What’s Going On” from a radio show called The Deep End on Santa Barbara’s KTYD, where I was also introduced to “Inner City Blues,” the last song on the album. Then I wanted to get the album and listen to it from start to finish.

The next five songs are a continuous suite; “What’s Happening Brother,” is written in the perspective of Marvin’s brother Frankie who had just returned from the Vietnam war. “Flying High (In The Friendly Sky)” is about drug addiction, “Save The Children” asks questions about what we’re doing to the young people in the world, “God Is Love” is a spiritual influenced song returning to the main musical rhythms, leading to “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” which focuses on the Earth, and how we don’t really think about what’s happening to all the various oceans, fishes, etc. I especially love the end of the song where the tenor saxophone does his solo, and you hear the main theme before the sound of mellotron voices are heard.

Then we get to the second half of the album, starting with the jazzy influenced “Right On.” I really love the flute playing, along with the orchestration, and vocals. This transitions into the slow gospel influenced “Wholy Holy.”

Then we get to the last song, “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).” The end of the song always brings me to tears, as you hear the familiar “What’s Going On” theme after a reprise of the third verse is performed in a free, non-tempo feel.

As I listened to this album again, I was thinking about how lots of jazz artists are influenced and inspired by Marvin’s music. One of my favorite jazz vocalists, Sarah Vaughan, recorded a big band interpretation of “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).” One of my favorite flute players, Herbie Mann, recorded an instrumental version of “What’s Going On.” Dianne Reeves, who is a contemporary vocalist, recorded “I Want You.” It was Marvin’s vocal delivery, how the vocals had more of an improvised approach, how melodic it was, moving from soft to loud passages, the harmonic explorations, etc. Just like Stevie Wonder’s music, Marvin Gaye opened up lyrical themes, and showed that multiple styles can blend perfectly well with each other.

If you’re not really familiar with the whole album, I would like to encourage you to listen to it from start to finish. It’s a realization that these social problems have been going on for a long time, and I found it to make me feel better about life. Without Marvin or Stevie, or even hip hop, we wouldn’t be exploring these topics.

Anyway, I hope you like it.