“ What’s Going On ” by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye was an American singer-songwriter and musician who recorded many memorable songs during the Motown movement of the 1960‘s. Prior to What’s going on, on of his most popular albums, Gaye sang mainly love songs. With albums like “ I Heard it Through the Grapevine ” and “ That’s the Way Love is ” Gaye, positioned him self as on of the most talented and popular RnB singer of his days.
During his days as an artist the Vietnam war was at it worst and from 1959 to 1975 things got very tough in the United States. As Marvin’s younger brother Frankie, was drafted to go to war and survive a three year tour of duty abroad. When he came back he told Marvin much of his war stories. This is when Mavin was hit with the reality that his younger brother had been out there risking his life, and it was then that he got a bigger awareness of what was really going on in the world and felt profound pain towards this cruel reality.
In 1969, Renaldo Obie Benson from The Fourtops, as he wondered why there was so much death and why were there so many young soldiers being sent overseas to kill or to be killed, he got inspired to write : “ What’s Going On “ in collaboration with lyricist Al Cleveland, which he then showed to Gaye the song, and which Gaye propose a deal to Gaye in order to-have him singing the song. Gaye really liked the song and agreed to fine tune the lyrics in-order to make it more visual and more of a love song, rather than a protest song.
While Gaye was well known for his romantic hit songs, Motown did not believe in Marvin’s idea of presenting “ What’s going on” as his single for his new album. Berry Gordy, founder of Motown’s, also believed that by Marvin presenting himself with this type of messages he was going to end up ruining his career. At various times Gordy discussed this with Gaye, but the single was finally released on January of 1971, selling over 100,000 copies this-same day.
Much of the songs in the album where viewed by Gaye as love songs, as these talked about loving each other in-order to stop war, violence, racism, police brutality, poverty, and hatred in-general. Gaye felt passionate about this subjects and strongly believed that his way of combating them was through music and love.
The album What’s Going On was very different from other Motown recordings in many ways. One is because it was an album that did not talk about love the way people were use to hear a bout it. Second, because the albums songs were connected with each other to make it sound as if it was a long speech or a continuos message, and third because it’s instrumentation had not been used before for music with this type of messages. Instruments like percussion, violins, brass, winds and many other orquestral instruments were used to illustrate the message of love that Gaye wanted to evoke at-that time. “ What’s Going On ” is consider an all time masterpiece of because of its superb arrangements, it’s delightful instrumentation, its love, and its profound lyrics.
My Thoughts on “ What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye
As I learned more about the history behind the realization of “ What’s Going On ”, I came to understand why this album has been on of the most talked about albums of all times. Gaye’s ideas were truly revolutionary in a special way, as he always wanted to experiment with his recordings and with the way he presented him self, which not many where able to achieve during those days. Through this album Gaye really presented something that had not been heard before, to begin, all the album songs were connected with each and it all made sense as a whole, arrangements are incredibly tactful and well placed, the message is well written and exquisitely communicated through Marvin Gaye’s vocals. It clear that memorable works of not only created by accident but they required much dedication, many times stubbornness and much help of a team.
I really like the fact that Gaye wanted to explore new territories when he came out with this album. He knew people viewed him as an artist who only sang love songs, but he was not scare to follow his heart and presented this new material. He new when to move forward in his heart, and when to stop, and this is what impacted me the most as I read his story.
The lyrics and message of every song in this album are beautifully presented and harmonized. I have enjoyed greatly listening to every song in this album and admire the quality of work that is exhibited here.
Thanks to pioneers like Marvin Gaye, today we have artists like: Mary J Blide, Beyonce, John Legend, Jordin Sparks, Alicia Keys, among many more, who have continued to present the listeners great quality works that have had an impact on our culture.
” Brian Eno-40 Years of Changing Music “
Brian Eno grew up in the English rural Countryside, as a teenager, his interest for technology, recording, and arts, became the driving force that led him to not only become a great painter, but also a great music and producer. As a teenager, Brian did not know how to play any instruments, but this did not stop him form bringing to life his musical soul, and instead he saw an opportunity to master the art of recording and manipulating sound.
Through Eno’s journey in the field of sound design, his talent quickly started to open doors for him, he performed publicly with; Merchant Taylor’s Simultaneous Cabinet, Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orquestra and Portsmouth Sinfonia. Using various synthesizers and amplifiers to manipulate sound live, he kept building a good name for himself as a creative artist and continued to built on top of what pioneers like Cage, Young And Terry Riley had done, and which had influenced him greatly. Bands like The Who and The Velvet Underground also became some of Eno’s favorites at this time and contributed to much of the ideas that inspired him.
In 1969, Eno relocated to London, where he got in contact with saxophonist Andy MacKay, who he knew since college, and who was the leader of the band Roxy Music. Andy, knew of Eno’s talent as an engineer and asked him to record some demos for his band Roxy Music. What happened next was history, as Eno ended up joining the band as a synth player contributing to the incredible success Roxy Music earn as one of most influential experimental bands and authoritative exponents of Glam Rock of the time.
Eno, is well known for his innovative work as an artist, also for the various contributions as a musician and producer with artist like: U2, David Bowie, Talking heads, Robert Fripp, Coldplay, David Byrne and much more. In his works, he has presented, recorded and written music in ways that no other artists have been able to do. Two characteristics that set him apart from other artists where:
1. His ability to manipulate sound in the studio, where he believe that music was not create but changed.
- His innovative approach to creating music by creating albums with sole sound loops and modified instrument sounds which gave the listener a sense of a never ending blended ambience song.
Two of his most popular works which I want to highlight, and which are mostly form of ambient recordings, are the following:
- Discreet Music: Was Eno’s first purely ambient album, and the first album released under his full name “ Brian Eno”. This album was written after Eno was bed-ridden in a hospital recovering from an automobile accident. He was given an 18th century Harp music record which heard thru a bad speaker which only allowed him to listen to one side of the stereo mix. Music blended perfectly with the ambience of his room that day, so he later explains he learned to create music with a different approach.
- Music for Films: Only 500 copies were release in 1976, making it a limited edition album. Eno used this album to present him self as a music composer for films, the album included an address to which people could write in order to get any synchronization licenses. Eno thought of the music of this album as something that could be used for imaginary films, the idea creating music without an image is what he referred to the idea of the listener creating an imaginary film. There are eighteen pieces on this album and Eno is the only musician for eleven of them.
Compare and Contrast of Two albums
No Pussy footing by Eno and Fripp
This album is incredibly ethereal, long pieces, with sounds of electric guitar, padded synth sounds that repeat, and no percussion instruments used. The first piece sound very natural, it transported me to a Tibetan mountain, It gave me a sense of snow and tranquility in a forest. The second piece, sounds more electrical, with a more aggressive feel and more repetition of synth loops are heard.
Heroes by David Bowie with Eno’s Collaboration
This song is very well organized, it has clear structured in comparison to the songs heard on Pussy footing which seem to be timeless. In the Heroes son I could hear repetitive synth sounds in the back thorough out the entire song. Heroes also has a repetitive feel, the synth has a very spacey sound that makes me the listener have a floating feeling. Definitely two very different works, but the Enos signature is heard clearly in both records as the electronic synth sounds are present.
My Thoughts on Brian Eno’s Work
I got very inspired with Eno’s biography and music. I truly admire the approach he has taken to creating music through-the use of not only instruments but with the use of the recording studio and its many tools as his main instrument. Also I have really enjoyed much of his music, as listened, it really painted images, produced feelings, and transported me to places through-the use of this many voices, textures and effects.
Moreover, his way of thinking is very open, always trying to break the boundaries of his own ideas and that of a musician. His approach to creating something new, is very accurate an right, as Eno share in his video how he always stands in a different place to commence another new trip that will end up in a new musical master piece.
It is also very admirable that although he was not a musician when he started, he made made the best of what he had and worked his way up un to becoming a musician. This made me think about the many times that we get limits in our mind when we believe that because we do not have something or we do not know something we will not be able to achieve the best results.
Finally, by watching and listening to much of Eno’s music and ideas, I realized how important it is to always be aware of our mind’s ways of thinking in order to break patterns and discover new horizons that will lead us to create memorable recordings and better art in general.
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