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Rating:  -
If you love sixties soul music, you love Marvin Gaye: handsome, with an exquisite voice and feel for a song. But the vast majority of these clips are more for sentimental value than exemplars of his genius. Obviously, watching MG lip-synch is of limited appeal, made none the more enticing because of the mediocre video quality. And some of the live performances are simply frustrating. He performs Heard It Through the Grapevine without back up singers or musicians so he can't perform much of the song. (Although it is hilarious watching him perform in front of a crowd of old white folk who sit and watch as if they are listening to a lecture on cleaning products. How those people were able to avoid moving to the music at least a little bit . . . well, it's quite disturbing.)
Thinking about all of the great performers from the sixties like Marvin, Sam Cooke or Jackie Wilson for who there is so little quality performance footage is heartbreaking. If you'd like a scrapbook to prompt thoughts of the magic that Marvin offered, this dvd is fine. But don't expect to see something resembling the "live" Marvin experience.
Rating:  -
Great rare performance and interviews footage. It is comical seeing the white Go-Go girls dancing around Marvin Gaye for his early 60s TV work. It was awful how Black artists had to be subjected to that foolishness inorder to be more platable to the mainstream audience. Mr. Gaye came into
his own with his classic "What's Going On" LP. He seems much more comfortable with live musicians backing him before an all Black audience. The Dinah Shore talk show footage is something to see. Such a time capsule.
Rating: -
Thoroughly enjoyed the dvd! especially his performance of one my favorite early hits, "Pretty Little Baby".
Rating: -
I purchased this DVD as a Christmas gift for my nephew, who worships Marvin Gaye. It arrived in two days, as promised, and my nephew was thrilled with the gift.
Rating: -
This truly is a well done effort, capturing as it does the development of an American musical icon. From earliest lyp-synched, black and white TV appearances to later color and then color live performances (a great 'Heard It Through the Grapevine' from 1969, and fantastic, chilling 'What's Going On/What's Happening Brother' from the 'Save the Children' film footage of 1972), through disco-influenced mid-70's live and promotional footage, this really does a legend justice. The decision to use the original master tape recordings to replace the early TV performance recordings is a great idea, working very well. This collection of film materials is also a fascinating look at changes in the popular culture of the USA, what with the gradual de-segregation of audiences, and thematic changes in Gaye's lyrics and music, and more. Short interviews from various TV shows like 'Dinah Shore' are sandwiched between several of the performances, and are interesting and enjoyable. A bonus feature is all the songs' vocal tracks, available to hear a capella, as you watch the videos. You can also apparently switch to full band as an option, although my home equipment doesn't permit this.
I live in Southeast Asia, and my edition, available from the mega-corporate music monster Universal company, says '25 full-length performances' on the cover, rather than the 16 of the US edition. The extra nine songs are the live 1981 Ostende, Belgium concert, featured as an extra on the same disc as the other 16 performances of my 'international' (for lack of another term) edition.
My 'international' edition also features a second disc, a CD of an excellent live show in Europe in 1976 (also in Belgium, apparently), and which features "Flo" (Florence Ballard?) joining MG for a medley of songs toward the end of the live set.
Why does the US edition have fewer songs? Probably so that customers in a supposedly 'wealthier country' shell out the extra money for a separate DVD, I imagine.
Anyway, do yourself and future generations a big favor by getting the US or foreign editions of this DVD document of great, inspired performances by one of the outstanding talents of American popular music.
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