After a series of business and personal upheavals as well as a couple of artistically satisfying but commercially disappointing albums,
Marvin Gaye scored a final triumph with
Midnight Love on which he embraced dancefloor rhythms derived from
Rick James, horn charts that echoed
Earth, Wind & Fire, and the kind of loverman lyrics he himself had pioneered on earlier hits such as "Let's Get It On." The breakthrough track was his last major hit, "Sexual Healing," a relaxed groove tune with burbling percussion, doo wop backup vocals, and a new twist on the old romantic come-on. But the album as a whole made
Gaye's case as a contemporary R&B artist. Then he was gone. This reissue compilation contains the entire
Midnight Love album on the first disc, followed by a full 74-minute disc of previously unreleased work tapes and alternate takes of most of the album's songs, among them four versions of "Sexual Healing." Since
Gaye developed the tracks himself, playing keyboards and percussion, the alternates illuminate his creative process, but they contain no real revelations and will be of interest primarily to
Gaye fans and hip-hop musicians searching for samples. Everybody else can stick with the original album. ~ William Ruhlmann