Originally Posted by
RanRan79
Marvin is without question my absolute favorite male vocalist of all time. I may have to have a debate with myself about who would fall in line from numbers 2 thru one million, but never for number one. So my answer to the question of which Marvin is my favorite would have to be: BOTH. I can't make a distinction. Surely Marvin's personal growth as an all around artist was front and center with the release of What's Going On and the albums after it, but vocally he was still who he had always been. He always found the right mark, going hard when the song called for it, or smoothing it out. Sometimes he went hard and smooth in the same song. Marvin was a vocal beast. The ability he possessed in his vocal chords attack me in a way that no other male singer has been able to do. I love the doowopish stuff, the MOR stuff, the classic Motown, the artistic Marvin of the 70s, and the experimental Marvin of the 80s, although I will admit that some of his experiments fall flat for me. "Sexual Healing" is as good as anything he ever did, IMO. "Night Life" kills me. He even makes the corny "Abraham, Martin and John" sound great! The entire WGO, LGIO, IWY and HMD are album masterpieces. But for me it's always just Marvin, no distinctions. I love Marvin Gaye...period.
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