The Ballads Of Marvin Gaye by Andrew Flory

[mysterysinger]

I found this quite interesting - lengthy but worth ploughing through. Not sure how much I actually learnt though.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/236346607.pdf

[woodward]

What a fabulous presentation. As most forum members know, Andy Flory, wrote an excellent book I Hear a Symphony which covered all Motown - not just Marvin Gaye.

My initial reaction when I saw the title, The Ballads, was how ironic. In 1990, Motown issued a 4 CD/4 Cassette collection entitled The Marvin Gaye Collection. There were four segments of it: Volume 1, 20 Top 20's; Volume 2, The Duets; Volume 3 Rare, Live, and Unreleased; and Volume 4 The Balladeer. I wonder if these are other similar essays for the other three mentioned here? In addition, the book that came with the set included a lot of previously unpublished pictures of Marvin's past including with the Moonglows. Thank you mysterysinger for locating this great article.

[lefty]

I appreciate the plug on this forum. [[I'm the author!)

To answer Woodward's question: No, there are not similar essays based on the MG Collection. The title similarity was not significant for that reason. But that is a good idea!

As an academic, I always need to skirt a fine line between people in my field of musicology getting something out of a piece of writing and the super-knowledgable fans of Motown who frequent this [[and other) sites for high level conversation about music and releases. It is not always easy. I guarantee, for example, that not a single musicologist would get the connection between the title of this article and the 1990 box set. I do, of course, because I have all of the releases on my shelf like many of you! More than anything, I enjoy doing deep historical research on things that are not known by the record-buying public, even including many of the forum members here. Trust me that going through MPG master tapes and listening to his different versions of ballads is pretty amazing, even if you don't like this style of his records or are sick of reading one more thing about Marvin. The man could sing, and wholly invent things while standing in front of the microphone that most "composers" could only dream of writing.

I have a detailed book in process about MPG in the 1960s that covers all of his recording, performance, television, production, writing, and so on. Rare photos, a big list of dates at the end, etc. Because it is an academic press, it will take a while to be released, but I am hoping for a date sometime in 2027. I hope that many of the people on this forum will find it interesting. You are some of the only people who will really *get* it.

Lefty [[aka Andy Flory)

[Roger Polhill]

Looking forward to it Lefty, it sounds like a must have for us Marvin fans.

[mysterysinger]

I appreciate the plug on this forum. [[I'm the author!)

Lefty [[aka Andy Flory)

Oddly I was also Lefty when I was doing my Roy Orbison tribute show and sang any Wilbury's song. Lefty Wilbury.