M.P.G.

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
M.P.G.
File:Marvin-mpg.jpg
Studio album by Marvin Gaye
Released April 30, 1969
Recorded 1966-1968, Hitsville USA
Genre Soul, psychedelic soul, R&B
Length 36:15
Label Tamla
TS-292
Producer Norman Whitfield
Marvin Gaye chronology
Marvin Gaye and His Girls
(1969)Marvin Gaye and His Girls1969		 M.P.G.
(1969)		 Easy (with Tammi Terrell)
(1969)String Module Error: Match not found1969
Singles from M.P.G.
  1. "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"
    Released: April 1969
  2. "That's the Way Love Is"
    Released: August 7, 1969
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Rolling Stone (favorable) [1]

M.P.G. is the ninth studio album by Marvin Gaye, released in 1969 for the Tamla label. His best-selling album of the 1960s, it became Gaye's first solo album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, peaking at #33, and also became his first #1 album on the Soul Albums Chart.[2] Three top 40 hits were released from the album. The title matches the initials of Gaye's full name, Marvin Pentz Gay.

Production

Norman Whitfield provided the compositions "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (originally recorded by labelmates The Temptations), "That's The Way Love Is" (originally recorded by The Isley Brothers) and a cover of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "The End of Our Road". The singles "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", the longest-running #1 hit on the R&B charts in 1969 and a #4 Pop hit, and "That's The Way Love Is" (#2 and #7 on the soul and pop charts, respectively) became consecutive million-sellers. These records were among Whitfield's many psychedelic soul productions of the time, and recalled the arrangement of Gaye's #1 hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".

Release and reception

Released on April 30, 1969, the album became Gaye's first solo album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, peaking at #33, and also became his first #1 album on the Soul Albums Chart.

The album was moderately received on release, and remains overlooked, though Ron Wynn in a retrospective review for AllMusic, felt the album contains "some outstanding songs".[3] In a contemporary review (23 August 1969), Jack Egan in Rolling Stone felt that Gaye did not "aim for spectacular effects", but that the album "treats the listener to the same infectious music and subtly varied singing" of Gaye's previous successful singles.[4]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby"   Janie Bradford, Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong 2:56
2. "This Magic Moment"   Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman 2:44
3. "That's the Way Love Is"   Strong, Whitfield 3:35
4. "The End of Our Road"   Rodger Penzabene, Strong, Whitfield 2:47
5. "Seek and You Shall Find"   Ivy Jo Hunter, William "Mickey" Stevenson 3:40
6. "Memories"   Lawrence Brown, Gaye, Anna Gordy, Allen Story 2:47
7. "Only a Lonely Man Would Know"   Hunter, Beatrice Verdi 3:02
8. "It's a Bitter Pill to Swallow"   Warren Moore, Smokey Robinson 3:15
9. "More Than a Heart Can Stand"   Hunter, Stevenson 2:57
10. "Try My True Love"   Henry Cosby, James Dean, Stevie Wonder 3:00
11. "I Got to Get to California"   Shena DeMell, Hunter 2:53
12. "It Don't Take Much to Keep Me"   Holland-Dozier-Holland 2:39

Credits

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />
  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=M.P.G.&oldid=712779773"