“You See, War Is Not the Answer”

It was 40 years ago today that musician Marvin Gaye’s Motown album What’s Goin’ On was released. The title song became a crossover hit, and remains one of the most recognizable soul works from that era. I remember it fondly from parties held by the production crew at Willamette Week, the newspaper that gave me my first real-world job.

To commemorate this occasion, I am embedding below an excerpt from the DVD release of Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981, which features some of Gaye’s best-remembered live performances on television and film. Music producer Motown/UMe is celebrating in its own way. Later this month, it will release a “super-deluxe,” 40th-anniversary CD/LP edition of Gaye’s album that’s supposed to include “14 unreleased tracks, copious rarities, all  complemented by an oversized booklet with two essays and rare photos from the original cover shoot.” That may be something worth investing in.