After all of the experimental weirdness of late, I think we can rely on Marvin Gaye to give us something straightforward. Which, he kind of does. But not entirely.
Yes, the music is some soul and funk that doesn’t do anything too unexpected, but at the same time does it well enough for the tracks to be pleasing to the ear. But lyrically, this is an album made on the back of Gaye’s divorce from his wife Anna, and the songs run the gamut of emotions that such an experience evokes – anger, sadness, confusion, that mix of bitterness mixed with nostalgia for what once was.
This is summed up in the track When Did I Stop Loving You, When Did You Stop Loving Me, which is a lengthy confessional without a traditional song structure; so much so that it gets repeated in an alternative version, plus a shorter version to close the album. Gaye rails against having to pay alimony, about having their private life dragged out in courts, but the track Anger, with its lyric that “Anger will make you old” seems as much a warning to himself not to let himself give into his darker emotions over the matter. He even waxes lyrical about his ex-wife in the track Anna’s Song.
The title of the album, Here, My Dear, can be read many ways – as an offering to Anna to put his side across, perhaps, but also a somewhat testy handing over of the royalties as alimony pay-off. The album closes with Falling In Love Again, which serves as both a happy ending to the sadness of the album, but also a not-so-subtle “up yours” to his ex.
Not all songs on here are directly related to the divorce. Sparrow is a jazzy number that is slightly reminiscent of Marley’s Three Little Birds in subject matter, albeit more wistful in tone. A Funky Space Reincarnation (although it features an alternative-universe Anna) is more like a P-Funk track, Time To Get It Together is another note-to-self from Gaye about trying to break the bad habits of his life.
This didn’t do very well on first release, but I found it to be a lot more interesting that his earlier lovey-dovey stuff. Perhaps there is some wisdom that growth only comes through pain, this certainly feels like a more mature and less jejune work. Despite the subject, it’s not a double album of relentless misery; I didn’t even get Side Three Blues but perhaps that’s in part because it’s relatively short on each side. The contrasting mix of emotions instead makes for an interesting palette.
Comments
Post a Comment