M.P.G.

Infobox Album | Name = M.P.G.
Type = Album
Artist = Marvin Gaye


Released = April 30, 1969
Recorded = 1968-1969
Genre = Soul/Psychedelic soul/R&B
Length = 36:26
Label = Tamla
Producer = Norman Whitfield
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:q2j97iojg7dr link]
*"Rolling Stone" (favorable) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/marvingaye/albums/album/158344/review/5946028/mpg link]
Last album = "Marvin Gaye and His Girls"
(1969)
This album = "M.P.G."
(1969)
Next album = "Easy" (with Tammi Terrell)
(1969) |

"M.P.G." is a 1969 album by Marvin Gaye for the Tamla (Motown) label, his best-selling album of the 1960s. 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's title is derived from Gaye's own initials (Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.)

The songs showcased Gaye's vocal and musical growth, as he headed into a crossroads in his music career. The album featured three top 40 hits as well as Norman Whitfield 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" which was the longest-running No. 1 hit on the R&B charts in 1969 and a No. 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". "That's the Way Love Is" would also be included on Gaye's next solo album, also titled "That's the Way Love Is", which was the final LP from the pre-"What's Going On" period of his career.

Track listing

#"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (Janie Bradford, Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong)
#"This Magic Moment" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman)
#"That's The Way Love Is" (Strong, Whitfield)
#"The End of Our Road" (Roger Penzabene, Strong, Whitfield)
#"Seek And You Shall Find" (Ivy Hunter, William "Mickey" Stevenson)
#"Memories" (Lawrence Brown, Gaye, Anna Gordy, Allen Story)
#"Only a Lonely Man Would Know" (Hunter, Beatrice Verdi)
#"It's a Bitter Pill to Swallow" (Warren Moore, Smokey Robinson)
#"More than a Heart Can Stand" (Hunter, Stevenson)
#"Try My True Love" (Henry Cosby, James Dean, Stevie Wonder)
#"I Got to Get to California" (Shena DeMell, Hunter)
#"It Don't Take Much to Keep Me" (Holland-Dozier-Holland)

Credits

*Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
*Background vocals by The Andantes: Marlene Barrow, Jackie Hicks and Louvain Demps
*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers