Here, My Dear

Infobox Album
Name = Here, My Dear
Type = studio
Longtype =
Artist = Marvin Gaye


Released = December 15, 1978
Recorded = 1976–1977
Marvin's Room
(Hollywood, California)
Genre = Soul, funk, disco
Length = 72:56
Label = Tamla
T-364LP2
Producer = Marvin Gaye
Ed Townsend
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:xye997r7kr5t link]
*"Blender" Rating|4|5 [http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=4951 link]
*Robert Christgau (B+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Marvin+Gaye link]
*"The Guardian" Rating|4|5 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/feb/08/urban.shopping link]
*"Mojo" Rating|4|5 [http://www.tower.com/details/details.cfm?wapi=106279422 link]
*PopMatters Rating|9|10 [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/56427/marvin-gaye-here-my-dear/ link]
*"Q" Rating|4|5 [http://www.tower.com/details/details.cfm?wapi=106279422 link]
*"Rolling Stone" (favorable) [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6627018/462_here_my_dear link]
*"Uncut" rating|5|5 [http://www.tower.com/details/details.cfm?wapi=106279422 link]
*"VIBE" (favorable) [http://www.vibe.com/music/revolutions/2008/04/marvin_gaye_here_my_dear/ link]
Last album = "Live at the London Palladium"
(1977)
This album = "Here, My Dear"
(1978)
Next album = "In Our Lifetime"
(1981)

"Here, My Dear" is a studio double album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released December 15, 1978 on Tamla Records. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0ifixqu5ld6e~T0 allmusic - Here, My Dear overview] ] Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room in Hollywood, California from 1976 to 1977. A deeply personal and controversial album, "Here, My Dear" was notable for autobiographing Gaye's ill-fated first marriage to Anna Gordy. "Here, My Dear" was initially a commercial failure, while receiving some critical favor from music writers. However, critical recognition of the album has improved significantly following further examinations by critics and compact disc-reissues. RS500|462 [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6627018/462_here_my_dear RS 500 Albums - 462) Here, My Dear] ]

Conception

Quote box|width=270px|align=left|quote=Soul music doesn't get any deep, darker,
or more personal than this.
source=–David Ritz, liner note essay, 2008 [David Ritz (2008), p. 4.]

By 1976, the relationship between Marvin Gaye and his first wife, Anna Gordy, had become estranged and was far from being repaired. Marvin, who was now carrying on an open relationship with singer Janis Hunter, and Anna often accused each other of infidelity over the years before his relationship with Hunter. Shortly after Marvin and Janis welcomed the second of their two children, Frankie, in November 1975, Anna filed for divorce. At this time, Marvin was running low on money because of an extravagant spending habit to support his lifestyle which included, among other things, a fleet of cars, several homes in and outside the country, and an increasing cocaine habit. Marvin's spending habits had made it impossible for the singer to pay Anna money for alimony and child support for the couple's only son, Marvin III. Marvin's attorney Curtis Shaw came up with a solution to Marvin to give Anna half the royalties he would earn from his next project to Anna. After agreeing to the deal, the singer went into his recording studio in an effort to give Motown a "lazy, bad" album starting sessions in the spring of 1976. However, as Marvin set on making the "lazy" album, the singer's deep emotions and bittersweet feelings for his soon-to-be former wife took over the music.

Songs included in the album didn't just deal with the singer's troubling marriage ("I Met a Little Girl", "Anna's Song", "You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You") but with other deep issues including anger management ("Anger"), Jesus ("Everybody Needs Love", "Time to Get It Together"), solace ("Sparrow"), space (the loosely funky "A Funky Space Reincarnation") and new love ("Falling In Love", the one song dedicated to Marvin's new wife, Janis). An Allmusic.com reviewer later wrote of the music:

The project was worked on for a year and was initially held back by Marvin, fearing that the project was too personal to be released. However, because of Motown's demands for Marvin to put out an album, as he had often delayed releases and it had been over two years since his last record, the sensually erotic "I Want You", the singer decided to put out the album as promised in December of 1978.

Reception

When "Here, My Dear" was released in the end of 1978, it was panned by consumers and critics alike, who called the album "bizarre" and "un-commercial". The album's lack of success angered Gaye to the point that he refused to promote it any further. Motown stopped promoting "Here, My Dear" in early 1979, by which point Gaye had gone in to self-imposed exile. Ironically, around the same time, Marvin's relationship with second wife Janis had also fallen apart and the couple separated sometime in 1979. Upon hearing the album, a visibly upset Anna Gordy had the option of suing Marvin for invasion of privacy but according to "People" magazine later on, she recanted that decision. In 1994, the album was re-released due to increased attention on Marvin's life to commemorate the singer's tenth anniversary since his untimely death, and reached number-one on Billboard's R&B catalog chart. The original album peaked at number four R&B and number twenty-six pop becoming the lowest-charted studio album for Gaye in the 1970s. Initial response to the album was mixed, as most critics described it as weird. However, Gaye's lyrical honesty over the laid back disco grooves of "Here, My Dear" was praised by many. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote of the album:

The album was re-evaluated in the years following its original release, and is today seen as a landmark in Gaye's career. It is voted as one of the greatest albums in music history including Mojo Magazine (1995) and Rolling Stone magazine's critics poll (500 Greatest Albums of All-Time) (2003), among others. This reassessment was influenced by the album's subsequent re-release. On February 15, 2008, Hip-O Select reissued "Here, My Dear" as a two-disc "Expanded Edition" including a song cut from the original album, "Ain't It Funny How Things Turn Around", which was remixed by funk legend Bootsy Collins. Disc two featured remastered and alternate versions of the songs from the album remixed by contemporary soul producers such as Salaam Remi, ?uestlove, Prince Paul, DJ Smash and others.

Track listing

All songs written by Marvin Gaye except where noted.

ide one

#"Here, My Dear" – 2:48
#"I Met a Little Girl" – 5:03
#"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You" – 6:17
#"Anger" (Delta Ashby, Gaye) – 4:04

ide two

#"Is That Enough" – 7:47
#"Everybody Needs Love" (Ed Townsend, Gaye) – 5:48
#"Time to Get It Together" – 3:55

ide three

#"Sparrow" (Ed Townsend, Gaye) – 6:12
#"Anna's Song" – 5:56
#"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You (Instrumental)" – 6:03

ide four

#"A Funky Space Reincarnation" – 8:18
#"You Can Leave, But It's Going to Cost You" – 5:32
#"Falling in Love Again" – 4:39
#"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You (Reprise)" – 0:47

Charts

Album

ingles

Personnel

*Marvin Gaye - vocals, synthesizer, drums
*Charles Owen - tenor saxophone
*Wally Ali - guitar
*Gordon Banks - guitar
*Frank Blair - bass
*Elmira Collins - percussion
*Ernie Fields Jr. - alto saxophone
*Fernando Harkness - tenor saxophone
*Gary Jones - percussion
*Nolan Andrew Smith - trumpet
*Bugsy Wilcox - drums
*David Ritz - liner notes
*Michael Bryant - illustrations

Notes

References

*cite book| title = Here, My Dear album liner notes by David Ritz & Harry Weinger | year = 2008 | publisher = UMG Recordings, Inc.