Here, My Dear Reviews

Marvin Gaye is known for three distinct phases of his career: the Motown matinee idol, the socially conscious soul singer, the erotically charged crooner of the later years. So, where does Here, My Dear fit in into this timetable? No where in particular. It’s an often bizarre, exceedingly dark record that puts every contradictory emotion about divorce on tape. This isn’t a record about divorce; this is the process of divorce on record. While it may not fit in neatly with his career trajectory, Here, My Dear remains a flawed, underrated masterpiece.

A curious piece of documentary-as-album, Here, My Dear had a most troubled birth. During the divorce proceedings, it was decided that the advance and royalties from Gaye’s next album would go to his ex-wife, Motown founder Berry Gordy’s sister, Anna Gordy. The story continues that Gaye, knowing he was going to get no money from the album, was going to produce a quickie album, not his finest effort, it probably would have been a mess and quickly forgotten after its release. But at some point during the recording process the perfectionist, obsessive artist in Gaye took over. From the sarcastic title to the scathing lyrics, this isn’t the swooning charmer of Let’s Get It On, this is Gaye’s darkest and most disturbed album. But because it so wildly veers off the normal path from his other material it continues to endure.

The song titles are exceptionally blunt: “Anna’s Song,” “You Can Leave, But It’s Gonna Cost You,” “Is That Enough,” and, of course, “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You.” Each of these songs is infinitely listenable, filled with laid-back grooves and spaces in which beautiful music is given a chance to experiment in jazz-like compositions. Gaye often works without melody lines, choosing instead to expand the music as far as he could. His voice is broken at times, and no amount of overdubs can hide that fact. But one of the things that so struck me about the album was that his voice carried the emotion, strain and weight of his personal life on record, gone are the pitch-perfect vocals of What’s Going On?. In today’s sad music times his voice would have been given Auto-Tune, and that would have taken away much of the power and mystique of the album.

Here, My Dear has been dubbed “an overlooked masterpiece” by Harry Weinger (who produced the 2008 reissue) – this is not bullshit PR move on their part. These songs are complicated, adult compositions. Much of Motown was geared at youth culture, this is geared at a more adult audience. While his lyrical attacks are often painfully naked and unadorned with clever poetics, that never stops the songs from being moving or listenable. This is not as perfect as What’s Going On? or Let’s Get It On, but this is a flawed masterpiece deserving of being uttered next to those same albums. DOWNLOAD: “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You”