Marvin Gaye’s followup to his iconic What’s Goin’ On was a head scratcher for a lot of people. Instead of cashing in on the popularity and going in the same direction, Gaye did a soundtrack for a Blaxploitation film; he composed arranged and produced the music, supplying vocal effects throughout the session and only singing actual lyrics on the title track. The rest of the material on this 2 cd set (witha ton of extra takes and material) has him on keyboards, drums and synthesizers, with strings and piano supplied by Bob Ragland, and reeds by the very funky Trevor Lawrence, you end up with a sort of R&Bish jazz that stands up pretty well against contemporarty material put out by Grover Washington Jr. and the like. This is the jazziest Gaye ever got, as he went totally carnal on the followup Let’s Get It On. Enjoy this stage of Gaye’s career while it lasted.