R&B giant Marvin Gaye's influence on popular music is omnipresent. His jazzy arrangements, sensuous songs, and searing vocals have moved contemporary hitmakers like D'angelo, Maxwell, and Christian to recreate this Motown legend's soul-stirring style. But despite the trove of classic R&B hits that Marvin Gaye left the world -- ""I'll Be Doggone,"" ""Stubborn Kind Of Fellow,"" the politically charged ""What's Going On,"" and the smoldering sex anthems, ""Let's Get It On"" and ""Sexual Healing"" -- he wasn't completely happy with his career. He longed to be a well-known balladeer on par with the nation's best-loved crooners like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, or Tony Bennett. With the release of The Vulnerable Sessions, Marvin may get the chance to fulfill in death what time and circumstance denied him in life.
Long believed to be lost, The Vulnerable Sessions offers Marvin Gaye fans a rare opportunity to hear the singer at his most sensitive. Indeed, the emotional intensity that oozes from these ten songs (seven tracks, with three alternate takes) is almost heavenly. It is awe-inspiring to hear Gaye take standard ballads, such as Johnny Mandel's bittersweet ""The Shadow of Your Smile"" and ""I Wish I Didn't Love You So,"" and infuse them with lush big band arrangements and his own exquisite pain-filled vocals. When you listen to him sing on the alternate take of ""I Won't Cry Anymore,"" you get the feeling that this is more than just a sad song: it's Marvin divulging his most sacred confessions. This is a hell 'uv an album.
