Marvin: on Vinyl and (Finally?) on Film
THE MASTERWORK ONCE MORE – AND CAN ALLEN HUGHES PREVAIL?
On this day and date, who else but Marvin Gaye deserves our remembrance, love and respect?
Some of you may recall the moment of hearing the dark news out of Los Angeles that springtime weekend. (On the other side of the country, I was walking up the basement steps of my New Jersey home; a radio bulletin delivered the shock.) Smokey Robinson had stopped for petrol after a game of golf; his car radio told its tale, and a call to Anna Gordy Gaye confirmed the worst. Jan Gaye was at home with her children, Nona and Frankie, when the phone began ringing, incessantly.
Even so, there are at least two other reasons to write here about the Prince of Soul, regardless of the everlasting tragedy of April 1, 1984. One is the newly available, premium vinyl edition of What’s Going On, his masterwork. In addition to the original album, this 2LP package – remastered from analogue, notably for the first time since WGO’s original release – has several tracks not previously on vinyl, such as the earliest mix of the title song, before strings and horns were added. This particular version was done, it’s thought, for a Motown quality control meeting in the summer of 1970. Oh, to have sat in on that QC session…
What’s Going On is advertised on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, 1971
Also new to this long-playing vinyl are the original mono single versions of “What’s Going On” – no party intro there – and “God Is Love,” with a completely different backing track to that heard on the album in ’71. Also, “Sad Tomorrows,” the initial, work-in-progress take of “Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky)”; Gaye’s demo of “Symphony,” co-written with Smokey Robinson, first intended for the Fantastic Four; and a previously unissued, near a capella “stripped” version of the title song.
The set, too, includes updated, insightful annotations by Universal Music’s Harry Weinger, who supervised this entire project. There’s more detail, for example, about that “Symphony” demo, noting that a vocal which Gaye taped for it in September ’70 found him improvising lyrics by repeating the phrase “What’s going on?” over and over – and this while the latter song was still on the shelf, not yet complete. In addition, there’s an intriguing essay about Gaye and What’s Going On by prize-winning poet Hanif Abdurraqib, and notes on arranger David Van DePitte’s unimpeachable role in the album’s making, contributed by Motown historian Andrew Flory.
The other reason to write about Gaye here is the possibility that a motion-picture dramatisation of his life may be closer than ever – although there have been false dawns before. (It’s extraordinary enough to remember that almost 37 years have passed since Motown won an auction for the film and TV rights to the story, almost as long as the time elapsed since the star’s death.)
A MOVIE-MAKER FROM DETROIT
Former Motown Productions president Suzanne de Passe has been reported as an executive producer of this latest effort, as has Gaye’s widow, Jan. With a deal at Warner Bros. Pictures, it’s currently entitled What’s Going On and is being scripted by playwright Marcus Gardley. His cinematic credentials include the imminent movie musical adaptation of The Color Purple and a forthcoming biopic of Boyz II Men, called Brotherly.
The director of What’s Going On has his own substantial credits. Detroit-born Allen Hughes (who turns 50 this very day) co-wrote and co-directed Menace II Society and Dead Presidents in the ’90s, and more recently made an Emmy-nominated HBO documentary series about music men Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre – both of whom are listed as producers of the Gaye flick.
The arranger of What’s Going On, David Van DePitte
Speaking to Hollywood news site Deadline last year, Hughes recalled how securing “What’s Going On” for his Menace II Society trailer was “a game changer in elevating the marketing of that film. Every film of mine but the period film From Hell had some Marvin Gaye in it, and I’ve just always connected to him. He’s the artist’s artist, with this ethereal voice that just comes out of the heavens.”
Hughes acknowledged the many previous attempts to chronicle Gaye’s life, and the difficulties of navigating the rights. The latest adventure “started with Dre saying, ‘Let’s do this together,’ and then Jimmy [Iovine] came on, and Andrew Lazar, and we worked with the estate, with Motown and some other things that needed to be tied down, and we got it done.”
Production was due to begin this year, although details are thin on the ground. Casting an actor as Gaye is central, and no word has leaked out so far about that. (When the 1985 rights auction was held, it was rumoured that Jermaine Jackson was a candidate for the role.) Divided Soul, David Ritz’ definitive biography of Gaye, is thought to be providing a road map for this project.
“Marvin’s voice is so singular that 90 percent of it has to be the real guy,” Hughes told Deadline, “but hopefully we can find an actor who can tie it up with ligamental scenes, and live stuff where you do a blend.” The director said he wants to honour Gaye’s voice. “I’ve taken all those multi-tracks apart with Dr. Dre and it has revealed a lot, but we don’t want to play any tricks with what is probably the purest voice of all time.”
NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME…
If Hughes and the team deliver, they’ll stand tall among the many previous such attempts. With no wish to put the hex on his prospects, here’s a reminder of five of those who went before, as recorded in the trade press of the day.
2016 – Jamie Foxx was cited by the Hollywood Reporter as executive-producing “a limited series” about Gaye, together with Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones. “Marvin was the truest artist I have ever known,” Berry Gordy was quoted as saying when the news was announced. “I am confident that this is the right team to bring his story to the audience in an authentic and compelling way.” De Passe added, “This has been a labour of love for three decades. It’s been brewing for a while.”
Jesse L. Martin, the role of a lifetime?
2016 – London-based Noah Media Group and Greenlight, part of Branded Entertainment Network, were reported by RealScreen to be making a documentary with the participation of Gaye’s children, Marvin III, Nona and Frankie, and with Jan Gaye. The directors? Gabriel Clarke and Torquil Jones. “We look forward to participating and sharing what we can through friends, family, photos, footage and priceless stories that only those who knew our father up close and personal would know,” added Gaye’s offspring.
2013 – Production was declared (in a press release) to have begun in Europe on Sexual Healing, a dramatised account of Gaye’s final years – including his time in Belgium – with Julien Temple as director. “Marvin’s life plays like a Greek tragedy,” the filmmaker said. Lenny Kravitz was to play the singer, with Brendan Gleeson as Belgian concert promoter Freddie Cousaert and David Harewood as record executive Larkin Arnold. However, Kravitz dropped out mid-year, to be replaced by Jesse L. Martin.
2010 – Filmmaker Cameron Crowe was reported in Variety to be continuing his drive to deliver a Gaye project for Sony Pictures, with Scott Rudin attached as producer. It was said to have been in the works for three-and-a-half years, and had Berry Gordy’s approval. “Will Smith…declined the part after much discussion,” Variety also noted. Cameron commented, “You don’t have to take a leap of faith to know what the power of this movie could be.”
2008 – F. Gary Gray was named as the director of Marvin, a biopic being produced by David Foster and Duncan McGillivray, with C. Gaby Mitchell writing the script. “I’m going to tell a truthful story,” Gray told Daily Variety, “and there is no shortage of drama and extreme conflict in a relationship with [Gaye’s] father that at its core is Shakespearean and tragic.” The Variety report also noted the existence of Sexual Healing, in the hands of James (The Sopranos) Gandolfini’s Attaboy Films, and starring Jesse L. Martin. Other press coverage cited Lauren Goodman as its director, working “loosely on Steve Turner’s book, Trouble Man.” Gandolfini was to portray Cousaert.
Music notes: the premium vinyl edition of What’s Going On is issued today (April 1) in North America, and on April 29 elsewhere in the world. Aside from the original release in 1971, the album also appeared on vinyl during its 40th anniversary year. Then, Universal Music assembled a package containing two CDs – featuring a remastered version of the LP, plus bonus tracks and so-called “Detroit Instrumental Sessions” – and a vinyl pressing of the “Detroit mix” of WGO. And in 2019, there was a 2LP vinyl set containing Gaye’s in-concert performance of his masterwork in Washington, D.C. in 1972. Hey, it helps to keep your turntable in working order.