Fine gathering of his 60s gems

This album (originally Tamla 300, October 1970) came out when Marvin was in an inactive period, still stunned by untimely death of Tammi Terrell, and even flirting with the idea of trading a music career for one of basketball player. We didn't know it then, but Marvin's first introspective and very personal masterpiece, "What's Going On," was just around the corner, the next spring.

Motown, at this point had already released two "Greatest Hits" volumes on Marvin; Tamla 252 in May of 64 and Tamla 278 in September 67. These carried all his single hits from 1962's "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" to "Your Unchanging Love" in June of 67. "Super Hits" cherry-picks the standouts from those two, plus carried all of Marvin's later 60s triumphs like the incomparable "Grapevine", "Too Busy" & "That's the Way Love Is."

This album more or less puts a period on Motown's first, production-line era of the 60s, and carried some of the best contributions Marvin submitted in that time. His fine work with Smokey Robinson ("Peculiar" & Doggone") and Holland-Dozier-Holland ("Witness", "Wonderful One," "Baby Don't You Do It," & "How Sweet It Is") are nicely represented here. While concerns of politics and the sexual revolution would come into focus in Gaye's 70s work, these songs were just plain dancin', partyin', lovin' songs and they hold up as wonderfully well. None of these are `bonus tracks' either; the original vinyl version carried all 16 too, eight on a side.

"Super Hits" has of course been supplanted by the various two-discs hits collections that have come since, and certainly the excellent boxed-set ("The Master"), but for a one-disc overview of his more lighthearted 60s material, this one is still a fine catch. And that superhero cover remains every bit as eye-catching as it was on album racks all those years ago.

You can't say you know anything about Marvin...

...until you have a even a slight "passing" knowledgeof where he came from. Marvin truly epitomized "the sound ofyoung America" and was evvy bit of an entertainer, and was evvy bit in awe of his own popularity at times...(In fact, they used to show filmed reviews of all the R&B greats including Marv during Sat. matinees at the movie houses) His 'What's Going On/Let's Get It On/Here my Dear' years were, indeed, important as far as, say, making him immortal. As a result, evvybody has equal access to these megahits. Unfortunately that seems to translate as "anybody and a wordprocessor can claim to be an expert about that era of Marvin Gaye". But that just ain't so, you can't just ignore all those hits before those three albums like they didn't have something to do with Marvin's development as an artist and a person.

Plus, I , for one, am getting awfully tired of certain recording artists and reviewers saying something on the level of 'Well, my Mom & Dad played Marvin and Aretha and Stevie and jazz a lot and I learned from them', but believe me, these folks can't have learned from them 'cause although they are stars, Marvin and Aretha and Stevie never thought themselves above, never insulted or disrespected their audiences...Marvin never did even in his later years. I'm getting awfully tired of certain recording artists and music reviewers with this holier than thou stance in which they can say or do anything and pass it off as entertainment...The new artists and reviewers truly owe these originals a lot and it's a slap in their faces the way the black music and entertainment world has turned out..so much so, I call when Marvin was shot and killed 'The Day the Black Music Died'.

Nope, you can't say you know anything about Marvin, unless, you have a passing knowledge of where he came from. This album has clues to the origins of that greatness..if you can find the original albums and play them in order, maybe, maybe, just maybe, you could get an iota of an understanding why he ended up so great. END