When Motown released Here, My Dear, Marvin Gaye was not one of the most commercially successful soul performers anymore. Actually, he was not strictly SOUL at all, anymore. With What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye had created himself a new slot in pop music, just as Stevie Wonder had done for himself with Music Of My Mind (all the way up to Songs In The Key Of Life). Marvin Gaye would record only one more album for Motown after Here, My Dear; In Our Lifetime, despite its great moments, suffers from having been released by Motown without Marvin’s authorization (it was unfinished). Here, My Dear, however, was recorded and finished under his supervision. Most of the instruments you hear were played by Marvin himself. It is the testimony of an artist at his artistic peak, of his separation from his former wife, Anna Gordy, member of the Motown clan. Since the frankness in which Marvin sang about his marriage and divorce, collided with the fact that Motown was indeed the label to release the album, and also partly due to the fact that a double album with no obvious single was not exactly helpful in the year 1978 for big sales, Here, My Dear was a commercial flop.
Now, 25 years later, a listener who is interested in good music doesn’t care about such things. All that counts is the quality of the music. Unfortunately, until today, this album has been Marvin Gaye’s most unjustly underrated record. Okay, there aren’t any hit singles, but Here, My Dear is an exceptionally good album. There is not one filler song on this two record set. Instead, one is enchanted (and disturbed) by the straightforwardness of how Marvin Gaye relates the experience of divorce. Musically, it’s one of the most sensual albums ever recorded. Marvin sings like there’s no tomorrow. He supports himself vocally via playback recording. The tight playing and the almost chamber-music atmosphere create a density and harmony which cause addiction – you want to play the record again and again. The no-kitsch approach to the production has helped the album age with grace. Here, My Dear is one of the great masterpieces of the 70’s. —Yofriend
1. Igor Stravinsky
2. Claude-Achille Debussy (France; b.1862, d.1918) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894): Debussy, along with his compatriot composer, Ravel, are considered top figures of the French impressionistic movement (Debussy despised the term). Debussy’s music was not as aggressive as Stravinsky’s but equally defiant. Rather than being intense and explosive, Debussy’s music seemed to flow, creating lines that would fluctuate; almost drone like, sprinkled with gentle percussion. Prelude to the Afternoon Faun was based on a poem by Stéphane Mallarme, on describing it Debussy wrote: “The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it.” Debussy snubbed the conventional structures of the symphony and was not afraid to let his work lay open to the audience’s interpretation. There is plenty to interpret here – in fact it just might change with every listen.
3. Gustav Mahler (Bohemia/Germany; b.1860 d.1911) Symphony #1 (1884-1888): Mahler’s work can take you from heartbreaking melancholy to impending doom only to end up with an uplifting feeling of euphoria-all in one measure. He was a master at creating tension by abruptly switching from quiet to loud passages and intertwining moods too create his visions from these soundscapes. He was also completely unabashed (and critiqued) about bringing his influence by fellow composers and styles from other regions into his work, resulting in pieces that would have sudden tempo changes and harmonies with eclectic instrument combinations. When Symphony #1 was first performed in 1889, it was largely unsuccessful, probably due to its experimental nature, critics and audiences simply did not know how to listen to it, which is exactly what keeps it relevant and vibrant over a century later.
4. Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil; b.1887, d.1959) Bachianas Brasileiras (1930-1945): These are more contemporary works from this prolific Brazilian composer, a nine piece series in numerous settings incorporating an array of instrument combinations and vocals. This could be called one of the earliest forms of “fusion,” marrying traditional Brazilian folk music with European classical forms; notably the Baroque styling of Bach. One of the many highlights of Bachianas Brasileiras is during the second suite which depicts a train chugging through the forests of Brazil with thumping cellos and guttural sounds of bows bouncing off of a cluster of contrabasses along with the thunder of a grand piano-it almost sounds like the blues! This is highly innovative music culled from a collage of muses. One critic described Villa-lobos as, “the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music.”
5. Erik Satie (France; b.1866 d.1925) Gymnopediés: The Parisian Avant-Garde composer/Piano maestro Erik Satie practically invented minimalism and ambient music in 1888 when he wrote Gymnopediés, a series of tone poems on piano creating notes that were placed rather than played. The melodies of these pieces are at times fractured, yet with an accessibility that was years ahead of anything being played at the time. Satie looked at the counterparts of music not just as harmonies and melodies but as tools – he was a sound constructer, it wasn’t so much about the piece as a whole but about the resonance and timbre of his phrasing. He is quoted as describing himself as a “phonometrician” or “someone who measures sounds.” His influence today is immeasurable and can be heard in numerous artists from Brian Eno to Radiohead.
