He was already a sellout. He didn't have the first jam and was a recording artist that made only slow songs at a time when everyone else made nothing but slow songs also. As for taking off his clothes, that's not selling out, that's entertainment. The sellout part is that he stripped but didn't show his dick.

vainandy said:

Yes indeed!

In all seriousness, it's a damn shame that D can't get his shit together. He's very talented and I'm sure he has some great material left in him but I hate that I have to wait nearly 10 years for this dude to come out with something. I am interested but not very interested to see what he has to come out with next, if there is anything for him to come out with. He never should have believed his own hype when it came to his looks or being the next fill-in-the-blank artist. He should have been trying to be D'ANGELO, no one else. If it's about looks, then look at Luther Vandross. He was up and down the scale millions of times it seemed but he still came out with great music. I won't say it's a waste yet but it's a shame that he's in the place that he's in. I hope he's getting better all the way around in his life so that if there is new music left in him, it can be the best it can be, for all of our sake.

ButterscotchPimp said:

lol, classic! Ya got anymore?

midnightmover said:

Wait isn't "Here, My Dear" about his divorce from Janice or (whoever)?

Ifsixwuz9 said:

I believe it is. That is a universally panned album too and from what I heard, Marvin intended for it to be that way because his ex-wife was going to get the profits from that album.

purplecam said:

Ok, just checking

purplecam said:

WOW.
I guess i should be shocked by the lack of knowledge of ANY artist in here other than Prince, but i'm not.

If you bothered to ever listen to the album, OR (and i highly suggest you do this) READ Marvin's autobiography, it's about his divorce from his wife ANNA. Berry Gordy's sister. It's also about his new relationship with his gf at the time, Janice. You see, Marvin needed to pay Anna a divorce settlement and his didn't have the loot at the time (he was notoriously bad with money) so the lawyers agreed that he could use the advance from his next album to pay her off. NOW, his INITIAL instinct was to go in the studio and record some bullshit. But he was TOO MUCH OF AN ARTIST FOR THAT, so he went into the studio and recorded which was extremely over-looked at the time and has just in the last 10 years or so to be regarded as one of the finest and most personal albums in the history of recorded music. EVERYTHING that is going on in his life at the time is right there. The pain, the joy, the heartache, the lust.

DON'T SPEAK ON IT, IF YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD IT.



and it's LIGHT YEARS BEYOND ANYTHING PRINCE EVER DID OR WILL DO. E V E R.

midnightmover said:

Insults, that'll work! Anyway, on what planet is "Come Get to This" obscure? Here on earth, it was the follow-up single to "Let's Get It On" and reached #3 on the charts. BTW, I said it was better than "Sexual Healing" (because it is). So I guess "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You" is too "obscure" for a comment?


Is that when you're going to address these comments I made earlier?

ButterscotchPimp said:

I agree with your comments about 'Here,My Dear'.It's an album that many people didn't really "get" the first time around.It confused listeners.But after all this time,the album is now considered a gem.Many people now see it as a classic.It's a very deep,introspective record.

AlexdeParis said:

"Come Get To This" is quite possibly,my favorite Marvin Gaye song And "You Sure Love To Love" is the sexiest song of all-time.You can't go wrong with the 'Let's Get It On' album.That's the ultimate love-making soundtrack

ButterscotchPimp said:

Dude, why the fuck you gotta be so nasty and hostile with your response? Just because you have an obvious ax to grind with Prince doesn't mean you have to take your shit out on anyone here who still down with P. I appreciate you explaining the situation but your condescending remarks are not needed. Damn, some of these people here are a mess.
[Edited 8/1/08 6:36am]

AlexdeParis said:

Please. Go up to anyone in the street and ask them to name some Marvin Gaye songs. They will name the songs I mentioned earlier (IHITTG, LGIO, WGO, and SH). Basically all the songs with melodies written by other people. The fact that "Come Get To This" was a Top 10 hit and yet no one remembers it outside of Marvin's fanbase confirms everything I'm saying.


That's not what I'm doing. What I'm doing is pointing out that Marvin wasn't much of a melody writer based on the FACT that his best melodies were written by other people. It's not just the hits I'm talking about either. I always felt that the first half of the Let's Get It On album was flawless. Total perfection. The second half however was nowhere near as good. The only song that was almost on a level with the first half was "Distant Lover". Well, I later found out that Ed Townsend wrote the melodies for the first half of the album and "Distant Lover" was co-written with two other writers. The remaining songs (which had weaker melodies) were written by Marvin himself.

Same thing with the posthumously released Dream of a Lifetime album which contains some of Marvin's best (and overlooked) material. The best songs on it were either written by others entirely ("Life's Opera" by Ivy Joe Hunter), or co-written with others ("Symphony" with Smokey Robinson). Granted, Marvin wrote the title track which was excellent, but his other songs on it like "Ain't it Funny" were typical of the tuneless drones he specialized in.

Also, the Here, My Dear album does not have a single memorable melody on it. The best song on it is "Love", but even that works in spite of it's lack of a tune. I'm not taking anything away from Marvin. He was great, but to put him in the same league as Prince as a songwriter is just pure sentimentality.

purplecam said:

i think its so funny how some grown men here can turn into complete drama queens over prince. if i was prince i would be honored.

midnightmover said:

That's such a silly argument, particularly when you claim you don't equate artistic excellence with popularity. I'll take "Come Get to This" over "Sexual Healing," "Human Nature" over "Thriller," "You Haven't Done Nothin'" over "Superstition," "Don't Let Me Down" over "Hey Jude," and "Mountains" over "Purple Rain" -- I don't care what "anyone in the street" thinks.


The album's great all the way through, but I prefer Side 2. "Come Get to This," "Distant Lover," "You Sure Love to Ball," and "Just to Keep You Satisfied" -- that's about as good as it gets in my book. "Keep Gettin' It On" is the "weak" link AFAIC.


I wouldn't call it his best, but certainly overlooked.


OK, back to disagreeing.


Yeah, we can just wrap this up now. We're never going to agree. It's nice that you have an opinion; it's even better if you realize that's exactly what it is.

purplecam said:

purplecam, I think ButterscotchPimp was directing his comment to midnightmover instead of you.
hands purplecam a glass of red kool aid

Kinda hate to bring it up but as a huge Marvin fan I have to point out that Prince regularly stole music and took all the credit from the people around him "jamie star's a thief" remember? Even as far along as sott there have been stories that he erased wendy and lisa's input into the album. Also, with an artist of his stature, or like springsteen, musicians are forced to sign away much of their rights so you may have riffs or chords which make a song and they are all credited to the leader. No man is an island it's all give and take no matter how much we want to say otherwise. Marvin was a gifted artist who profoundly influenced Prince, the religion/sex amalgamation has always been pure marvin, imagine Prince without that. Marvin was a pioneer, I've read he was the first to overdub his own voice as backing tracks, seems minor now, but it was revolutionary then. He also had the backbone to put out political stuff and risk his career, thus paving the way for stevie. Like Marvin said in his bio "who's this new kid Prince? I am the Prince". All you have to do is listen to the music to know the man was special, not only for his songwriting but his singing and his passion.

break it down for the children !!

ButterscotchPimp said:

midnightmover said:

and you really believe he said that with no irony, straight faced and serious? As if he would come out and admit such a thing. Sarcasm.

CynicKill said:

Yeah, I heard about this. Very deep. This shows you have to be strong to endure the industry

mozfonky said:

Very good point

ButterscotchPimp said:

I saw his show a couple of times during the Voodoo tour. At one show he was doing the male crooner thing in the audience to the ladies and I swear those women mauled that poor man. I can't remember if his shirt was ripped (or if he even had one on), but honest to God they went for him so hard they busted his lip open, when he jumped back onstage he was standing next to the drumkit looking bewildered, furious, sweaty...I just remember Questlove pounding his symbols at this crazy level of crescendo while D'angelo's mouth blood splatered all over them, you could see blood mist every time Quest made those sticks come crashing down. It was a very surreal and disturbing moment to witness, from both sides...

Ottensen said:

That is a bit over the top but what did D think was going 2 happened after he made the "Untitled" video? This is a perfect example of being careful about what u ask for.....u just might get it.

Graycap23 said:

And to actually go into the audience too. Come on. He couldn't sense that the crowd maybe could get a little over zealous and stay his ass on the stage? Especially after the big deal made over that buck-naked simulated b/j video otherwise known as "Untitled".

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Um, I was IN the crowd. There was nothing to indicate these broads would lose their minds and want a piece of him so much they'd try to rip his LIP.OFF.
. That's a ridiculous notion to me that a bunch of grown ass women shouldn't be capable of controlling themselves when a person comes into the crowd to intereact with the audience. Shoot, during that show I was fiending for that mothaf****er til my panties were wet, but that didn't mean I didn't have common sense to keep my hands and my Lee-Press-On nails to my damn self

mozfonky said:

-
-----
You are missing the point. No one is saying Marvin was not a good songwriter or not passionate about his music. Several of us are saying compared to P he did not write that much on his own. We all realize one of the reasons is because he was at Motown which had a staff of songwriters.

We also do not think P was an island who worked by himself for the last 30 plus years. He had help just like Marvin but not as much and Marvin did not create a genre of music. Without P, you do not have a Minneapolis sound. I really do not think this music would have existed with out his presences therefore; Marvin cannot be compared to P as an all around musical force. No knock on Marvin as a songwriter he was not as prolific or as visionary as P.

Ottensen said:

-----
"There was nothing to indicate these broads would lose their minds and want a piece of him so much they'd try to rip his LIP.OFF."

This kind of stuff as been going on since "Frank Sinatra" woman have a tendecy to lose it when a sex symbol jumps into the crowd.

Marvin this, Prince that....when's D's album comin out yo??!

_

Ottensen said:

Ok. But this doesn't sound like this was his first ever live show. Thus, he should have been able to decern that some fans may get a little too touchy-feely and make the decision that 'hmmm, maybe I shouldn't wade into the audience tonight.' I've always heard that artists feed off the crowd or can get a certain vibe from a crowd. Just because YOU didn't act the fool doesn't mean that everyone else will show self restraint. That's all I'm trying to point out.

laurarichardson said:

Exactly, the brother had to know there was a possibility that some fans might be out of control.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

.....unless he was high.