I Want You
MARVIN GAYE
(Motown)
While not as iconic as What's Going On and Let's Get it On, and without the dirty-laundry backstory of the divorce kiss-off Here, My Dear, I Want You is a terrific piece of the Gaye canon, all smooth and sensual and seductive. With help from producer/songwriter Leon Ware, Gaye crafts gorgeous pillows of stacked sound: strings wafting around sinewy horn solos and chicka-chicka guitar, sultry drum grooves and lushly layered vocals. Gaye's vocal approach here is particularly delicate — health, mental and physical, might have been an issue — almost to the point of being laconic at times. The album's feel stays pretty consistent throughout but never lapses into tedium.
