I Want You
An album of love songs co-written and produced with Leon Ware, with Gaye playing synthesizer.
Marvin Gaye, 1976
- Released
- 16 March 1976
- Recorded
- 1975-76
- Studio
- Marvin's Room and Hitsville West, Los Angeles
- Label
- Tamla
- Producer
- Leon Ware, Marvin Gaye, Arthur "T-Boy" Ross
Recorded across 1975 and 1976 at Gaye's Marvin's Room studio and at Hitsville West in Los Angeles, and released on Tamla on 16 March 1976, three years after Let's Get It On. Leon Ware co-wrote every song. Ware said Berry Gordy heard his song I Want You on a demo for Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and took it to Gaye, and that the two of them then made the whole album over 13 months, about six of which they spent partying. He said Gaye sang the background, lead and ad lib of the title song in one night. Ware said the album's subject was Janis Hunter and that it was made in the happiest time of Gaye's life. Gaye played synthesizer on it. The cover adapts Ernie Barnes's 1971 painting The Sugar Shack.
The album sold more than a million copies in the United States. The title single topped the Soul Singles chart, his eleventh number one there, and reached 15 on the pop chart, and After the Dance reached 14 on the Soul chart. Reviews were mixed at the time. Vince Aletti of Rolling Stone wrote that there was no fire there, only a well-concealed pilot light, and Cliff White of NME called it almost a voyeur's delight. Thom Jurek of AllMusic later wrote that it is as necessary as anything Gaye ever recorded. A two-disc expanded edition appeared in July 2003.
Track listing
- I Want You (Vocal)4:35
- Come Live with Me Angel6:28
- After the Dance (Instrumental)4:21
- Feel All My Love Inside3:23
- I Wanna Be Where You Are1:17
- I Want You (Intro Jam)0:20
- All the Way Around3:45
- Since I Had You4:05
- Soon I'll Be Loving You Again3:16
- I Want You (Intro Jam)1:36
- After the Dance (Vocal)4:40
Personnel
- Marvin Gaye vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, producer, executive producer
- Leon Ware co-writer, producer
- Arthur "T-Boy" Ross co-producer
- Berry Gordy executive producer
- Chuck Rainey bass
- Wilton Felder bass
- Ron Brown bass
- Henry Davis bass
- James Gadson drums
- David T. Walker guitar
- Dennis Coffey guitar
- Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson guitar
- Ray Parker Jr. guitar
- Jay Graydon guitar
- Jerry Peters keyboards
- John Barnes keyboards
- Sonny Burke keyboards
- Bobbye Hall Porter bongos, congas
- Eddie "Bongo" Brown bongos, congas
- Gary Coleman percussion
- Jack Arnold percussion
- Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson string and horn arrangements
- Fred Ross engineer
- Art Stewart engineer
- Ernie Barnes cover painting
More from Marvin Gaye
What's Going On (1971), Trouble Man (1972), Let's Get It On (1973), Here, My Dear (1978), Midnight Love (1982)
Sources
- I Want You (Marvin Gaye album), Wikipedia
- I Want You Still: celebrating 40 years of Marvin Gaye's sensual classic, Pitchfork (2016-03-16)