MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MARVIN GAYE - YOU'RE THE MAN

In 1971, Marvin Gaye changed pop music forever with the landmark What's Going On album. Considered too risky with its political content, Berry Gordy Jr. didn't want to release it, but Gaye insisted, and it became a massive hit both at radio and most surprisingly, in the albums chart. That was a place Motown hadn't conquered before, and now Gordy was rolling in new-found dough, all thanks to Marvin's vision.

By 1972, it was time for something new, and the pressure was on Gaye to deliver. But he was a mercurial talent, and not one to worry about feeding the mill for Motown. Gaye wanted to make another big statement, akin to his ecology/economy/anti-war opus of the year before. This time, he created an anti-Nixon song for the '72 election, You're The Man. While a hit on the R'n'B charts, this time he'd crossed the line Gordy had worried about, and the record stalled at 50 on the charts. Too bad, it's another gem from this important period in Gaye's career.

With this relative failure, Gaye retreated to regroup, and find a different concept. Motown kept knocking on the door, and several different staff producers offered up tracks, which Gaye dug into with his typical huge talent. But they sat in the vaults, and eventually Gaye found his footing again. He followed Isaac Hayes's example and success with Shaft, and did the soundtrack to the Trouble Man film.

Those other tracks languished in the vaults for years, Gaye not interested in returning to them. After his death, Motown haphazardly added them to several different reissue projects over the years, including boxed sets, greatest hits and deluxe editions. So there is actually nothing truly new among these 17 cuts, all from '72 era sessions, it's just that you had to have all these different compilations before to have them.

It's being marketed as a "lost" album, but there was never a plan to make an album out of the songs. Truly, it doesn't flow as one, it feels like what it is, a disjointed bunch of trial runs. However, this is Marvin Gaye at the height of his powers, and he could turn any material into something special. You get to hear his early fun with a Moog synthesizer, a gift from Stevie Wonder, on a couple of Christmas tunes, predictably fantastic but not exactly festive. The World Is Rated X was another hard-hitting topical tune, and again would have made a fine single, but Gaye put it away. There isn't a weak track among these numbers, and even a studio jam, Checking Out (Double Clutch) featuring Hamilton Bohannon, is a solid funk groove.

No, there's no lost masterpiece here, but this set rights a typical Motown wrong of the past, shoddy handling of am important artist's legacy. Any Marvin fan will love hearing these classic-era tracks all in one place.