Here, My Dear

Did You Know?

• The front cover features a painting of Gaye dressed in a toga in a neo-Roman setting, created by artist Michael Bryan.
• The back cover shows a temple with the word 'matrimony' collapsing around a mock-Rodin sculpture of a romantic couple.
• The fold-out illustration inside the original double album depicts hands on a Monopoly board with the legend JUDGMENT, with tape recorders and a grand piano on the man's side and a house, car, and ring on the woman's.

Background

In the summer of 1976, Marvin Gaye was experiencing a personal crisis. His estranged first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye, had sued for divorce in November 1975, citing irreconcilable differences and seeking child support for their adopted son, Marvin Gaye III. Gaye fell behind on payments due to his spending habits, and a warrant for his arrest was issued in September 1976 after he failed to pay alimony, causing him to hide from the public for days. He then toured Europe from October to December 1976, performing in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. After returning, he recorded 'Got to Give It Up' for his album Live at the London Palladium, which became an international number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In March 1977, Gaye's attorney Curtis Shaw convinced him to give up half the royalties from his next Motown album to Anna, and the divorce was finalized that month.

Recording

Initially, Gaye planned to make a quick, low-effort record because Anna would receive the royalties, but he became fascinated with the idea of an album for his ex-wife and felt he owed the public his best effort. He stated he did the record out of deep passion, singing until he drained himself of everything he had lived through. Beginning on March 24, 1977, Gaye recorded at his own studio with only engineer Art Stewart. He composed lyrics on the spot, mumbling over prerecorded tracks, with the mumblings evolving into lyrics after three or four takes. Gaye played all the keyboard parts himself, describing it as a hands-on project.

Music

The music on Here, My Dear is largely midtempo funk with elements of traditional soul, gospel, doo-wop, and a slight hint of disco. The title track opens the album, with Gaye's tone described as self-serving, self-justifying, and self-pitying. 'I Met a Little Girl' features doo-wop harmonies and a mixture of sincerity and sarcasm. 'When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You' abandons traditional song structure, lacking a chorus and expressing tenderness, fear, anger, and regret. 'Anger' is described as part sermon and part self-retribution, moving from catharsis to escape. 'Is That Enough?' was recorded after a day in divorce court, told from a storyteller's perspective. 'Everybody Needs Love' attempts empathy, while 'Time to Get It Together' includes a confessional influenced by Stevie Wonder's 'As'. 'Anna's Song' is considered the heart of the album. 'A Funky Space Reincarnation' alludes to Star Wars and the music of Parliament-Funkadelic. 'You Can Leave, But It's Going to Cost You' takes an assertive tone over an argument about Gaye's girlfriend Janis. The final track, 'Falling in Love Again', is dedicated to Janis and ends on a regenerative note.

Release and reception

Released at the end of 1978, Here, My Dear received mostly positive reviews and modest sales, with critics calling it bizarre and un-commercial. The lack of success angered Gaye, who refused to promote it further, and Motown stopped promotion in early 1979, around the time Gaye went into self-imposed exile and separated from his second wife, Janis. Anna Gordy, upon hearing the album, considered suing for invasion of privacy but later reconsidered. The album peaked at number four on the R&B chart and number 26 on the pop chart, becoming Gaye's lowest-charting studio album of the 1970s. Initial critical response was mixed, with many describing it as weird, though Gaye's lyrical honesty over laid-back disco grooves was praised. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote about the album, and The Bay State Banner noted Gaye's fine arrangement of horn charts. The New York Times called much of the album simply brilliant, describing it as an inventory of black popular music's expressive range. In the years after Gaye's death, the album was re-evaluated and is now seen as a landmark in his career. It was re-released in 1994 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his death, reaching number one on Billboard's R&B catalog chart. Mojo voted it one of the greatest albums in music history in 1995. Rolling Stone included it on all three editions of its '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list: number 462 in 2003, number 456 in 2012, and number 493 in 2020. On February 15, 2008, Hip-O Select reissued a two-disc expanded edition including the cut song 'Ain't It Funny How Things Turn Around', remixed by Bootsy Collins, and remastered and alternate versions remixed by producers such as Salaam Remi, Questlove, Prince Paul, DJ Smash, and Mocean Worker.