I Want You (Marvin Gaye album)

Did You Know?

• Gaye and Ware recorded and mixed the album at Gaye's newly christened 'Marvin's Room Studio' on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and at Motown Recording Studios.
• The album's recording sessions took place throughout 1975 and 1976, featuring Gaye's heavy multi-tracking and background vocals in the classic doo-wop tradition.

Background

Following the commercial and critical success of Let's Get It On (1973) and the duet project Diana & Marvin (1973), Gaye struggled to conceive a follow-up album. As he had done with Let's Get It On, he sought outside assistance, this time from singer-songwriter Leon Ware. Ware had been composing songs for his own album Musical Massage, a set of erotic tracks written with Jacqueline Hilliard and Arthur 'T-Boy' Ross. When Motown CEO Berry Gordy heard a preliminary mix of Ware's material, he suggested that Gaye should work with those songs. Although Ware co-wrote every track and conceived most of the album's material, I Want You became a biographical work for Gaye, who was then in a turbulent marriage to Anna Gordy and engaged in a long-standing affair with Janis Hunter. Hunter was introduced to Gaye by producer Ed Townsend in 1973 at Hitsville West while Gaye and Townsend were recording Let's Get It On; Hunter was 17 and Gaye was 17 years her senior. Author Michael Eric Dyson later explored the connection between the album and Gaye's relationship with Hunter in his book Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons of Marvin Gaye.

Artwork

The album's cover adapts Ernie Barnes's 1971 painting The Sugar Shack, a neo-mannerist work depicting a shack full of black people dancing. Barnes painted in a signature post-mannerist style using serpentine lines, elongated human figures, clarity of line, unusual spatial relationships, painted frames, and distinctive color palettes, a technique similar to 16th-century mannerist artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Art critic Frank Getlein called The Sugar Shack a 'stunning demonstration of the fusion of Neo-Mannerism and Genre painting that Barnes alone has perfected and practices.' The painting has been described as embodying 'Black Romantic' style, which Natalie Hopkinson of The Washington Post termed the 'visual-art equivalent of the Chitlin' Circuit.' Barnes said he created the original after reflecting on his childhood, when he was not 'able to go to a dance,' and stated that the painting 'transmits rhythm so the experience is re-created in the person viewing it.' Gaye was introduced to Barnes by colleague Barbara Hunter and purchased eight Barnes originals, including The Sugar Shack. After Gaye requested permission to use the painting as an album cover, Barnes augmented it by adding banners promoting the album's singles. The original piece was later bought by actor and comedian Eddie Murphy.

Release and reception

I Want You was released on March 16, 1976, on Tamla Records. It sold over one million copies in the United States, aided by the first single 'I Want You,' which topped the Billboard Soul Singles chart as Gaye's eleventh number-one hit on that chart and peaked at number fifteen on the Pop Singles chart. The second single, 'After the Dance (Vocal),' reached number fourteen on the Soul Singles chart and number seventy-four on the Pop Singles chart; a double A-sided vinyl version for dance clubs hit the top ten of the Billboard Disco Singles chart. The song became a staple of late-1970s dance clubs and was later called by Gaye biographer David Ritz 'emblematic for the final chapter of his career.' The album became Gaye's fourth to reach the top ten of the Billboard 200 and his fifth number-one album on the Soul Albums chart. Despite its chart performance, I Want You received mixed reviews from critics at the time. Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times called the album 'disappointing' and 'only partially commendable.' Rolling Stone's Vince Aletti criticized Leon Ware's production as too low-key and felt Gaye lacked the passion of his previous records, writing that 'I Want You continues in the same vein but with only the faintest traces of the robust passion that shot through and sustained the earlier album.'

Legacy and influence

Following critical re-examination, I Want You has been recognized as one of Marvin Gaye's most controversial and influential works. Along with Let's Get It On, it has served as a major influence on quiet storm and contemporary R&B genres. An expanded edition released on July 29, 2003, with liner notes and photography by Ryan Null, improved the album's standing among critics. AllMusic's Thom Jurek praised Gaye's different direction and the eroticism in Ware's production and Gaye's lyricism. Musicians including Todd Rundgren, Robert Palmer, and Madonna have cited I Want You as an influence. Hip hop artists such as EPMD and Mary J. Blige have sampled songs from the album; Blige sampled the title track for her hit 'Be Happy.' The careers of neo soul and R&B musicians including D'Angelo, Musiq Soulchild, R. Kelly, Maxwell, Sade, and Prince show the influence of the album's soulful sound and romantic, erotic lyrics. Critics view slow jam music, modern soul, and quiet storm as having been engendered by I Want You and by Gaye.