Love Songs: Bedroom Ballads

Marvin Gaye

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Love Songs: Bedroom Ballads Review

by William Ruhlmann

If the midline-priced Marvin Gaye compilation Love Songs: Bedroom Ballads seems to have two titles grafted together, that's not inappropriate to the album's contents. The album's love songs are the seven romantic standards Gaye labored over for more than a decade and never released during his lifetime, tracks that finally were issued in 1997 under the title Vulnerable. Working with lush string arrangements arranged by Bobby Scott, Gaye rewrites the melodies of familiar songs like "The Shadow of Your Smile" (heard here with a previously unreleased alternate vocal), rendering the material fresh and claiming it for his own. The "bedroom ballads" portion of the album, interspersed with the other songs, consists of six tracks that appeared originally on Gaye's albums Let's Get It On, I Want You, In Our Lifetime, and Here, My Dear. Written or co-written by Gaye himself, these songs employ the singer's mixture of romance with blunt eroticism, notably on tunes with titles like "You Sure Love to Ball" and "Funk Me," and on "Since I Had You," which contains an orgasmic background vocal track that couldn't be bettered by Donna Summer. Gaye collaborator and biographer David Ritz conceived this compilation, which is true to Gaye's romantic sensibility, a combination of sophistication and physicality.

Track Listing

	Title/Composer	Performer	Time	Stream
1	Why Did I Choose You? Michael Leonard / Herbert Martin	Marvin Gaye	03:24	Amazon
2	She Needs Me Jody Emerson / Earl Montgomery	Marvin Gaye	03:26	Spotify Amazon
3	You Sure Love to Ball Marvin Gaye	Marvin Gaye	04:43	Spotify Amazon
4	Funny (Not Much) Scott Edward / Larry Holofcener	Marvin Gaye	02:44	Spotify Amazon
5	Soon I'll Be Loving You Again Marvin Gaye / Arthur Ross / Leon Ware	Marvin Gaye	03:14	Spotify Amazon
6	This Will Make You Laugh Irene Higginbotham	Marvin Gaye	02:54	Spotify Amazon
7	Funk Me Michel Bassin / Didier Bréard / Marvin Gaye / Goran Juresic / Marco Neves / Didier Serbourdin	Marvin Gaye	05:27	Spotify Amazon
8	The Shadow of Your Smile Johnny Mandel / Paul Francis Webster	Marvin Gaye	03:05	Spotify Amazon
9	I Wish I Didn't Love You So Frank Loesser	Marvin Gaye	02:35	Spotify Amazon
10	Since I Had You Marvin Gaye / Leon Ware	Marvin Gaye	04:05	Spotify Amazon
11	Feel All My Love Inside Marvin Gaye / Leon Ware	Marvin Gaye	03:24	Spotify Amazon
12	I Won't Cry Anymore Al Frisch / Fred Wise	Marvin Gaye	02:54
13	Falling in Love Again Marvin Gaye	Marvin Gaye	04:38	Spotify Amazon