The Master

Product Description:

THE MASTER (1961-1984) features an 89-song overview of Marvin Gaye's career, including 18 previously unreleased tracks as well as various rarities. The package contains a 68-page booklet with photos.

Personnel includes: Marvin Gaye (vocals, keyboards, drums, percussion); Tammi Terrell, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Mary Wells, Kim Weston (vocals); Gordon Banks, Ray Parker, Jr. (guitar); Joel Peskin (saxophone); Nolan Smith, Dr. George Shaw, Ray Brown (trumpet); Sidney Muldrew (French horn); Sonny Burke (piano, Fender Rhodes); Joe Sample (piano); Joe Hunter, Richard "Popcorn" Wylie (keyboards); Elmira Collins (vibraphone); Chuck Rainey, Wilton Felder (bass); Bugsy Wilcox, Preston Wilcox (drums); Gary Jones (percussion, congas).

Producers include: William "Mickey" Stevenson, Norman Whitfield, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Clarence Paul.

Compilation producer: Amy Herot.

Includes liner notes by David Ritz.

Stevie Wonder is an unarguable genius. That allowed, a credible case can still be made that the late Marvin Gaye was, pound for pound, the single most talented artist to have come to prominence at Motown Records in the '60s. Gaye, in fact, could do it all. He was a formidable songwriter, a supremely funky studio drummer, a highly charismatic performer, and, of course, an amazingly expressive singer, equally at home with the R&B and soul numbers that made his name as with the earlier pop standards he loved equally.

This four-CD set is the definitive Marvin Gaye anthology, providing a fully rounded overview of his career, from the great early blues and gospel based hits to the sensual crooning of his final days and everything in between. THE MASTER is also fleshed out with 18 revelatory unreleased tracks, both studio and live (trust us: you have to hear his in-concert version of "The Star Spangled Banner" to believe it).