Happy 45th Anniversary to Marvin Gaye’s Live At The London Palladium, originally released March 15, 1977.
As we hit the time machine and travel back to London in October 1976, let’s just recall where Marvin Gaye was at this point in his career. He already had an array of hits throughout the ‘60s at Motown, the masterpiece What’s Going On (1971), Trouble Man (1972), Let’s Get It On (1973), and most recently at that time in 1976, I Want You.
Put simply, Gaye was at the top of his game musically. Off the stage and outside of the studio, he was battling every day, however. While he was coping with a recent divorce, he was fighting through his drug addiction which he claimed helped him get over his timid attitude about being on stage. In addition to that, American soul music was transitioning into the disco stage during the mid to late ‘70s. Being aware of this phase, Gaye took advantage of a quality opportunity to take his music overseas for a live show at London’s Palladium.
Oddly enough, as phenomenal and confident as Gaye sounded on his studio recordings, Gaye was never ecstatic about being on stage. In fact, at times, he was terrified. His ongoing awkwardness on stage doesn’t slip through the cracks on this live album. In many ways though, Live At The London Palladium suggests that he may have actually felt more comfortable than he had felt in quite a while.
As the band begins with the opening trumpets on the “Intro Theme,” you can feel that it was going to be an intimate evening in London. You can almost picture yourself as one of the 2,000-plus people in attendance that night. The crowd roars with applause as Gaye is introduced, “Ladies and gentlemen, the London Palladium proudly presents the star of the show, let’s get it on for soul – Mr. Marvin Gaye!” and he doesn’t waste any time jumping right in, showing off his smooth vocals on “All The Way ‘Round” from I Want You. My colleague Terry Nelson said it best when it came to the music from I Want You, “I’ve often viewed Marvin Gaye’s I Want You as the quintessential soundtrack to those impromptu, late night blue lights in the basement parties that some of us out there used to throw every once in a while.” The crowd loved it and it was a substantial way to start the show, a bold move considering how new the song was at the time.
Significantly, this live series traverses the expanse of Gaye’s repertoire, encompassing songs from his early recording career through I Want You. Most of Gaye’s early hits are featured in the trio of medleys that reside in the middle of the track listing, which collectively comprise 30 minutes of straight Motown nostalgia—spanning his early to mid-1960s heyday, nods to his legendary duets with Tammi Terrell & Diana Ross, and his magnum opus What's Going On.
There’s no brighter moment than the opening guitar notes from “Let’s Get It On,” which sends the crowd into a frenzy. It was almost as if they were on the edge of their seats in the theatre, waiting for this very moment. Gaye was on top of his game vocally across this entire set, but the breakdown 3 minutes and 25 seconds into the performance…my goodness. As Gaye whispers to the ladies in the house, “Oh baby we gon’ get it on, don’t be nervous, baby, it’s alright, wanna get comfortable.” If you listen carefully, you can hear Gaye moaning during the break of the song to the delight of several female fans in the crowd, who can also be heard squealing. Best part of the album, hands down.
Gaye’s sultry passion shines through the album’s entirety. But with his performance of “Distant Lover,” you can feel the raw emotion and pain in his voice, further evidence of the personal turmoil that Gaye was grappling with at the time. “Lord, when you lose the one you love, it's a cold, cold hard feeling,” he sings. “ Whenever it come over a man. You see, a man ain't supposed to cry / When I lost my baby, hey, and I tried to be strong / Come home from work, baby, I had to face a lonely room / And the four walls began to close on me, all around me / And I began to think my baby, said, ‘Baby, why'd you leave me, baby?’ / Well, and then, I didn't wanna cry, baby / I broke down on my knees and screamed ‘Oh baby, ahh.’” It was almost as if Gaye was getting the residual trauma from his relationship troubles with Anna Gordy off his chest. For someone that typically felt uncomfortable on stage, this part of his live show—at least for a moment—felt like he was right where he belonged.
The show concludes with Gaye’s emphatic "Thank you!" and the band closes with the intro to "I Want You.” The final track on the album is the studio recording of what would be Gaye’s lone attempt at a disco hit, “Got To Give It Up.”
Live At The London Palladium peaked at #1 on the US Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and #3 on the US Billboard Pop Album chart. It would prove to be Gaye's last official live release until his July 1980 show at the Montreux Jazz Festival was eventually released on CD in 2003, nearly two decades after his passing. All in all, Live At The London Palladium is an absolute masterpiece and brings the introverted, all-time great musician out of his shell and into the forefront of the world with one of the greatest live albums ever released.
LISTEN: