Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.
MARVIN GAYE | Live in Montreux 1980
Eagle (2003)
Selected by Brandon Ousley
Soul enthusiasts and Marvin Gaye aficionados alike commonly regard 1974’s Marvin Gaye Live! and 1977’s Live at the London Palladium as the definitive portraits of Gaye’s live mastery. It’s obvious, however, that several ignored the once-vaulted Live in Montreux 1980 set, unaccountably purporting it as an inessential archival cash-grab when it surfaced in May 2003.
This notion couldn’t be any further from the truth, as it provides a first-rate account of late-period Gaye at his peak. Coming off a period of personal and professional strife, Gaye retreated from the States and fled to Hawaii. In 1980, he embarked on a European tour. Eager to reaffirm his prowess as a consummate live performer, he made a special stop at that year’s Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which was presented at the Montreux Casino venue.
Where Gaye’s past concerts were elegantly marked with elaborate orchestras, his newer stage settings were paired down to a crack rhythm session, consisting of musicians who played on 1978’s Here, My Dear and later on 1981’s In Our Lifetime? Even more invigorating is the abundance of rhythm and high energy that’s laid on thick throughout this thrilling 1980 show. Gaye and his band breathe tantalizing fire and grit to his concurrent repertoire, including a relentlessly saucy version of “Got to Give it Up,” “A Funky Space Reincarnation,” and “After the Dance.”
When Gaye moves onto his past hits, the band strips their sparkly, studio sheen and spruces them up with a zesty makeover. Early classics like “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “Trouble Man,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and “I’ll Be Doggone” never sounded as expansive and gutsy before. For his routine Tammi Terrell tribute medley, Gaye smartly dumps the idea of utilizing a female lead to assist him. Instead, the band goes for a meditative timbre, while he sings the songs alone. Of course, he flexes his sociopolitical and philosophical muscle during a small, yet thoughtful medley of songs from his epochal 1971 concept album, What’s Going On, offering the audience a small glimpse of what would come with the unfinished In Our Lifetime? album.
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