Vulnerable (Marvin Gaye album)
| Vulnerable | ||||
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| Studio album by Marvin Gaye | ||||
| Released | April 22, 1997 | |||
| Recorded | 1968; New York (original music); 1997 (reworked) at Marvin Gaye's Studios (Hollywood, California) | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop, vocal jazz, soul jazz, smooth jazz | |||
| Length | 28:30 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | Marvin Gaye, Bobby Scott, Amy Herot | |||
| Marvin Gaye chronology | ||||
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| Rolling Stone |
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| Allmusic |
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Vulnerable is the third posthumous album by Marvin Gaye. Recorded in sessions throughout 1977, the album was a decade in the making, first being worked on in 1968 during sessions in New York with Bobby Scott. Reworked by Gaye a decade later, the album was originally going to be released in 1979 under the title, The Ballads, but was shelved. Two decades later, Motown released it under the title Vulnerable, including seven songs from the sessions and three alternate cuts.
In 1968, Marvin Gaye went to New York to record a series of ballads with arranger Bobby Scott, as Gaye continued his attempts to become a successful pop crooner. Sessions ended abruptly, however, when Gaye felt the recordings were too poor for his liking. Disappointed, he stopped pursuing a career as a crooner, while recording pop hits for Motown. In 1977, two years after buying his own studio, and shortly after reworking the live album, Live at the London Palladium, Gaye began to return to finishing up work on his shelved ballads project.
Inspired by his tempestuous relationships with his wives Anna Gordy and Janis Hunter, Gaye added more of a personal depth in the songs he recorded for the album.
Recording sessions for the album started in 1977 at Marvin's recording studio. Some of the songs were constantly reworked by Gaye until he was satisfied with what he had recorded. "Why Did I Choose You" was recorded twice, as was "I Wish I Didn't Love You So", "I Won't Cry Anymore" and "The Shadow of Your Smile". Other songs Gaye recorded were songs of his own compositions including "Stranger in My Life", "Walkin' in the Rain" and "Just Like".
Eventually satisfied with the music, he titled it The Ballads and had it ready for a 1979 release with Motown. However, due to the fall out over his album, Here, My Dear, Gaye shelved the project indefinitely despite telling author David Ritz that he felt the album was "the best stuff I ever did". It would stay on the shelf for nearly a decade.
In 1985, Columbia released the third and last Marvin Gaye album featured on their contract with Gaye. Columbia's parent label, CBS worked together with Motown to issue 'lost' recordings. Releasing Romantically Yours, the album featured the 1968 version of "Why Did I Choose You" and two alternate 1977 recorded versions of "I Won't Cry Anymore" and "The Shadow of Your Smile" among others.
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