Other El Rey (Leroy Rey)
MPG - "You're The Man" (a take on the shelved '72 album)

Tracklisting:

1. You're The Man pt.1&2
2. The World Is Rated X
3. Woman Of The World
4. Where Are We Going?
5. You're The Man pt.3
6. I'm Gonna Give You Respect
7. Song #3
8. You're The Man pt. 4
9. Piece Of Clay
10. Checking Out (Double Clutch)
11. I'm Going Home

1971/1972 was a very fertile time for Marvin Gaye.

Fresh off the success of his epic "What's Going On?" album, Marvin somehow got rid of his stage fright, signed a million-dollar contract with Motown that made him the best paid black artist of that time (that is, until Stevie signed his..) and was in a very creative space, spending hours & hours in the studio, either jammin' with a group of young talented Detroit-based musicians (amongst them Hamilton Bohannon & Ray Parker jr..) or tracking demo's with lots of songwriters/producers, amongst them Smokey Robinson and Willie Hutch.

Post-“What’s Going On”, Marvin was in a very political mindset. Songs like “The World Is Rated X” & “Where Are We Going” (the latter being partially written & produced by Larry & Fonce Mizell) are evidence of that.

The track “You’re The Man” was born out of that same mindset. It was released as a single around the second half of 1972, as a response to the campaign of the then-to-be-elected Richard Nixon. The single did well on The R&B charts, reaching #7, but stalled at #50 in the Billboard Pop Top 100.

Word went around that Motown was responsible for this low placement, asking radio stations to drop the single from their playlists, fearing reactions of the audience due to political overtones of the song.

So when Marvin didn’t feel the necessary push from Motown, he shelved the project altogether and moved on to other projects, such as the soundtrack to 1972 movie "Trouble Man", leaving all the aforementioned songs in the can, as well as for-the-album-intended cuts, such as “Piece Of Clay” & “I’m Going Home”( the former a honest plea for independence, while the latter is, contradictory, a yearn to be more with family, a sign that Marvin must’ve feel very lonely out in the world around that time).

All songs eventually found their way on to compilations and deluxe editions/reissues and somewhere last spring, another Mizell Bros-produced song “Woman Of The World” was unearthed and released on a 12-inch.
By checking out some older interviews with the brothers (R.I.P. Fonce Mizell), noted was that said song was also intended for the later-shelved album. A third one, “When Love Comes Around” stayed instrumental as Marvin never got around to do the vocals. But somehow my interest was really kindled and made me wonder how the album would’ve sound like if it would've been finished.

Combining all material, I tried to sequence the tracks in a nice order and to fill out the time of a full length album, I’ve put all 4 versions of “You’re The Man” on it as well as some other recordings from that period, such as "Checking Out" (a probably-for-the-album intended jam featuring those earlier mentioned young cats from the D.) & the Willie Hutch-written & produced “I’m Gonna Give You Respect” (a personal favorite). Rounding things up is the huge instrumental "Song #3" , also featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, produced by both David Van DePitte & Marvin himself, who possibly plays drums on it, but sadly didn't get to record vocals for it as well.

So there you have it, my take on what would be the follow-up to "What's Going On". Hope I did justice to it and hope you'll enjoy!

IMPORTANT NOTE: everything here presented is 128kbps, the reason some tracks may not sound that very well. So if you want better quality, go out & buy the song(s). Always support the artists! And besides, there's no real reason not wanting these songs in full quality as these are all masterpieces.

All artists in this series of mixes are & will always be featured with the utmost respect, as this is first & foremost a labour of love. If anyone is feeling it isn't treated as such, please let me know.
Thanks!

Tracklisting:

1. You're The Man pt.1&2
2. The World Is Rated X
3. Woman Of The World
4. Where Are We Going?
5. You're The Man pt.3
6. I'm Gonna Give You Respect
7. Song #3
8. You're The Man pt. 4
9. Piece Of Clay
10. Checking Out (Double Clutch)
11. I'm Going Home

Tracks 1,5,7,8,10 & 11 produced by Marvin Gaye
Track 7 co-produced by David Van DePitte
Track 2 produced by Hal Davis
Tracks 3&4 produced by Fonce Mizell & Freddie Perren
Track 6 produced by Willie Hutch
Track 9 produced by Pam Sawyer & Gloria Jones

Sidenote:

"You're The Man" pt.3 is "You're The Man" alt. version 1
"You're The Man" pt.4 is "You're The Man" alt. version 2