The last album from any dead pop star often gets the benefit (or curse) of added examination and what if scrutiny. That was never the case for Marvin Gaye’s self-produced Midnight Love. At least for me personally because I once hated most of this album. I remember the day I heard Marvin Gaye had died after an argument with his crazy cross-dressing preacher of a father (that was the real gossip I remember). I was a junior in high school then and most of Gaye’s music beyond early Motown was still unfamiliar to me. I always hated the Motown stuff, or the ideal of a happy go lucky Negro amidst all the challenges that black people faced in America.
With the exception of scattered singles and radio staples like “What’s Going On”, I considered myself a casual fan at best. Gaye’s career had been in a slump for nearly all the time I was in high school (despite an excellent album) until the release of Midnight Love. From that point on, it became difficult to ignore his music because “Sexual Healing” was everywhere. At the very least Gaye’s death would prompt me to explore his back catalogue (while still ignoring Midnight Love for many years more).
There was no getting around the first single “Sexual Healing”. I heard it so much that I began to resent it to the point of hatred. Gay introduced a slick new modern style that would become the updated standard to the quiet storm format he helped to create back in 1973 with “Let’s Get It On”. For me at least, 1973 might as well be the year of Gaye’s last album before Midnight Love – that’s how much of his music I knew at the time. With Midnight Love, Gaye had moved his arrangements to a decidedly more electronic production, leapfrogging bands like S.O.S. Band and the Gap Band in the adoption of computer love.
It would be a watershed moment in R&B where many well established artists like The Isley Brothers would scramble to emulate the style of “Sexual Healing” in hopes of scoring their own bedroom crossover hit. Midnight Love might have been the reason so many horn sections were absent in R&B after 1982. The album itself depended on them to accent it’s new style of electrofunk. It would be Roland’s new TR-808 that would be the true star with it’s distinctive bass drum sound that was the hallmark of “Sexual Healing’s” distinctive sound.
Despite all the praise and great things people might say about this album, I still find it to be somewhat uneven. There are moments when it feels awkward, like an old veteran trying to keep up with the kids on songs like the melodic train wreck that is the title track or “Rockin’ After Midnight”.
But for every one of these sounds-like-1982 kind of songs, there are slick tracks that updates the modern style Gaye is best known for. “Til Tomorrow” the archetype for the pleading love song and the wonderful multi-tracked harmonies of “Turn on Some Music” are some of Gaye’s best songs since Here, My Dear.
There are occasions where Gaye blends the past with his vision of contemporary R&B. “Joy” combines a horn section with slick Quincy Jones like arrangements. The effect while somewhat dated (even when new) its enjoyable nevertheless.
The album of course is best remembered for its lead single the blockbuster “Sexual Healing”. That song alone made cow bells sexy and was the sound that must have influenced artists as diverse as Keith Sweat and Arron Hall. It was the perfect synthesis of Gaye’s newfound relevance in the everchanging R&B music scene and his label’s expectations for a crossover hit. Speaking of hit, “Sexual Healing” easily reached #1 on Billboards R&B chart while making it to #3 on the pop chart – quite a feat in the early ’80s for any R&B song. Despite the single’s popularity, it was seldom seen on MTV (if at all), but was everywhere else (BET, VH-1 and Midnight Express).
Don’t call it a comeback might have been a refrain that got it’s start here. The press at the time were determined to make Gaye’s return a storied affair from the brink of self destruction because Gaye appeared to be on track to restore not only his career, but his personal life as well. With his troubles seemingly behind him, it would have been interesting to see where his musical path would have taken him. Unfortunately, his father shooting him just a few months after the release of Midnight Love would change all that.
Beatopolis 