An utterly classic, highly-recommended album, but if you have the previously-released remastered version you don't need this. The two bonus tracks are the abbreviated single edits of two album tracks - hardly worth an upgrade. If you have the two-CD special edition, you've got it all.

In 1971, Marvin Gaye put out his classic album _What's Going On?_, which largely focused on ever-present world issues (drugs, war, racism, etc), then the next year, he put out a soundtrack to a fim called _Trouble Man_. And, in 1973, he put out _Let's Get It On_. Yes, that last title means *exactly* what you think it means!

On these eight wonderful tracks, Marvin takes us on a romantic odyssey which is every bit as seductive as the title suggests - so seductive, you can almost taste it. Smooth-as-silk vocals give way to fiery, impassioned, ecstatic releases, which are punctuated by the caramel harmony vocals, hushed congas and bongas, strings and a multitude of other instruments. The result? Something as close to the actual...real thing, it's overwhelming. To borrow a quote from the man himself, "you know what I'm talkin' 'bout..." it's so good, it almost makes me cry.

Some singers had the ability to do things with their voices, that, when hearing them, they almost seemed like a totally different being than human, and they almost seemed as if they went somewhere else, while they were doing what they did with their voices, and as listeners, we were able to go somewhere else -- someplace higher -- while we were listening, too. Some singers had this, some didn't. Marvin had it, and he had it in droves.

The things listed in the last two paragraphs apply *largely* to tracks like the title cut, and it's companion "Keep Gettin' It On." In fact, the latter seems more like an extended coda to the title hit, and it could have easily been added as the coda to the original. Either way, both are a sheer joy to have.

On "Come Get To This," things fasten up a bit. Marvin's seductive sensuality is still in tact, but this time, he doesn't take as much time as he did in much of the other songs. On "Distant Lover," Marvin returns to the slow-burning ecstasy found in songs like the title track, and the yearning throughout the song, especially the pleading--more like crying--near the end of the song, is so painful for me to listen to, even after hearing the song for the longest time, while the last song, the dramatic "Just To Keep You Satisfied," was said to be written about Marvin's ex-wife at the time. This song ends on quite a melancholic, reflective, and almost sad note.

This is classic stuff, and a must for those who love Marvin Gaye, but come to think of it, most fans who love Marvin already own this album. If you love classic R&B, loaded with sensuality, or if you just want something that sounds good (which is an understatement, to say the least), grab this.

Music critics always cite "What's Going On?" as Marvin's best album. It's a great album, for sure, but this one is better. It was Marvin's biggest selling Motown album, it went triple platinum within a year back when the US had about a hundred million fewer inhabitants than it does now.

Let's refer to this as an album as opposed to a CD. When it was released in 1973, it was a concept album, and if you listen to it start to finish, it takes you through the phases of a relationship that starts out with a bang, and ends with the banging of a gavel.

It begins raw and pleading with "Let's Get It On", moves to declarations of true love with "If I Should Die Tonight" and ends on a sad note with "Just To Keep You Satisfied". The additional tracks don't add to the total enjoyment of the album as it was intended. It's like a going back for a salad after dessert at the end of your 7 course meal.

As a single (with a remake of the Temptations' classic "I Wish It Would Rain" as its B-side), "Let's Get It On" sold over 2 million copies during its first 6 weeks of release, eventually topping 4 million copies sold. The lyrics were originally penned by Ed Townsend, but Marvin changed them to impress his very young girlfriend, who was present at the recording of the song. You can hear an example of what the original lyrics were on "Keep Gettin' It On", which is track 4 here.

Marvin wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album. He also arranged and sang background vocals. He got his start in Washington, DC with a doo-wop group called the Moonglows, and that doo-wop influence is evident throughout this album, especially on "Please Stay" and "Distant Lover".

Listening to this album demands that it be dark outside, the lights inside dim, and you have someone with you that you don't mind being real close to.

The original, sensual soul classic - often imitated, never duplicated. While the smash hit title track (#1 Pop, #1 R&B) is reason enough for most listeners to give this disc a listen, they will be pleasantly surprised to find that the entire disc is much deeper than it may first appear. "Let's Get It On" is basically the main theme behind each of the album's eight tracks, with the a reprise of the title cut, entitiled "Keep Gettin' It On," the only track that even comes close to sounding repetitive.

While using the same motif, Marvin manages to hit the theme from a different angle with the remaining tracks. The emotive pleading of "Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" and the concert staple "Distant Lover" (#28 Pop, #12 R&B) combines with the erogenous seduction of the hit "Come Get To This" (#21 Pop, #3 R&B) and the failed (yet brilliant) single "You Sure Love To Ball" to form one of the most multi-layered portraits of love making to ever hit the mainstream. Things get very personal on the pained, slightly bitter "Just To Keep You Satisfied," which makes the concept of gettin' it on seem more shallow than it used to be.

While Marvin was always in great voice throughout his entire career, there is something even more passionate in his delivery here, especially on "If I Should Die Tonight" and the title track, that really stands out to me. Like the single of the same name, the LET'S GET IT ON album was a massive success, hitting #2 on the Hot 200 and becoming Marvin's biggest selling album.

This is as funky an album that you can have in your home. No one knows just HOW funky the album was, however. Mainly, listen to the opening bars of "Let's Get It On" and see what I mean by that mellow but modern funk. Marvin's vocals had a mixture of blues, soul, jazz and gospel, the music was also a mixture of the four genres and the way the backgrounds forged with the strings near the end with that flute? Ah man... if that ain't funky as it is sexy, I don't know what is.

Marvin Gaye was made to sing. You have singers and then you have SANGERS. Marvin is a SANGER. He made you feel what he was saying, especially in this 8-track tour-de-force. Even before putting the album on, you can tell the album was revolutionary from the cover. It was a different Marvin on the cover compared to the one from "What's Going On", the total opposite of "Let's Get It On".

In the former, Marvin had a solemn, distraught and sadden look to his face where it looks like he's getting ready to cry because he's sick and tired of the mess surrounding him and the world, I reckon. But in the cover to "Let's Get It On", it's a different kind of anguish. It seemed like from that cover, you knew Marvin, now draped in a red skullcaps (or kufis) and casual attire, was going through demons of the soul, the heart, the mind and the body.

Lots of people still probably think the title song was just about love and sex and heralded back to Marvin's pre-What's Going On days but listen closely. This ain't the same guy who told his girl she was his pride & joy, nor was it the one who hitch-hiked to every state to find his girl, nor was it the one who sung all them love ballads with female singers. No, this Marvin was completely different. He took what he absorbed from the political, social and religious content of "What's Going On" and made a varied and edgier personal album for "Let's Get It On". The title song was about fighting demons of the heart, body and soul. In one instance, he wants to "get it on" with his woman, in another, though, he brings in a gospel-like sensory when he asks his woman "have you been sanctified?" I mean, this guy was both sexual and religious at the same time. A simple love song built among a funk rhythm turned into a gospel sermon. You would've thought he was saying "GOD, HELP ME!" instead of "I'M BEGGING YOU TO GET IT ON!" You know?

In a 3-song suite that follows after LGIO ("Please Stay", "If I Should Die Tonight" and "Keep Gettin' It On") which he co-composed with doo-wop pioneer Ed Townsend, Marvin fights more demons. In "Please", he fights against loneliness and sadness in a few quick minutes, "If I Should Die Tonight" sounds like a man fighting for sanity while telling his woman "get prepared for whatever outcome comes along if someone takes me away". It's almost like a sad love song to fight suicide almost solemnly. "Keep Gettin' It On", however, sounds different to me. Whereas you may think it was "Let's Get It On, Part 2", it was actually the basis of the original version of the song, which was originally penned by only Townsend. The man had written a religious song to celebrate his sobriety but Marvin changed all of that. In this one, it's like Marvin was pleading to the world to love and not hate: "won't you rather make love, children, as opposed to war like you know you should?" When he asks his audience "have you ever loved somebody?", he could've been talking about different types of people. In other words, the song is not only about love but peace also. So for those who said Marvin drift away from political or social topics after "What's Going On", I think "Keep Gettin' It On" is a political and social statement.

In the second suite with songs from 5 to 8 are very different. More relaxed and more classy in terms of Marvin's own doo-wop roots, "Come Get to This" starts off the suite as one of the happiest sounding songs on the album, as if to keep the optimism going from "Keep Gettin' It On" when Marvin sings happily about a woman coming back to his life after a split.

"Distant Lover" is probably the morning after when the lover goes away "down a lonesome road" with the singer wondering if the person was ever going to come back and doesn't. But I always felt that song had double meaning for Marvin. It's almost like this girl was so special for him he's not able to let go and wonders if it was just a mirage though he reminds himself of her loving grace: "Didn't you know that at every moment I spent with you, I treasure it like it was a precious jewel", Marvin sings so sweetly before literally bleeding and crying on the track at the end.

"You Sure Love to Ball" is the only explicit song on this album because it definitely meant what it entailed: sex. No ifs, ands or butts about it. One of the first songs after Sylvia's legendary "Pillow Talk" single to include moans and groans on a song. But it has to be the last track that really when you get down to it is a really depressing if not deeply wrenching and emotional track.

"Just to Keep You Satisfied" was autobiographing the decay of Marvin's first marriage to Anna Gordy. It was so explicit in biographic detail that you're almost in Marvin's world of heartache. It's built around a sad and dark gothic-esque string quartet that solemnly carries on like somebody just died. The doo-wop backgrounds are classic and Marvin is in a depressed mood wondering if he and his soon-to-be-ex will ever find happiness apart as he solemnly put it at the end of the song. You could actually feel Marvin's tears on your ear phones as he sings "it's too late for you and me, too late for you and I, much too late for you to cry" over and over again.

It seems Marvin was fighting more than just demons of the aforementioned but also demons of love lost. The album was meant to be simply an album of love and sex but when you really listen to it, it's not that at all, it's trying to calm the anger in the spirit and the soul of the man who felt he was slowly losing his ground in life as he went from one new life and saying goodbye to a past life. All in all, it's exactly what "What's Going On" was but more personal to the sadness and anger and tension that was building inside Marvin.

To close, "Let's Get It On" is exactly what many have called it: a masterpiece. Listen to the album for real to know what I'm truly talking about here, these are not words just coming from a fan of Marvin's, I experienced some of that guilt and pain but Marvin took it to a whole new level. Now that's funky.