From first glance, when you look at something like a cover of a greatest hits album like this, you think 'wow, nice rare photo' and then you put the album in and the same stuff you had in the other greatest-hits album of the same artist is reduced to rubbish.

Not the case with Marvin Gaye. Re-released after UTV ran out of copies of "The Very Best of Marvin Gaye" (which probably had a better booklet than the one in "Gold" but hey), "Gold: Marvin Gaye" integrates Marvin's early 1960s beginnings when he was mixing rock, blues and gospel (or soul music) in songs like "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "Hitch Hike" and "Pride & Joy", his mid-1960s soul discovery in songs like "How Sweet It Is", "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar", his late-1960s duos with Tammi Terrell (with the Kim Weston duet added in good measures), his late-1960s coming out party as a gritty soul belter in songs like "You", "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", "That's the Way Love Is" and his 1968 masterpiece, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" together with the 1970's gems that we all know and love like "What's Going On", "Mercy Mercy Me", "Inner City Blues", "Trouble Man", "Let's Get It On", "Come Get to This", the live version of "Distant Lover" (shown in its full six and some twenty minutes), "I Want You", and the entire 11-minute "Got to Give It Up" and his early-1980s funk/soul synthesis/gem "Sexual Healing". All in all presenting 20 years of one amazing man's work with these rare gems:

*An unreleased version of his rendition of the old gospel standard, "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" (1968)

*Rare socially conscious gems like "You're the Man" and "Where Are We Going" (both in 1972)

*The obscure 1979 single "Ego Tripping Out"

*The also very obscure single, "Anger" from his 1978 album, "Here, My Dear"

*And finally 1981's "Praise"

If you want to complain about the negativities of how the CD was produced and shipped, go ahead, the music is all I need and as long as I discover rare Marvin gems between the classics. It's all good because I have the best of both worlds: a 2-tape anthology set that has more unreleased and rare gems (including a rare unreleased version of "Ego Tripping Out" with Marvin going "only one way!"), another hits album that includes a rare '72 doo-wop gem and this album and a rare album full of other rare gems in Marvin's tank.

I'm set with Marvin for life.

P.S., "Where Are We Going" is the cut! Go get it for the song and the entire 11-minute "Got to Give It Up" alone! It's worth it, trust me.

I downloaded this album Saturday night (2/21/09) for the sole purpose of getting the long version of "Got To Give It Up" (disc 2 - track 11) which the site says is 11 minutes 52 seconds long. You cannot buy that track alone. After the download completed I noticed that the track was actually only 8 minutes long. It cut off the last few minutes which, in my opinion, are what make the song unique. The other songs appeared to be fine as I played the album. I wrote a letter to customer service and they quickly responded. I was given a full refund and they acknowledged the problem. I was told it would be fixed in the coming week.

So, my low rating is not regarding the album. Its obviously a great album. Also, I'm not criticizing Amazon. I think they handled this extremely well (assuming the track does get fixed). What I'm saying is keep an eye out on this track.

Marvin...what can I say...you take me back to a time in my youth, in Detroit, when motown was what it was about. Thank you for your genius, and thank you for sellers that still bring this music to us and make it available for "motown sound" lovers like myself. CD was in perfect condition.

Although i grew up listneing to oldies with my dad, i was never the biggest Marvin Gaye fan until i went out on a limb and bought this cd... The entire second disc is fantastic, and you can buy these "Gold" reissues at a relatively cheap price for the amount of quality music you get. This is definitely a staple in any Marvin Gaye fans cd collection as it covers all his great tunes. My favourite tracks are "Where are We Going" and "Trouble Man", but the whole cd is a good listen.

I'm tired of people complaining about the "Gold" series. I applaud Universal for issuing these moderately-priced budgets. Not only are they well-packaged but the remastering is superb, and you get many songs for a low price. Who could complain about that?

The Marvin Gaye collection is no exception. It covers all eras of his career, including the early hits like "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", the groundbreaking 70s masterpieces like "What's Going On" and the 80s comeback hit, "Sexual Healing". You also get the full 11-minute version of "Got to Give It Up", as opposed to the single version.

Whether or not this is a repackage, just enjoy the great music and excellent sound.

I look forward to more "Gold" releases, despite what the naysayers say!