Search - Marvin Gaye: The Real Thing, In Performance 1964-1981 on DVD

Wish I can give it more STARS!!

S. Castellano | Scranton, PA United States | 07/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What caught my eye first was the packaging! Pictures of various promotional posters and such line the inner cover and the liner booklet is most informative and extensive! A Forward written by Otis Williams of the Temptations is Otis' fond memories of Marvin. He mentions sitting at the piano with Marvin while Marvin plays with some jazz chords, asking Otis what the root note of each one is. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to catch that memory!



Watching Marvin's performances from the 60s to the early 80s gave me a new light on the hits! Most was lip-synched, but still just to see him on stage is a treat! There is a video of Marvin singing GRAPEVINE, playing piano at one point, and towards the end he was given a false ending, but he WORKED IT! Marvin and Tammi's duet AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH I have never seen in its entirety and just watching that chemistry was awesome!



Now as for the 70s Marvin, two videos were included: WHAT'S GOING ON/WHAT'S HAPPENING BROTHER, which were taken from the SAVE THE CHILDREN movie. You can see Earl Van Dyke, James Jamerson, and Eddie Bongo jammin'! There is also a promotional video from Motown for A FUNKY SPACE REINCARNATION...very space age! Imagine Marvin in a glitter outfit with his band, smoke and female dancers flocking all around him! There is also COME GET TO THIS/LET'S GET IT ON where he does his famous "turn of the lights" monologue. His guitarist was shown and I believe he played on the 1980 LIVE IN MONTREUX DVD as well! Then there's the EGO TRIPPIN' OUT video he did on Dinah Shore's show with yet another female dancer. The single was included on 81's IN OUR LIFETIME LP, but apparently it was being promoted in 1979 for the LOVE MAN album, which never saw the light.



1981's highlight for me was HEAVY LOVE AFFAIR on FOLLLIES, a show out of Belgium where Marvin was living at the time. I had to pull out my LP after listening to it as I had forgotten how funky this song is! HEAVY (once again talks about him and Jan) has always reminded me of Rick James, everything from the music down to the phrasing of the lyrics!



Even added treats: in between songs, Marvin spoke about his life and his music, even at one point describing seeing his daughter Nona being born! There is also an acapella section where you watch the videos while listening only to his vocal track of 7 of his 60s hits!



Still a great DVD to own, although the IMPORT version has the entire Belgium concert (why must we Americans SUFFER!?!?!?!?!?)!



Reelin' and Universal...can't wait for the Temptations DVD! And PLEASE release the Belgium concert for us!!"

Americans deserve more than this incomplete release!

MC_5 | Seattle, WA United States | 07/08/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love Marvin and I was originally thrilled that a DVD of Marvin Gaye footage would be released. Most DVDs before of his feature later (late 70s/80s performances) or very very short clips of early performances. This one however has lots of earlier Marvin, which I was thankful for! The sound was also remastered, and it's excellent. Throughout the DVD, between the clips, there are little interview segments with Marvin (all except one seem to be from the 80s) from various talk shows which I had never seen before.



But I was quite disappointed though when I found out that the US version (the one you'd be buying from this page) does NOT include footage from 1981 concert in Belgium, which includes TEN complete songs, as well as an additional live version of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". The international version also includes a bonus audio CD, "Live In Holland, 1976".



Amazon's UK site offers the complete DVD along with the CD for about [...] American, if you are interested. Beware: there's a good chance a DVD from the UK might not be playable on your DVD player due to region coding. Argh, if only they had released the entire thing in the US!



Performances on this DVD:



1 - Hitch Hike (1964) (Includes an interview Dick Clark did with Marvin; it's very cute, and Marvin seems so shy!)

2 - Pride And Joy (1965)

3 - Can I Get A Witness (1965)

4 - Pretty Little Baby (1965)

5 - Ain't That Peculiar (1965)

6 - You're A Wonderful One (1965)

7 - Ain't No Mountain High Enough, with Tammi Terrell (1967)

8 - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1969) (Live at the Holly Wood Palace, and Marvin plays the piano!)

9 - What's Going On (1972)

10 - What's Happening Brother (1972)

11 - Come Get To This (1981)

12 - Let's Get It On (1981)

13 - Distant Lover (1979)

14 - A Funky Space Reincarnation (1979)

15 - Ego Tripping Out (1979)

16 - Heavy Love Affair (1981)



Three stars because, hey, it's Marvin and the footage is great. Minus two stars because if I buy a Marvin Gaye DVD, I want it all!"

Hopefully one of many to come

Soulboogiealex | Netherlands | 05/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marvin Gaye is one of the most legendary Soul singers of all time. Yet up on till now he didn't have a proper DVD release. A mistake that "The Real Thing" Justly corrects. The DVD paints a picture of how Marvin's career looked like on stage. Motown chose for a clips approach, which is probably best in Marvin's case. Marvin Gaye never liked to be on stage, never liked to be out there shaking his ass. It is known that Marvin only toured when he really had to. Gaye hit rock bottom financially a couple of times during his career and usually around those times he would be persuaded to tour in order to pay of his debts. This unwillingness to perform often showed on his live albums. In concert Marvin only reached the stellar heights he did in the studio, periodically. By taking the clip approach this DVD avoids that problem and manages to give us an insight in how his music developed over the years.



"The Real Thing" is pretty much a greatest hits overview. It starts out with young Marvin performing his first hit, Hitch Hike, and then continues thru the stellar Tammi Terrell duets to his later work. The clips stop where Marvin left Motown at Heavy Love Affair. All the way you can't help but marvel over the flexibility of his voice and the diversity of the material he's tackled over the years.



For those curious how an entire show of Marvin looked like, the DVD features a lot of great bonus material. Included is the full performance used in the Belgium documentary "Save the Children". We can only hope that Motown will one day decide to release this film entirely. As I recall its one of the better documentaries on Marvin Gaye around. Other bonus material is a nice and sometimes insightful interview and some a cappella versions of his biggest hits. Nothing essential but proper bonus material.



The sum in total makes a fun and great DVD. Let's hope Motown will make this a first in a series.

"

Elated to see Marvin

Shamontiel L. Vaughn | Chicago | 04/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I used to watch live performances of Michael Jackson and people would be falling all over the place. I'd always wonder "How in the world can you connect with an artist THAT much?" Those were the days before I was old enough to understand what music can do to someone's soul. Marvin Gaye makes my heart beat faster and my eyes water. I am CRAZY about that man's voice. When I walked into a bookstore, I snatched this DVD up so fast you would've thought I was on fast forward.

His voice is beautiful and the emotion that comes out of him is outstanding. The first six performances were frustrating for me to watch because it showed how strong segregation was. The audience was predominantly white and the atmosphere very stiff, but I wanted to hear his songs. Even in an audience that seemed to look at him as more of a puppet than respect him as an artist, he went into his own little world and boooooooy, did he sing those songs. When I got to #7 "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and saw his very lustful performance with Tammi Terrell...that was IT. It was what I'd been looking for all along. Those two looked like they wanted to get a room and stop the song, and I cracked up. I felt like I was sneaking and watching the performance, but they didn't know they were live. I'll tell you one thing...those two must've made one helluva couple!

Every single song he sang moved my spirit and made me dance around the room, but the two that stood out most to me were "What's Going On?" when they showed how black neighborhoods looked, how the war was treating the world, the bungalows reminded me of my old neighborhood, and he was so vulnerable in the song. The second song was my all-time favorite song in the world "Let's Get It On." HE DID THAT SONG! That man sang that song like a woman was standing right in front of him...I wonder what kind of actor he'd have made, because you couldn't tell me he wasn't doing one helluva an acting job imagining what he'd do to that woman. When he started whispering at the end like he was trying to coax her into going into the dark...wow.

There is no better R&B artist than Marvin Gaye, in my eyes. He has the soul, the heart, the spirit, the class, and the voice of an artist that could move through any decade and still be THE top artist. I really wish he'd have had the chance to do more songs...but I don't know what made his father do what he did and I'm not here to judge that. I didn't know him personally and can make no judgments about his personal business. But I do know, as an artist, there is no one I love more than Marvin Gaye."