VIA PRESS RELEASE | UMe announces a suite of new physical and digital releases celebrating the 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s No. 1 album, I Want You, out now.
The first highlight is a Vinylphyle premium vinyl reissue of the original album, the latest entry in a series of critically acclaimed audiophile releases which launched at the end of last year. As with all releases in the Vinylphyle series, lacquers were cut from the original analog tapes and pressed at 180gm at RTI, with the jacket, featuring its now-iconic cover by Ernie Barnes, a tip-on gatefold with reproductions of the original tape boxes and a new essay, this time a conversation with producer/ songwriter/ entrepreneur Salaam Remi. (More on him below.) Order HERE.
In tandem, UMe will unveil I Want You 2, a special 2LP set featuring bonus tracks, alternate takes, rarities first issued on CD in 2003, and now on vinyl for the first time with an additional new mix of the title song. Pressed on 180g vinyl, the packaging houses an exclusive lithograph, introductory liner notes by acclaimed Cincinnati-born R&B artist and sought-after songwriter Arin Ray (Chris Brown, John Legend). Order HERE.
Also arriving today is a stunning and spirited new digital remix of “Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again” by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Salaam Remi (Nas, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys). “I’ve been listening to I Want You repeatedly in different ways for most of my life and have gotten a perspective of it over time,” Remi writes in the Vinylphyle release’s liner notes. “I realized this album is when I realized my adulthood… [it] gives me all the things I look for in music.”
The powerhouse producer continues to cherish “Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again” as intrinsic to his own musical DNA. “‘Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again’ is my favorite song ever, the number one played song in my life,” he adds. “You feel the layers and complexity of Marvin from the soles of your feet to the crown of your hair.”
This month’s celebration of I Want You also includes the March 27 release of “I Want You Remixed,” a three-track digital EP which opens with a fresh Afro-beat take by TimaLikesMusic. The award-winning keyboardist, vocalist, band leader, composer, producer and creator infuses the song with a rush of energy, accenting the classic production with 21st century R&B synth-craft, intergalactic keys and future funk mojo.
A new mix by ROC.am, a leading mix engineer, producer and artist, refashions “I Want You” as Marvin Gaye in his bag, alone at the piano, a remarkable re-interpretation that is also included on the I Want You 2 vinyl set. Rounding out the EP is the song’s John Morales “M+M Main Mix,” a recent, jaw-dropping old-school-styled remix that has garnered millions of streams.
Gaye first released I Want You 50 years ago, on March 16, 1976. It was his first studio follow-up to 1973’s watershed GRAMMY® Hall of Fame album, Let’s Get It On, and his first to be recorded at his own custom studio, now known as “Marvin’s Room,” on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Marvin co-produced the album alongside Leon Ware (Michael Jackson, The Miracles, Minnie Riperton, who co-wrote most of the album’s tracks and later that year issued on Motown his own complementary LP to Marvin’s, Musical Massage), and Arthur “T-Boy” Ross (Michael Jackson, Diana Ross).
The sessions yielded such staples as “Come Live With Me Angel,” “I Wanna Be Where You Are” (a brief cover of the Michael Jackson hit), “Since I Had You,” and “After The Dance,” a top 15 R&B hit that in instrumental form picked up a Best R&B Instrumental Performance GRAMMY® nomination. (In 1991, it became a #2 R&B hit in a notable cover by jazz-pop supergroup Fourplay featuring El DeBarge on lead vocals). Powered by warm, live instrumentation, sensual vocal delivery and inimitable magic, the album peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B Albums Chart and #4 on the Billboard 200.
“I Want You” remains the album’s indisputable pièce de resistance. It was nominated for a Best R&B Male Vocal Performance GRAMMY®, reached #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs Chart, #10 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified Gold by the RIAA. With its irresistible funkified groove and simmering disco spark, it has endured as a signature anthem, with more than 100 million streams and counting.
Kendrick Lamar famously incorporated a sample and interpolation of “I Want You” into “The Heart Part 5.” Madonna joined forces with Massive Attack for a cover of the song on Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye and her own 3x-Platinum compilation Something to Remember in 1995. In February of this year Jose James and Lizz Wright paid tribute to the overall album in a pair of special concerts.
Pitchfork fittingly summed up I Want You as “one of the sexiest albums in music history.” Experience desire, longing, and love on I Want You.
