From Amazon.com
The second Marvin Gaye tribute album assembled by Motown within a five-year period,
Marvin Is 60 brings little to the table but faithful renditions of its 13 selections. While many of the artists present owe obvious debts to the singer, only a couple are able to do more than hint at Gaye's greatness: for instance, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo do a charming if hardly earthshaking cover of the Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "Your Precious Love." Jon B and new Motown-signed
Profyle lay down note-for-note copies of
What's Going On treasures, while dull-edged romancers such as Brian McKnight and Will Downing do the same for classics from
Let's Get It On. Finally, Zhane's weak-voiced take on "Got to Give It Up" illuminates Gaye's own record by reminding us just how much he could do with a little falsetto breathiness. Anyone looking to understand Gaye's genius would do better with a copy of the box set
The Master.
--Rickey Wright
