Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
Marvin Gaye (live sides), Art Stewart ("Got To Give It Up")
Performer / Orchestra
Marvin Gaye's touring band and background vocalists (as credited)
Musicians
Marvin Gaye (vocals, keyboards, RMI bass synthesizer), Florence Lyles (duet vocals on Medley III), Bugsy Wilcox (drums), Chuck Bynum (lead guitar), Terry Evans (rhythm guitar), Michael Stanton (electric piano), Odell Brown (organ, synthesizer), Fernando Harkness (saxophone), Nolan Smith (trumpet), Elmira Amos (percussion), Frankie Beverly (milk bottle and spoon percussion, uncredited on labels), Jack Ashford (tambourine), Frankie Gaye and Jan Hunter (background vocals), Bobby Gant and Wally Cox (backing vocals), Art Stewart (engineer/producer on "Got To Give It Up")
Matrix / Runout
Side A: T7-352R2-2697-S-C07
W Ja-1
22059
Side B: T7-352R2-2698-S-07C
Ja W
22059-X
Side C: T7-352R2-2699-S-07E
Ja W
22060
Side D: T7-352R2-2700-S-07B
22060-X
W
Condition
Cover
VG
Vinyl
VG+
Variant chronology
1977 - US Tamla T7-352R2, brown/gold globe label, contract-plant pressing (Monarch/Wakefield/Columbia/PRC runout variants) <- this copy
This Pressing
Original US press (1977) - Tamla T7-352R2 brown/gold globe label; 'W' deadwax etch identifies a Wakefield Manufacturing (Phoenix) pressing.
The Album
Recorded in October 1976 at London's Palladium during a triumphant European tour, this live document caught Marvin Gaye newly free of the stage fright that had kept him largely off the road for years, performing with renewed confidence and showmanship. Three sides survey his career in revue form: recent material, then two extended medleys spanning his 1960s Motown hits and his early-70s message-music era, and a third medley of his classic duets with guest vocalist Florence Lyles standing in for Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross. The fourth side breaks format entirely with a new studio recording, "Got To Give It Up," a sparse, extended party jam Gaye built after Motown pushed him toward the disco era; it became one of the biggest hits of his career, topping pop, R&B and dance charts. Released in March 1977, the double album arrived at the commercial peak of Gaye's career, bridging the sensuality of Let's Get It On and I Want You with the raw confession of the forthcoming Here, My Dear, and it went on to double-platinum sales. Critics were unusually receptive to a live album of this scale, praising both the concert sides' polish and the audacity of closing out a live record with a full studio side. Decades later its legacy took an unexpected turn when "Got To Give It Up" became the centerpiece of the landmark "Blurred Lines" copyright litigation, reasserting the song's cultural footprint.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Intro Theme
2. All The Way 'Round
3. Since I Had You
4. Come Get To This
5. Let's Get It On
Side 2
1. Trouble Man
2. Medley I: Ain't That Peculiar / You're A Wonderful One / Stubborn Kind Of Fellow / Pride And Joy / Little Darling (I Need You) / I Heard It Through The Grapevine / Hitch Hike / You / Too Busy Thinking About My Baby / How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
3. Medley II: Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) / God Is Love / What's Going On / Save The Children
Side 3
1. Medley III (with Florence Lyles): You're All I Need To Get By / Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing / Your Precious Love / It Takes Two / Ain't No Mountain High Enough
2. Distant Lover
3. Closing Theme
Side 4
1. Got To Give It Up
The Label
This copy shows the mid-to-late-1970s Tamla design: a brown upper panel with the gold Tamla globe logo in a cream box, a yellow lower field, and rim text reading "A Product of Motown Record Corp." This design superseded the earlier black "globe on map" Tamla label around 1975 and remained in use until Motown began folding artists onto the plain Motown label in the early 1980s. The mixed 1976/1977 copyright lines across the four sides track the October 1976 concert taping versus the later-finished studio side, and the T7-352R2 number with job numbers 2697-S through 2700-S matches the March 1977 first-issue run. This title was pressed concurrently by several contract plants (Monarch, Wakefield, Columbia/CTH, PRC) distinguished by runout suffixes; the etched 'W' on this copy points to Wakefield Manufacturing (Phoenix), one of the original-pressing plants rather than a later reissue.
Fidelity
Mastering is uncredited on the jacket and labels, as is typical for late-70s Motown product of this scale; this copy was pressed by Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix, a competent but not top-tier Motown contract plant compared with Columbia's or RCA's better facilities. The album is a heavily produced, sweetened live document overall, with the stripped-down studio cut of "Got To Give It Up" standing out as the sonic highlight of the set. No audiophile reissue series (Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity, Tone Poet or similar) has ever tackled this title, so original US pressings like this one remain the reference cut; the 2013 UMe/Motown reissue, sourced digitally, sits below any well-preserved original vinyl pressing regardless of plant.
Notes
1977 Tamla T7-352R2 double LP - original US pressing. The mid-70s brown/gold Tamla globe label with "A Product of Motown Record Corp." rim text is the correct original-issue design, and the mixed 1976/1977 copyright lines match the known live-recording/studio-completion timeline. The etched 'W' in the deadwax on all four sides identifies the Wakefield Manufacturing plant (Phoenix), one of several contract plants (also Monarch, Columbia, PRC) documented for this pressing; job numbers 2697-S through 2700-S align with the March 1977 release. No promo markings, record-club text, or reissue indicators are present.
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