Spinster Records

RELEASE DATE: 9/17/2021

James Vincent McMorrow - Grapefruit Season EXPLICIT Config: LP VINYL: 1 BLACK Vinyl Disc, 180 Gram, in single pocket Gatefold jacket

RELEASE DATE: 9/17/2021

"Eros Ramazzotti stretches his wings and covers a wider variety of styles on his 1996 album Donde Hay Musica. This outing is much less rock-oriented than the previous Todo Historias. The album opens with the pop feel of the title track and never really ventures into the guitar-laden territory that dominated his previous effort. Standout cuts include the ballads "Yo Amare" and the beautiful "Casi Amor," as well as the album's closer "Buena Vida." Other high points include "Este Inmenso Show," which is upbeat, bears a hip-hop influence, and ends as a soaring, gospel-tinged number complete with a saxophone. "Yo Sin Ti" finds Ramazzotti exploring more Latin sounds, and the result is a pleasant, sunny, and breezy offering. "La Aurora" is also a good song, finding Ramazzotti sounding somewhat like Phil Collins." - Jose F. Promis, All Music

Release Date : 9/17/21

 

Legacy Records is beyond excited to announce the next volume, volume 16, of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg series!

The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy's highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series shines fresh light on the provocative new musical directions Dylan was taking as a songwriter and a recording artist from 1980 through 1985. In the early 1980s, while the music industry was grappling with the arrival of new trends and technology, from MTV to compact discs to digital recording, Bob Dylan was writing and recording new songs for a new decade, creating an essential new chapters in his studio catalog. Bob Dylan - Springtime In New York (1980-1985) celebrates the rich creative period surrounding Dylan's classic albums Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque with previously unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings, live performances and more.

In his liner notes for Bob Dylan - Springtime In New York, Damien Love writes, "And that's the real story of this gloriously untrammeled collection. The songs. The songs stripped free of trappings, tampering, passing tastes, and judgements. The songs broken down to the sound of people really doing this, right now, acting on instinct. The songs rough and rowdy, bruised and tender, joking and crying, nagging and striving and yearning. The songs were always there, and here they are still, keeping pace with us."

Release Date: 9/17/2021

SZA / GOOD DAYS - 12-INCH SINGLE - CONFIGURASHUN: 10" VINYL: 10" SINGLE, 1 Opaque Yellow Vinyl Disc, in standard 10" jacket, and white inner sleeve.

Release Date: 10/15/2021

Deluxe Edition, Gatefold LP Jacket, Colored Vinyl, Black, Silver

 Release Date: 10/1/2021

Deluxe Edition, 150 Gram Vinyl, Gatefold LP Jacket

Release Date: 9/24/2021

The Same Old Blood Rush with a New Touch is the debut studio album by American rock band Cute Is What We Aim For. Following the band's formation in early 2005, they posted demos on Myspace and PureVolume. These demos soon garnered attention from record labels. After a period of time, the group received a call from major label Fueled by Ramen founder John Janick, who signed the band. Vinyl description: Silver colored vinyl

The Rolling Stones —"A Bigger Bang Live On Copacabana Beach"

In front of 1.5 million people, one of the biggest free concerts in history, The Rolling Stones’ performance on February 18, 2006, in Rio de Janeiro was a historic event. Fully restored and remastered from their A Bigger Bang World Tour, this includes 4 unreleased tracks: “Tumbling Dice,” “Oh No, Not You Again,” “This Place Is Empty,” and “Sympathy For The Devil.” Gatefold Jacket, 180g 3LP (Green LP, Yellow LP, Blue LP.) Limited Edition.

BIGGER BANG LIVE ON COPACABANA BEACH [Multi Color 3 LPs]

2X Black Disc, Indie Exclusive, Autographed / Star Signed

Release Date: 9/24/2021

While spending time trying to conquer the audio of live-stream at home performances, I got better acquainted with my friend Adam McDaniel, an engineer and producer in Asheville, NC. Adam and I had known each other for years. When the band was a bit smaller I'd often rent his studio, Drop of Sun, for pre-recording / pre tour rehearsals. Summer 2020 was tough for many reasons. But Adam and his wife Emily opened their home to me and made it a safe space to create and let go. I had an idea to record some covers and bring some of the band into the mix, or add other players. I wanted to record 80's songs that I'd overheard walking the aisles at the grocery store, and I needed to laugh and have fun and be a little less serious about the recording process in general. I thought about completely changing some of the songs and turning them inside out. I'd heard "Gloria" by Laura Branigan for the first time at a family Christmas gathering and I was amazed at all the aunts who got up to dance. I imagined them all dancing and laughing in slow motion, and that's when I got the idea to slow the entire song down and try it out in this way. I felt that "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats could be reinterpreted to be about this time of quarantine and the fear of being around anyone or having too much fun. It made me wonder, is it safe to laugh or dance or be free of it all for just a moment? I know it's not really in my history to do something unintentional or just for the hell of it but my connection to these songs is pretty straightforward, I just wanted to have a little fun and be a little more spontaneous, and I think I needed to remember that I could!

Release Date: 10/22/2021

Every song is a nihilistic anthem, showcasing the different ways in which we have become a true plague to this planet - from a philosophical, religious but also ecological point of view. Mixed with the band's typical gothic vibes, sophisticated nods to literature, film and religion, and elaborate poetic lyrics, "Existence Is Futile" cements the band's undisputed status as one of the most influential extreme metal bands of our time - and you can even once again discover the voice of 'Pinhead' actor Doug Bradly on two tracks. So, if we're all going to perish in the fires of our own stupidity, we might as well have a suitably deranged and destructive soundtrack to do it by. Vinyl contains 2 bonus tracks

Release Date: 9/24/2021

It's been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture (impossible and absurd). But what about singing about movies?

Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine have paired up for a collaborative project that does just that. A Beginner's Mind is their debut album that contains 14 songs (loosely) based on (mostly) popular films. The source material is highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically effervescent-Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while it's songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms they are known for. Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for A Beginner's Mind. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for the same sense of wonder, wordplay, and intrigue that shape A Beginner's Mind. By transforming old films into vital new songs, Stevens and de Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a previously unconsidered vantage point-a new way of seeing and hearing-an exercise that's as necessary and relevant now as it's ever been.

Release Date: 9/24/2021

Vinyl LP pressing. 2021 release. It's been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture (impossible and absurd). But what about singing about movies? Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine have paired up for a collaborative project that does just that. A Beginner's Mind is their debut album that contains 14 songs (loosely) based on (mostly) popular films. The source material is highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically effervescent-Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while it's songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms they are known for. Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for A Beginner's Mind. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for the same sense of wonder, wordplay, and intrigue that shape A Beginner's Mind. By transforming old films into vital new songs, Stevens and de Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a previously unconsidered vantage point-a new way of seeing and hearing-an exercise that's as necessary and relevant now as it's ever been.

Release Date: 10/22/2021

For this one, Jack and Meg decamped to Memphis to record at the legendary Easley-McCain Studio and walked away with a bonafide classic. Unique for a White Stripes album, as it contains no covers, no guest musicians, no blues and no guitar solos, this album would be most of the world's introduction to the band.

While the video for "Fell In Love With A Girl" could've single-handedly raised the price of LEGO stock the other jams on here are momentous, from the fuzz distorted clarion call of album opener "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" to the finger-pointing accusations of "I Think I Smell A Rat" this album has everything you could ever want from the Detroit duo.

Cut directly from the original 1/4" master tapes, pressed on HEAVY 180-gram vinyl and lovingly ensconced in a beauteous Stoughton tip-on jacket...this album has never looked better, and perhaps, has looked markedly worse.

THE WHITE STRIPES - WHITE BLOOD CELLS - 20TH ANNIVERSARY LP

 Release Date: 10/1/2021

Complete, previously unreleased performance by the Grateful Dead on 180-Gram Vinyl with 10th Side Custom Etching, Limited Edition of 12,000. Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction, with mastering by Jeffrey Norman, Produced for release by David Lemieux.

One of the shortest-lived iterations of the Grateful Dead was the band that existed December 1971 through March 1972. Jerry, Bob, Phil, Bill, Pigpen, and Keith formed a formidable version of the Dead that only played a few shows together before Donna Jean joined as vocalist, and before Pigpen would depart the stage for good in June 1972. What this sextet lacked in quantity of shows it made up for with creativeness, power, and inspiration. When Pigpen rejoined the Dead on December 1, 1971, after a few months off during which Keith had joined as piano player, the band was now an unstoppably powerful live juggernaut it hadn't been since the height of the Primal Dead era in late 1968-1969. Widely considered one of the best shows from the Pigpen-Keith era of the Grateful Dead, December 10, 1971 in St. Louis has it all: Pigpen singing lead on four songs including an 18 minute version of Good Lovin' and a very rare performance of Run Rudolph Run; a deep dive into the Dead's psychedelic recent past with a monster version of The Other One; plus plenty of the new material from earlier in 1971 like Bertha, Loser, Sugaree, and Playing In The Band. They also hit upon much of the music that would appear the following year on Europe '72, such as Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed, Mr. Charlie, and One More Saturday Night. And no Dead show of this vintage would be complete without the "hits": Truckin', Sugar Magnolia, and Casey Jones all make appearances. This is truly one of the deepest, most dynamic, exciting, and accessible live shows in the entire Grateful Dead canon.

Grateful Dead/Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO (12/10/71) [Live](5LP)

Release Date: 9/24/2021

Colored Vinyl, Magenta, Black

Vinyl LP pressing. Jaime - the first solo album from Brittany Howard - has been reimagined by an astonishing cross-section of the five-time Grammy winners peers. Featuring fresh takes and remixes from Bon Iver, Childish Gambino, Common, Michael Kiwanuka, Little Dragon and more - Jaime Reimagined illuminates these songs in a brilliant and new light. Jaime was awarded four stars by Rolling Stone, MOJO and Q, named the Best Album of 2019 by NPR and nominated for a Grammy in the Best Alternative Music Album category.

Release Date: 10/1/2021

Indie Exclusive Colored Gold Vinyl

Brandi Carlile's new album, In These Silent Days, October 2021 via Low Country Sound/Elektra Records. It's the follow-up to her 2018 album By The Way, I Forgive You, and she recorded it at Nashville's RCA Studio A with producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings. Tim Hanseroth (vocals, bass), Phil Hanseroth (vocals, guitar), Cobb (guitar, percussion), Jennings (piano, organ, synth), Chris Powell (drums, percussion), and Josh Neumann (strings) all appear on the album, and Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius make a guest appearance, adding backing vocals to "You And Me On The Rock."

Release Date: 10/15/2021

LET IT BE - LP Packaging: 180-gram heavy vinyl. The Let It Be album has been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell. All the new Let It Be releases feature the new stereo mix of the album as guided by the original "reproduced for disc" version by Phil Spector and sourced directly from the original session and rooftop performance eight-track tapes. 180-gram heavy vinyl

Release Date: 10/1/2021

LOVE FOR SALE BENNETT & GAGA - Celebrating 10 years since they first recorded together, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga returned to the studio for another collaboration featuring the very best of the Cole Porter Songbook. Continuing the musical legacy that began with "Lady Is A Tramp, " followed by the GRAMMY winning album, Cheek To Cheek, this new recording captures the evolution of the singular creative and personal relationship of these two world famous artists. Tony, who turns 95 on August 3, 2021, has spent over 7 decades dedicated to performing the Great American Songbook and Lady Gaga who, with Tony by her side, renewed her love of the popular standard and redefined herself in the process. The album features duets as well as solo performances by both artists accompanied by Tony Bennett's quartet, The Brian Newman Quintet, along with big band and orchestral arrangements by Marion Evans and Jorge Callandrelli. LP Packaging: 180-gram heavy vinyl.

Release Date: 9/10/2021

Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed - 1 LP surprise color vinyl (collect all three). Kacey Musgraves' new album star-crossed is a bold, empowering, and personal series of songs that displays the 6x GRAMMY Award winner's continued growth as one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time. It's the follow-up to Golden Hour, which earned Musgraves her third No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and distinguished her as only the third artist ever to take home Album of the Year at the GRAMMY Awards, CMA Awards, and ACM Awards.

Release Date: 9/10/2021

Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed - 1 LP surprise color vinyl (collect all three). Kacey Musgraves' new album star-crossed is a bold, empowering, and personal series of songs that displays the 6x GRAMMY Award winner's continued growth as one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time. It's the follow-up to Golden Hour, which earned Musgraves her third No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and distinguished her as only the third artist ever to take home Album of the Year at the GRAMMY Awards, CMA Awards, and ACM Awards.

Release Date: 9/10/2021

Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed - 1 LP surprise color vinyl (collect all three). Kacey Musgraves' new album star-crossed is a bold, empowering, and personal series of songs that displays the 6x GRAMMY Award winner's continued growth as one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time. It's the follow-up to Golden Hour, which earned Musgraves her third No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and distinguished her as only the third artist ever to take home Album of the Year at the GRAMMY Awards, CMA Awards, and ACM Awards.

 

RELEASE DATE 12/3/21

Critically acclaimed soundtrack to Bo Burnham's Netflix musical comedy special INSIDE. Double vinyl LP features all the music from INSIDE, including "All Eyes On Me", "Welcome To The Internet" and "Bezos I". Shot and performed by Bo Burnham, alone, over the course of a very unusual year. Nominated for 6 Emmys including best variety series, writing, directing, song, musical direction, and editing. Standard weight black vinyl in gatefold packaging.

Release Date: 10/29/2021

"The dancer wants to get in a groove and stay there until he has exhausted his invention or his body. The timescale and momentum of any physical activity is vastly different from the attention span of listening."

Albert Goldman "A good remix is when the remixer's sonic fingerprint is present, without sounding forced. It should feel like it's own story, with at least some of the same characters as the original." Khruangbin The art of the remix has been around for several decades, from the fervid imaginations of JA pioneers like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid or King Tubby to the disco enthusiasts of New York, such as Tom Moulton, who bequeathed us the modern iteration of the remix and provided a template from which most remixers still work. Moulton's first commercial remix, a reworking of BT Express' appropriately-named 'Do It 'Till You're Satisfied', which stretched it from three minutes to a luxurious five, assisted the band in securing it's first Billboard R&B Number One, as well as providing a pathway for remixers like Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Richie Rivera and Tee Scott, to completely reinvent the concept of a remix (and in some instances, deconstructing the idea of what comprised a song). It has subsequently been used as a marketing tool, a dancefloor-devastator, a gimmick (both cheap and expensive) or even as a way of reaching a different audience (think Tori Amos' 'Professional Widow'). Khruangbin are no slouches when it comes to the remix themselves. They've been reworked before, in 2016, with the highly collectible EP on Boogiefuturo. But this time, they're taking it a step further with an album dedicated to the art. Entering the tight-knit world of a Khruangbin song can be a little daunting. They have created this entire universe in which the trio seem to function telepathically in the way the music is composed, arranged and played. To mess with their delicate eco-system can invoke feelings similar to that of an unwanted guest crashing a good-time party. "We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music," reassure Khruangbin. "There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves." The choice of remixers for this album is neither arbitrary nor accidental. They're not names picked randomly out of a hat or chosen via a throw of the dice. All have some connection to the band, sometimes personal friendships, musical connections, or simply mutual musical appreciation. Harvey Sutherland and Ginger Roots have both toured with the band, Kadhja Bonet and Ron Trent had their own mutual fan club going on, Knxwledge sampled 'White Gloves' on a recent mixtape, Natasha Diggs and Soul Clap's Eli's are recent buddy-ups, Quantic is a mutual friend of Bonobo (crucial in the KB origin story), while I've known Laura for number of years; plus she is also godmother to one of Felix Dickinson's kids. Doesn't get much more intimate than that, right? Some of these remixes were specifically made so you can dance your ass off while getting down to the Khruangbin sound, while some might better be appreciated horizontally with headphones on, wearing fashionably loose clothes. The choice is yours. But all were made with love and respect for Khruangbin. "A good remix deconstructs, recontextualizes, or simply extends a good time," say the band. Amen and out. Bill Brewster

Back to Black is the second and final studio album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. The album spawned five singles: "Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Back to Black", "Tears Dry on Their Own" and "Love Is a Losing Game". Back to Black was acclaimed by music critics, who praised Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson's production, as well as Winehouse's songwriting and emotive singing style.

At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, Back to Black won Best Pop Vocal Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year. At the same ceremony, Winehouse won four additional awards meaning that she ties with five other artists as the second-most awarded female in a single ceremony. Back to Black sold 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century. By 2013, the album had sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album built on ideas explored in earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their earlier work. Its themes explore conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by the deteriorating mental state of one of the founding members and early principal contributor, Syd Barrett.

Developed during live performances, an early version was premiered several months before recording began; new material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road in London. The group used some advanced recording techniques at the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers were prominent in several tracks, and snippets from recorded interviews with Pink Floyd's road crew and others provided philosophical quotations throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many distinctive sonic aspects and the recruitment of singer Clare Torry. The album's iconic sleeve was designed by Storm Thorgerson; following keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design, it depicts a prism spectrum, representing the band's lighting and the record's themes.

The Dark Side of the Moon was a commercial and critical success. It topped the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for a week and remained in the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. Following a change in methodology in 2009, the album re-entered the chart and has since appeared for over 900 weeks. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd's most successful album and one of the best-selling worldwide. It has been remastered and re-released several times, and covered in its entirety by several acts. It produced two singles, "Money" and "Us and Them". It is often ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Al Green's Greatest Hits is a 1975 greatest hits release by soul singer Al Green. The compilation has consistently ranked as one of the best executed 'greatest hits' albums in history. The album peaked at #3 on Billboard's Top Soul LPs and at #17 on the Billboard 200. Al Green is a soul/gospel singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including "Take Me to the River", "Tired of Being Alone", "I'm Still in Love with You", "Love and Happiness", and his signature song, "Let's Stay Together". Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Green was referred to on the museum's site as being "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music".

2013 album from the beloved Electronic French duo, their first proper studio album in eight years. In their 20-year history, Daft Punk have redefined Electronic music, pioneered the live dance concert experience and shaped Pop culture. Random Access Memories is Daft Punk's follow up to Human After All (2005). Random Access Memories is their most ambitious and epic release to date comprising 13 tracks and over 75 minutes long.

Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by English-American rock band the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock music. The album features Jimi Hendrix's innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and hard rock music.

By mid-1966, Hendrix was struggling to earn a living playing the R&B circuit as a backing guitarist. After being referred to Chas Chandler, who was leaving the Animals and interested in managing and producing artists, Hendrix was signed to a management and production contract with Chandler and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. Chandler brought Hendrix to London and began recruiting members for a band designed to showcase the guitarist's talents, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In late October, after having been rejected by Decca Records, the Experience signed with Track, a new label formed by the Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.

Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from late October 1966 through early April 1967. The album was completed in sixteen recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS, and Olympic. Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the charts, peaking at number two. The album was issued in the US on August 23 by Reprise Records, where it reached number five on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 106 weeks, 27 of those in the Top 40. The album also spent 70 weeks on the US Billboard R&B chart, where it peaked at #10. The US version contained some of Hendrix's best known songs, including the Experience's first three singles, which, though omitted from the British edition of the LP, were top ten hits in the UK: "Purple Haze", "Hey Joe", and "The Wind Cries Mary".

In 2005, Rolling Stone ranked Are You Experienced fifteenth on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They placed four songs from the album on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (17), "Foxy Lady" (153), "Hey Joe" (201), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (379). That same year, the record was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress in recognition of its cultural significance to be added to the National Recording Registry. Writer and archivist Rueben Jackson of the Smithsonian Institution wrote: "it's still a landmark recording because it is of the rock, R&B, blues ... musical tradition. It altered the syntax of the music ... in a way I compare to James Joyce's Ulysses."

Double vinyl LP pressing including digital download. Astroworld is the third studio album by rapper Travis Scott. It was released on August 3, 2018, by Cactus Jack Records, Epic Records and Grand Hustle Records. The album follows his second studio album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016), and his collaborative album Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho (2017) with Quavo. The album features guest vocals from Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, Drake, The Weeknd, James Blake, Swae Lee, Gunna, Nav, 21 Savage, Quavo, Takeoff, Juice Wrld, Sheck Wes and Don Toliver, among others. Production was handled by multiple producers, including Mike Dean, Allen Ritter, Hit-Boy, WondaGurl, Tay Keith, Tame Impala, Frank Dukes, Sonny Digital and Thundercat.

Is the fifth album by the American rock band The Eagles, a compilation of singles. Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) comprises nine best-selling singles released between 1972 and 1975.

Limited vinyl picture disc LP pressing. Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by Prince, the first to feature his backing band The Revolution, and is the soundtrack album to the 1984 film of the same name. Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the best albums in music history, and is widely regarded as Prince's magnum opus. Time magazine ranked it the 15th greatest album of all time in 1993, and it placed 18th on VH1's Greatest Rock and Roll Albums of All Time countdown. Rolling Stone ranked it the second-best album of the 1980s and 76th on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The first two singles from Purple Rain, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy", topped the US singles charts, and were hits around the world, while the title track went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified thirteen-times platinum (diamond) by the RIAA.

What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records-subsidiary label Tamla.

Gaye recorded the album between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California. It was his first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.

What's Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next and has been categorized as a song cycle; the album ends with a reprise of the album's opening theme. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye's introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issuesbefore the public outcry over them had become prominent.

 

• 1 What's Going on - Marvin Gaye, Cleveland, Al
• 2 What's Happening Brother - Marvin Gaye, Gaye, Marvin
• 3 Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky) - Marvin Gaye, Gaye, Marvin
• 4 Save the Children - Marvin Gaye, Cleveland, Al
• 5 God Is Love - Marvin Gaye, Gaye, Marvin
• 6 Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye, Gaye, Marvin
• 7 Right on - Marvin Gaye, Derouen, Earl
• 8 Wholy Holy - Marvin Gaye, Cleveland, Al
• 9 Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) - Marvin Gaye, Gaye, Marvin