NEW LP
New sealed copy. 2018 stereo reissue.
In the Groove is the eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, in which during that interim, the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of Gaye's recording of the same name, which had been released as a single from the original album.
Instead of releasing "Grapevine" as a single, Motown issued the Ivy Jo Hunter-produced "You", which was recorded after "Grapevine". The single was released in December 1967, eight months prior to the release of the album. The song showcased Gaye hollering in falsetto for the first time. The single would peak at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 7 on the Hot-Selling Soul Singles.
In the Groove was eventually released in August 1968 accompanied by a second single, "Chained". The single would eventually peak at number 32 on the pop chart and number 8 on the R&B chart. The song was still climbing the charts when radio deejays began playing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". When Gordy finally allowed the release of Gaye's version of "Grapevine", the song blew up on the charts upon its October 1968 release. By the end of the year, the song had hit number-one on both the Hot 100 and the Hot-Selling Soul Singles charts and by 1969 had reached number one on the UK Singles chart becoming Gaye's first international smash and outselling the Gladys Knight & The Pips version of the song, thus becoming the most successful Motown single to date. However, when Gaye heard about its success, he acted coldly to it due to his depressed state over Tammi Terrell. He later told a biographer he felt the song's success was "undeserved".
After the single's commercial success, Motown re-released the album as I Heard It Through the Grapevine and, as a result, the album shot up to number 2 on the R&B albums chart and peaked at number 63 on the pop albums chart, his biggest selling album to date. The album also marked Gaye's first attempts at producing himself in the studio with his own self-penned songs, the funky gospel dancer, "At Last I Found a Love", and the smoother "Change What You Can". Though Whitfield only produced one song on the album (producers included Ivy Jo Hunter, Ashford & Simpson and Frank Wilson), Gaye and Whitfield would embark on a two-album collaboration.
TRACKLIST:
A1 You
A2 Tear It On Down
A3 Chained
A4 I Heard It Through The Grapevine
A5 At Last (I Found A Love)
A6 Some Kind Of Wonderful
B1 Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
B2 Change What You Can
B3 It's Love I Need
B4 Every Now And Then
B5 You're What's Happening (In The World Today)
B6 There Goes My Baby
