Vinyl Reports

A groundbreaking landmark album such as Marvin Gaye’s epic May 1971 Tamla LP What’s Going On would be a hard act to follow for most performers. But for this legendary soul artist, it proved to be an impetus for challenge and growth, which pushed the Motown icon to superstardom with his August 1973 epic hit Let’s Get It On, in turn setting the stage for his next masterpiece, March 1976’s I Want You (both also Tamla releases).

Gaye’s transition from the socio-political themes of What’s Going On to the more, ultimately, spiritual themes on its two core sequels was a stroke of genius. In many ways, all three of these albums fit together like a puzzle in many ways as a musical trilogy of sorts. Continuing the sexy, soulful long-form song-cycle format of its predecessors while embracing fresh funky flavors of the day, the strong, hit I Want You LP has gone on to become quite revered over the years — and now Tamla/UMe is feting it with a 50th anniversary Vinylphyle 180g 1LP edition alongside a separate 180g 2LP rarities edition titled, naturally, I Want You 2.

Buzz for I Want You has actually reignited in recent years, due in part to Kendrick Lamar’s sampling it in his popular late-2022 track, “The Heart Part 5.” Over the years, songs from this album have been sampled by Mary J. Blige, Method Man, and EPMD — and one of its key songs, “After the Dance,” has been covered by the likes of Prince, D’Angelo, Remy Shand, and El DeBarge. Meanwhile, the forever-iconic title track was covered by Madonna with Massive Attack. (Seriously, can you spell i-n-f-l-u-e-n-t-i-a-l?)

Given that the Vinylphyle series is still in its relative infancy, we’ve taken the time to explain its technical/creation process in a number of our other reviews for Vinylphyle reissues from the likes of The Beach Boys, Bob Marley, The Band, and Peter Frampton, and you can access them all right here if you want to dig deeper into how it’s all done.

Some stats now. I Want You features an all-analog (AAA) production chain, with new lacquers cut by Joe Nino-Hernes of Sterling Sound in Nashville from a 2025 1/2-inch 30ips safety copy of the 1976 “Assembled Master Reel” (as per the liner notes, and related promotional materials). The Vinylphyle edition includes new liner notes by songwriter/producer SaLaAM ReMi (Nas, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys) in conversation with Harry Weinger (the reissue’s supervisor).

The Vinylphyle series I Want You LP was pressed at RTI on 180g black vinyl. Sporting an SRP of $39.98, it can be ordered from uDiscover Music here. Its companion, non-Vinylphyle release, the I Want You 2 180g 2LP set, sports an SRP of $37.99, and it too can be ordered from uDiscover Music here. If you want to order both of them together as a bundle, the SRP for that combo is a quite reasonable $69.99, and you can order that package here.

It’s worth noting here some of the players contributing to the fresh sound of I Want You, including bass legends Chuck Rainey and Wilton Felder; recently departed drum/groove icon James Gadson (Bill Withers, Diana Ross, The Miracles); guitarists David T. Walker, Dennis Coffey, Ray Parker Jr., Melvin “Wah Wah” Watson; and many others.

Also, because percussion is so very important on I Want You, it’s worth highlighting the bongo and conga players who added so much to the album’s feel: 1) Bobbye Jean Hall, who previously played on “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” the third single from What’s Going On; and 2) Edward James “Bongo” Brown, one of Motown’s legendary session players known as The Funk Brothers who also played on Let’s Get It On, as well as on the title track to What’s Going On.

I Want You is also a complete audio/visual experience due to “The Sugar Shack” — the name for the incredible cover art by Ernie Barnes, which was handpicked by Gaye himself. It’s one of those paintings you can study for hours and still discover incredible nuance and fresh detail every time. This 1971 work had gained mass exposure when it was featured on the hit mid-’70s TV sitcom Good Times, and it was customized by Barnes for I Want You, no doubt working closely with Gaye.

“The Sugar Shack” is a remarkable work that captures a sense of rhythm and emotional bliss inherent in the album. The print quality of it on the Vinylphyle edition of I Want You is exemplary, looking richer and more balanced than on both of the original U.S. copies I have. (One is still in the original shrink wrap, but it too looks a bit washed out, comparatively speaking.)

As I often do when preparing my reviews of classic reissues, I like to get some sense of how in-demand a particular title is, underscoring the need for a quality option compared to buying an often hard-to-find, and often more expensive, original pressing.

I can certainly attest to the fact that it took me quite some time to find a near-perfect original copy of I Want You, many years back. As with many vintage rock, soul, and jazz albums, 1970s releases were often played on convenient but typically not-well-aligned automatic stacking record changers, resulting in scuffs and frequently distortion on the center tracks. Add to that the reality that, more often than not, these albums were played hard (and likely during parties or other mass gatherings), resulting in a wealth of what I call “well-loved” copies in the used marketplace.

Pristine copies are much more scarce. Taking a glance at Discogs, we see that only eight NM copies of I Want You are available at the time of this posting, and are selling here in the U.S. for between $50-$100.

So, a guaranteed great-sounding, mint-level, new audiophile edition of I Want You for about $40 seems like a smart choice, unless you absolutely need an original copy. I’ll put it this way: with this new Vinylphyle pressing in hand, I may well purge my own OG from the collection because I like it that much. (But I am getting ahead of myself here.)

It is worth noting that, in the mid-’70s, the Middle East oil crisis was on, and — with oil being a key ingredient to making vinyl — pressing quality often suffered. (For one thing, recycled vinyl was often rumored to be used instead, back in those days.) Even if you could find a nice OG copy of I Want You like I did, there will likely be more surface noise than not.

And that was exactly my experience when I played my clean original copy of I Want You as a reference listen with fresh ears. Sure, it sounded good, but listening more objectively/closely to it than I had in some time, there was some noise floor apparent. Also, I noticed that the music sounded rather constrained, as far as the stereo soundstage goes — compressed, even. This makes sense, and is very much in keeping with the mastering norms of the time (not to mention the needs of commercial radio, both AM & FM).

Accordingly, when I put on the new Vinylphyle edition of I Want You, I was fairly knocked out at just how much better the music sounded. Gone was that tight, compressed feeling, and instead, I heard a very open soundstage. The music sounded more wide-band and cinemascopic. The high end was immediately more vivid, and the low end richer. This of course was aided by its superior 180g RTI pressing on which the deep black vinyl was well-centered and supremely quiet, so the music should jump out of your speakers super-transparently, as they did mine.

It is worth noting that I Want You was the first recording made mostly at Gaye’s then-new Marvin Gaye Recording Studio, a.k.a. “Marvin’s Room Studio,” as well as at Motown Recording Studios, both of which were located in Hollywood. From what I’ve read online, the former seems to have also served as a dance club (!!) at one point, so it must have been an amazing environment — and that vibe certainly comes through in this recording.

When it comes to favorite tracks, I Want You is really one of those long-form albums you really just need to put on and listen to end-to-end, start to finish. While I don’t have particular fave tracks per se, I can point out some special moments — such as the lush vocal version of the title track that opens the album (Side One, Track 1). Its followup, “Come Live With Me” (Side One, Track 2), also is a sumptuous groover, with sweet percolating bongos adding to the soundscape.

A sense of rich ambience blossoms into full flower on “After the Dance” (Side One, Track 3) an instrumental that includes sparkly percussion and synthesizer soloing from Gaye himself, along with super-subtle orchestral strings. This is a preview for the companion, fascinating vocal version that closes the album (Side Two, Track 6) and feels like a completely different piece.

One of the then-surprising elements of I Want You is the use of —well, let’s call them, “sensual sound effects” on tracks like and “Since I Had You” (Side Two, Track 3). I Want You was something of a love letter to Gaye’s then soon-to-be second wife and the richness of their love, so these sounds are presented in a very positive light. Indeed, 50 years on, it plays back in a curiously non-erotic manner. For those who were affronted by Frank Zappa’s use of similar sound effects on some of his 1970s and early ’80s albums — albeit in very different contexts — please set your expectations accordingly.

Overall, I am very impressed and pleased with this new Vinylphyle edition of I Want You, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly to fans of this album and the late, great Marvin Gaye himself. The mastering is great. The sound is excellent. The packaging is exemplary. An almost perfect album in many ways, the whole affair wrapped up in this new edition is top-drawer. As to my ratings, I’m thus happy to give I Want You a 9.5 for Music, and the Sound on its new Vinylphyle reissue a 10. (AP editor Mike Mettler tells me that his Music rating for I Want You is a tick less than mine at 8.5, but his Sound rating mirrors my straight-up 10.)

And then there’s the first-time 2LP edition of the bonus tracks from the 2003 2CD Tamla/Motown Chronicles Deluxe Edition of I Want You that makes for a great companion to the new Vinylphyle audiophile pressing of the album proper. Simply called I Want You 2, all 18 tracks here are alternate takes and rarities, offering additional perspective into the core album’s music.

As a bonus, the package includes an exclusive lithograph of Marvin Gaye, new liner notes by Arin Ray, and a new 2026 mix of “I Want You” (LP2, Side Four, Track 5). All of these tracks clearly underscore just how much love and care went into making the album itself, which reportedly took many months to create.

The I Want You 2 2LP set is pressed on 180g vinyl (apparently in Mexico, per the printed stamp on the outer shrink wrap), and each disc comes housed in its own plastic-lined audiophile-grade inner sleeve. The album producers even recreated the period-accurate Tamla label design of the mid-’70s for this one.

After the sonic joy I experienced with the Vinylphyle edition of the main album, my expectations for I Want You 2 were set pretty high — perhaps too high (to borrow a phrase from Stevie Wonder). The album sounds pretty good, yes, but it clearly was made from a thinner-sounding digital source that doesn’t quite deliver the sonic punch for me personally. The music presents a bit harshly at points on the high end, delivering that sort of annoying high-end crunchiness that feels unnatural, and not part of the original recording.

I was also disappointed to find a significant pressing anomaly on one of my discs, which seems to be some kind of white paper or other plastic debris embedded in the opening of one of the grooves (see it for yourself above). I even tried cleaning that disc, but it would not come off, alas. Luckily, AP editor Mike Mettler confirmed for me that none of the four sides of his copy of I Want You 2 had a similar issue, so hopefully, mine is a one-off glitch.

There was a little surface noise at the start of one of its other sides, but nothing terrible or deal-breaking. The discs had a little minor warping, but nothing that impacted play — and fortunately, the discs were well-centered.

The liner notes, which also appeared in the original 2003 2CD set, are very insightful. And I do love the super-posh lithograph photo of Marvin Gaye (probably taken in England), walking from a no-doubt-chauffeured Rolls Royce. It is suitable for framing — but if you do that, you’ll want to make a photocopy of the excellent credits and tracking information for each song on the set that are printed on its flipside.

As for my ratings, I can give the Music here on I Want You 2 a solid 8, but the Sound must be dinged a bit down to a 7, due to the digital-flavored sound profile and pressing anomaly on my copy. (AP editor Mettler agrees with the 8 Music rating, but he ratchets up his Sound rating to an 8 since his LPs didn’t experience the issues mine did.)

My final take is that if you must have I Want You 2 on vinyl, the $37.99 price point is indeed fair enough — but just go into it expecting a more “standard” listening experience.

MARVIN GAYE
I WANT YOU
180g 1LP (Tamla/Motown/UMe)
MUSIC: 9.5
SOUND: 10

Executive producers: Berry Gordy, Marvin Gaye
Producers/co-producers: Leon Ware, Marvin Gaye, Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, Hal Davis
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Marvin Gaye Recording Studio and Motown
Recording Studios, Hollywood
Original mix/mastering by Art Stewart
Artwork by Ernie Barnes
Vinylphyle vinyl pressed at RTI
Vinylphyle disc mastering (lacquers) by Joe Nino-Hernes, Sterling Sound, Nashville
Vinylphyle reissue supervision by Harry Weinger

Side One
1. I Want You
2. Come Live With Me Angel
3. After The Dance (Instrumental)
4. Feel All My Love Inside
5. I Wanna Be Where You Are

Side Two
1. I Want You (Intro Jam)
2. All The Way Around
3. Since I Had You
4. Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again
5. I Want You
6. After The Dance

MARVIN GAYE
I WANT YOU 2
180g 2LP (Tamla/Motown/UMe)
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 7

Executive producers: Berry Gordy, Marvin Gaye
producers/co-producers: Leon Ware, Marvin Gaye, Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, Hal Davis
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Marvin Gaye Recording Studio and Motown
Recording Studios, Hollywood
Original mix/mastering by Art Stewart
Artwork by Ernie Barnes
Vinyl (probably) manufactured at Conectiv, Mexico

LP1, Side One
1. I Want You (Vocal & Rhythm)
2. Come Live With Me Angel (Alternate Version)
3. After The Dance (Instrumental)
4. Feel All My Love Inside (Alternate Version)

LP1, Side Two
1. I Wanna Be Where You Are (Alternate Version)
2. I Want You (Guitar Jam)
3. All The Way Around (Alternate Vocal)
4. Since I Had You (Alternate Version)
5. Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again (Alternate Version)

LP2, Side Three
1. I Want You (Jam) (Undubbed)
2. After The Dance (Vocal)
3. I Wanna Be Where You Are (After The Dance)
4. You Are The Way You Are (Instrumental)

LP2, Side Four
1. Is Anybody Thinking About Their Living?
2. I Want You (Vocal) (Promo Only Version)
3. I Want You (Instrumental)
4. Strange Love (Feel All My Love Inside) (Instrumental)
5. I Want You (ROCMIX)*

*previously unreleased