Here, My Dear

iTunes Review

Few albums have a backstory as bizarre as 1978’s Here My Dear. Unable to afford the divorce from his first wife Anna Gordy (sister Motown chief Berry Gordy), Marvin Gaye arranged to give her half the royalties from his next album as a form of alimony. Full of spite for his wife and his record label, Gaye intended to record a lazy, appalling album, but during the process he found himself unable to shut out his true emotions. Therefore Here My Dear ended up being a deeply personal rumination on his marriage. It exudes both anger and relief, and at the same time Gaye appears intoxicated by the memories of years past. In many ways, it is a brooding, depressive album, yes the recordings also have a spacious, warm tone, as if Marvin is opening the door and inviting the listeners to share his private space. It is the most unmitigated testimonial of Gaye’s career, and large parts of the album feel improvised, as if Gaye is living out his feelings in real time. Here My Dear is sober, and at times frighteningly realistic, even as it opens into the celestial planes of “Anna’s Song,” “I Met a Little Girl” and “Falling In Love Again.”