Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On [Stereo] (Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2 Series Half-Speed Mastered Edition)

Marvin Gaye Let's Get It On on Numbered Limited-Edition 180g 33RPM LP from Mobile Fidelity: Audiophile Version Is Out of Print

1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master to DSD 64 to analog console to lathe

Let’s get it on... With those four simple words, Marvin Gaye transformed soul music. Here is the sensual touchstone for all of the erotic R&B and slow jams that followed, an album that embraces carnal delights and encourages romantic affairs. Rarely has an artist more explicitly and effectively spelled out his goals.

“I don’t believe in overly moralistic philosophies. Have your sex, it can be very exciting, if you’re lucky. I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky.”

So wrote Gaye in the 1973 record’s liner notes. And who are we to disagree? True to that spirit, Mobile Fidelity has gone back to the original analog tapes and delivered the most silky, smooth, and seductive version of Let’s Get It On made. This is the pressing you’ve been waiting for, the version that does everything for you but turn down the lights and draw the shades. Seduction, passion, and pleasure don’t get any more automatic.

A lustful bookend to 1971’s What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On took shape after the vocalist changed his approach while singing the classic title song. Originally intended to be a tune about moving on with life, Gaye turned it into a paean to sexual craving and consummate desire after taking notice of Janis Hunter, a studio visitor that ultimately became the Motown legend’s second wife. The mood, feel, and tone of the record took off from there.

As for Gaye’s first wife, Anna Gordy, the album-closing “Just to Keep You Satisfied” is widely seen as the singer’s farewell to her. Like they say, when one door closes, another opens. Etched with tempting grooves and Gaye’s deep tenor, Let’s Get It On caused an untold number of, um, doors, to swing wide open.