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''I Want You'' is the fourteenth studio album by American soul musician Marvin Gaye, released March 16, 1976, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place throughout 1975 and 1976 at Motown Recording Studios, also known as Hitsville West, and Gaye's personal studio Marvin's Room in Los Angeles, California. The album has often been noted by critics for producer Leon Ware's exotic, low-key production and the erotic, sexual themes in his and Gaye's songwriting. The album's cover artwork adapts neo-mannerist artist Ernie Barnes's famous painting ''The Sugar Shack'' (1971). ''I Want You'' consisted of Gaye's first recorded studio material since his highly successful and well-received album ''Let's Get It On'' (1973). While it marked a change in musical direction for Gaye, departing from his trademark Motown and doo-wop-influenced sound for funky, light-disco soul, the album maintained and expanded on his previous work's sexual themes. Following a mixed response from critics at the time of its release, ''I Want You'' has earned retrospective recognition from writers and music critics as one of Gaye's most controversial works and influential to such musical styles as disco, quiet storm, R&B, and neo soul. == Background == By 1975, Marvin Gaye had come off of the commercial and critical success of his landmark studio album ''Let's Get It On'' (1973), its successful supporting tour following the album's release, and ''Diana & Marvin'' (1973), a duet project with Diana Ross. However, similar to the conception and recording of ''Let's Get It On'', Gaye had struggled to come up with an album as an appropriate follow-up. And much like ''Let's Get It On'' Gaye reached for outside help, this time seeking the assistance of Leon Ware, a singer and songwriter who had found previous success writing hits for fellow Motown alum, including pop singer Michael Jackson and the rhythm and blues group The Miracles.〔Ritz (2003), pp. 2-3.〕 Ware had been working on songs for his own album which he would later issue under the title ''Musical Massage'', a collection of erotic singles Ware had composed with a variety of writers, including Jacqueline Hillard and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross, brother of Diana Ross.〔 When Motown CEO Berry Gordy paid a visit to Ware, the songwriter was more than happy to play Gordy his selection of tracks. After hearing a preliminary mix of the songs however, Gordy figured that Ware should let Gaye handle his material.〔 While the majority of the album's songs were conceived by Ware, ''I Want You'' was transformed into a biographical centerpiece for Gaye, who was then in a volatile marriage with Anna Gordy, sister to Berry Gordy, and also in a long-standing affair with Janis Hunter, who would later become the mother of his two youngest children.〔 Gaye and Hunter were introduced to each other by producer Ed Townsend in 1973 at Hitsville West, while Townsend and Gaye were recording ''Let's Get It On''. In his book ''Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons of Marvin Gaye'', the author and music writer Michael Eric Dyson elaborated on the relationship between ''I Want You'' and Gaye's affair with Hunter: "''I Want You'' is unmistakably a work of romantic and erotic tribute to the woman he deeply loved and would marry shortly, Janis Hunter. Gaye's obsession with the woman in her late teens is nearly palpable in the sensual textures that are the album's aural and lyrical signature. Their relationship was relentlessly passionate and emotionally rough-hewn; they played up each other's strengths, and played off each other's weaknesses."〔Dyson (2005), p. 164.〕 Though it was often hinted that ''Let's Get It On'' was the album Gaye had dedicated to her, Marvin has stated that this album was dedicated to Hunter, who is believed to have been in the studio when he recorded it. According to music critics, her presence may have increased the emotion in Ware's and Gaye's conception of ''I Want You'', .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「I Want You (Marvin Gaye album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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