Critical Analysis of composition, performance and production techniques used in Marvin Gaye - Let
"Let's get it on" is a romance/sexual song written by the famous soul singer marvin gaye, and producer Ed Townsend. The song is originally in the key of Eb, and it follows a basic 4 chord pattern for most of the song. "Let's Get It On" features soulful and emotional singing by Gaye that is backed by multi-tracked background vocals, also provided by Gaye, along with the song's signature funky guitar arrangements. The track is in a 4/4 time signature, also known as "common time". The song features romantic and sexual lyricism, and funk instrumentation. While the track centers around simple chord changes, it has a smooth/eccentric type of rhythm to the chords that add to the songs soulful and sensual feel. The song is instantly recognised by many people by its signature 3 notes using a 'wah wah' effect to start the song. Marvin Gaye truly delivers soulful and emotional singing that is backed by multi-tracked background vocals, also provided by Gaye. The production of the song has captured the emotion that Gaye wanted to project fantastically, with the use of a clean guitar sound using a "wah wah" effect to truly bring the funk. There are some effects used on the vocals such as reverb, and also fading backing vocals in and out of the song. When performing the song live, (I used the performence from live in Montreux 1980) Marvin Gaye performs the song better than the studio recording. You can tell that he really commits himself to this song, enjoys it, and he projects the sensuality and romance fantastically. There is so much energy from himself and the band, that it's infectious. During the performance i have used, Gaye slows down the song towards the end and begins a little bit of roleplay of himself with a lady taking in the bedroom. He teases the crowd by removing his jacket and waistcoat, feeding off the sexual energy that the crowd gives him, and in turn, he gave them. Marvin Gaye was a master of projecting romance and sexuality, and his live performances are a testament to that.
"You wanna know" is a hard rock track in the key of B, written and composed by the British band Don Broco. The song is written in 4/4 and features a guitar heavy chorus (this is also used for the intro to the song) and a more relaxed verse featuring delay effects on the guitars.
The band uses two vocals for this song, the lead singer sings the verses which are much softer, with delay on guitar to compliment the singer in an almost trance like state. Now with the delayed guitar in the background in an hypnotic like state, nothing is overpowering his vocal, which puts all the focus on the lyrics of the song. After the verse they go into the pre chorus, just before they hit the chorus they stop for a moment of silence just before the chorus. The other vocalist takes over for the first lines of the chorus with an almost screaming quality to his vocal, while the heavily distorted guitars crash in. The guitar playing is very aggressive on the chorus, which really expresses the high energy of the track. The production for "You wanna know" has done a amplifying the high energy sound the song intends. This is done by using heavy distortion on guitar for the chorus with reverb added on top of that for an explosive sound. The verse features delayed guitars pairing up with reverb on the vocals to give the verses an almost ghostly/echo like feel. Reviewing the live version of the song (I used their performace from reading 2014) the band play the song a half step down from the album version. The band are great at putting on an energetic performance and making sure to get the audience involved through jumping and encouraging them to sing along with them. Everybody on stage are dancing and jumping around and making full use of the stage, which really opens up the performance to the audience. Overall they do a great job at bringing the track to life, while clearly having great fun and that feeling bleeds into the crowd, forming an explosive and high enrgy show.
