The Norman Whitfield Sessions

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Marvin Gaye chronology
The Norman Whitfield Sessions

Greatest hits by Marvin Gaye
Released	1994
Recorded	1963 - 1969
Genre	R&B/soul/psychedelic soul/funk
Label	Motown
Producer(s)	Norman Whitfield
For Adults Only (1992)	The Norman Whitfield Sessions (1994)	The Very Best of Marvin Gaye (1994)

The Norman Whitfield Sessions is an aptly-titled look back at the gritty Norman Whitfield-produced sessions of soul singer Marvin Gaye's late sixties period as he moved away from teen pop-driven R&B smashes that made him a pop star in the early and mid portion of the decade and pushed to do more mature, grittier and funkier material as Whitfield guided the next direction of Gaye's career, the high point being the 1968 classic, "I Heard It through the Grapevine", which became Gaye's first international smash. Other hits during that period included the more upbeat "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby", the darker "That's the Way Love Is" and "The End of Our Road", Gaye's 1970 hit. Included in the collection includes a 1963 track Whitfield co-penned and produced with Gaye on his That Stubborn Kinda Fellow album, "Wherever I Lay My Hat", which became a soul standard and famously covered by British singer Paul Young and covers of rock songs such as "Groovin'", "Yesterday" and his top ten UK cover of the socially conscious ballad, "Abraham, Martin & John" and two Temptations covers ("Cloud Nine" and "I Wish It Would Rain"). This chronological look at the mostly-focused late period of Gaye's first decade would helped pave the way for Gaye's singular 1970s statements such as What's Going On, Trouble Man and Let's Get It On.