1973

I been really tryin' baby...

A lot of emotions are too powerful to get just right in art without making people feel uncomfortable, and wanting to fuck the shit out of someone just happens to be one of them. If "Let's Get It On" has a flaw, it's that it's too good at what it does, and making the perfect song about sexual desire immediately renders it useless when related to sexual desire. So it's near impossible to put on "Let's Get It On" and then proceed to do just that (unless, of course, you and your partner have a healthy sense of humor). But the song is so damn good, so damn sexy, that it becomes what it is talking about. Maybe people like crying to songs about crying and dancing to songs about dancing, but in this case, the two have to be separated. "Let's Get It On" is getting it on.

Marvin's work has also been ruined by cheesy joke uses in advertising, which seems to be the running theme in this mix. "Who's That Lady," "The Big Payback," and "20th Century Boy" have all been reappropriated and overused in a number of commercials. Plus, "Stuck In The Middle With You" is forever associated with ear cutting, and "I Can't Stand the Rain" was lifted in its near entirety by Missy Elliot. It's a shame, because all of these songs stand on their own as great tracks, and some of them have probably been almost ruined. Only with a real open ear out of the contexts they've been unfairly placed in can these songs stop being the novelties they were never meant to be and start being great songs again.

I also want to mention Pink Floyd's "Money," from the still-charting Dark Side of the Moon and The Stooges' "Search and Destroy," from the still-dangerous Raw Power. Both records are still definitive today, and even if they aren't the greatest work from the two groups, these songs really merged the defining sounds of the times with the kind of lasting power that really embodies what these mixes are all about.

Here is the mix and the tracklisting. Enjoy.

The mix.

1. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye - 4:51
2. Call Me - Al Green - 3:04
3. Who's That Lady - The Isley Brothers - 5:36
4. Apache - Incredible Bongo Band - 4:54
5. Cosmic Stop - Parliament - 5:17
6. The Big Payback - James Brown - 7:41
7. Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel - 3:23
8. Ramblin Man - Alman Brothers Band, The - 4:42
9. Baby's On Fire - Brian Eno - 5:19
10. 20th Century Boy - T Rex - 3:35
11. Search And Destroy - The Stooges - 3:29
12. Money - Pink Floyd - 6:22
13. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan - 2:29
14. You're So Vain - Carly Simon - 4:18
15. Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley - 3:16
16. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder - 3:42
17. I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles - 2:31
18. Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips - 4:35