Vulnerable

about this album

Vulnerable is the third posthumous album by Marvin Gaye. Recorded in sessions throughout 1977, the album was a decade in the making, first being worked on in 1968 during sessions in New York with Bobby Scott. Reworked by Gaye a decade later, the album was originally going to be released in 1979 under the title, The Ballads, but was shelved. Two decades later, Motown released it under the title Vulnerable, including seven songs from the sessions and three alternate cuts. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

why this is interesting

This compilation invites listeners into Gaye's creative process across a transformative decade. What emerges is a portrait of an artist wrestling with artistic vision—beginning with collaborator Bobby Scott's arrangements in 1968, then fundamentally reimagined by Gaye himself in 1977. The album's delayed release means we encounter material existing in perpetual flux, never quite as Gaye initially conceived it or as he later reconceived it. This tension between intention and circumstance becomes the work's central interest. Rather than presenting a finished statement, the album documents how an artist refines sensibility over time, making it essential for anyone curious about creative evolution and the stories behind recorded music.

tracks

more from Marvin Gaye

United

What's Going On

Let's Get It On

Midnight Love

The Very Best of Marvin Gaye

In The Groove