Released on Motown Records subsidiary Tamla in 1971, What’s Going On wove a narrative from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country and finding hatred, suffering, and injustice taking over. The record remained in Billboard’s Top LPs chart for over a year and earned Gaye his second No.1 album on the Soul LPs chart, remaining in the top spot for nine weeks. In the decades since, it has topped many Greatest Albums Of All-Time lists, most recently for Rolling Stone in 2020.

Vinyl 50th Anniversary Edition Of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going

Original mono mixes of all six singles and their B-sides also appear, with their 7” versions on vinyl for the first time since their original releases. Among them are alternate versions of “God Is Love” and “Flying High (In The Friendly Sky).”