When I'm Alone I Cry: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->

{{Infobox album

| Name = When I'm Alone I Cry

| Type name = studioWhen I'm Alone I Cry

| Artisttype = [[Marvin= Gaye]]studio

| Cover artist = [[Marvin-cry.jpg Gaye]]

| Releasedcover = April 1,= 1964Marvin-cry.jpg

| Recordedalt = 1963–64 =

| Genre released = [[SoulApril music|Soul]]1, [[jazz]]1964

| Length recorded = 36:551963–64

| venue =

| Label = [[Motown Records|Tamla]]<br><small>TM-251</small>

| studio = unspecified studios in [[New York City]] and [[Chicago]]; vocals recorded at [[Graystone Ballroom]], [[Detroit, Michigan]]

| Last album = ''[[Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage]]''<br>(1963)

| genre = [[Soul music|Soul]], [[jazz]]

| This album = '''''When I'm Alone I Cry'''''<br>(1964)

| length = 36:55

| Next album = ''[[Greatest Hits (Marvin Gaye album)|Greatest Hits]]''<br>(1964)

| Label label = [[Motown Records|Tamla]]<br /><small>TM-251</small>

| producer = [[Clarence Paul]], [[William "Mickey" Stevenson]]

| Last album prev_title = ''[[Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage]]''<br>(1963)

| prev_year = 1963

| Next album next_title = ''[[Greatest Hits (Marvin Gaye album)|Greatest Hits]]''<br>(1964)

| next_year = 1964

}}

'''''When I'm Alone I Cry''''' is the third [[studio album]] by [[Marvin Gaye]], released in 1964. It was one of several attempts ofby the singer and his record company, [[Motown]], to make ahis name for himself as a [[jazz]] vocalist.

== Recording ==

After ''When I'm Alone I Cry'' was unsuccessful upon its release, Gaye finally balked under pressure to record more [[rhythm and blues|R&B]] and [[soul music|soul]] material. By the end of the decade he had become one of the best-selling and most revered soul artists of his generation.

The album includes ten [[traditional pop|pop]] and jazz [[standard (music)|standards]]; at Gaye's request, two of the songs were taken from [[Billie Holiday]]'s album ''[[Lady in Satin]]''. The [[backing track]]s were recorded by [[record producer|producer]] [[Clarence Paul]] in [[New York City]] and [[Chicago]], using [[arrangement|arrangers]] [[Jerome Richardson]], [[Melba Liston]], and [[Ernie Wilkins]]. Gaye [[overdub]]bed the vocal tracks after returning to [[Detroit]] from touring.<ref name="ritz">{{cite book | last=Ritz | first=David | title=Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye | publisher=Hachette Books | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-7867-3046-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAJLQW0oRlgC&pg=PA93 | access-date=2022-03-17 | page=93}}</ref>

== Critical reception ==

{{Album reviews

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = [[AllmusicAllMusic]]

|rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}} [{{Allmusic|class=album|id=r8066|pure_url=yes}} link]

|rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref name=AM/>

}}

Critic [[Richie Unterberger]] describes the album as "competently done, but{{nbsp}}... supper-club fare, in which Gaye comes off as a sub-[[Nat King Cole]] rather than his own man."<ref name=AM>{{cite web |title=Review by Richie Unterberger |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/when-im-alone-i-cry-mw0000118514 |website=AllMusic |access-date=17 March 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Gaye's biographer [[David Ritz]] says: "His ballad style remained self-conscious and restrained... The results were flat, though on the up-tempo numbers he swung effortlessly, demonstrating his natural feel for jazz."<ref name=ritz /> After ''When I'm Alone I Cry'' was unsuccessful upon its release, Gaye finally gave way to pressure to record more [[rhythm and blues|R&B]] and [[soul music|soul]] material. By the end of the decade, he had become one of the best-selling and most revered soul artists of his generation.

== Track listing ==

=== Side one ===

# "[[You've Changed (1941 song)|You've Changed]]" ([[Bill Carey (songwriter)|Bill Carey]], [[Carl T. Fischer|Carl Fischer]]) -– 3:33

# "I Was Telling Her About You" ([[Morris Charlap]], [[Don George]]) -– 4:48

# "[[I Wonder (1944 song)|I Wonder]]" ([[Cecil GrantGant]], Raymond Leaven) -– 3:46

# "[[I'll Be Around (1942 song)|I'll Be Around]]" ([[Alec Wilder]], [[William Engvick]]) -– 4:09

# "[[Because of You (1940 song)|Because of You]]" ([[Arthur Hammerstein]], Dudley Wilkinson) -– 3:34

=== Side two ===

# "[[I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)]]" ([[Fred E. Ahlert]], [[Roy Turk]]) -– 2:46

# "[[I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face]]" ([[Alan Jay Lerner]], [[Frederick Loewe]]) -– 3:32

# "[[When Your Lover Has Gone]]" ([[Einar Aaron Swan]]) -– 4:40

# "When I'm Alone I Cry" ([[Mickey Stevenson|Avery Vandenberg]], [[Morris Broadnax]], Fredericka Foreman) -– 2:47

# "If My Heart Could Sing" (Avery Vandenberg, Morris Broadnax) -– 3:20

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

{{Marvin Gaye}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1964 albums]]

[[Category:Marvin Gaye albums]]

[[Category:Albums produced by Clarence Paul]]

[[Category:Albums produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson]]

[[Category:Tamla Records albums]]

[[Category:English-language albums]]

[[Category:Vocal jazz albums]]

[[Category:Jazz albums by American artists]]

[[Category:Albums arranged by Ernie Wilkins]]

[[Category:Albums conducted by Ernie Wilkins]]

[[Category:Albums arranged by Melba Liston]]