The album includes ten [[traditional pop music|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">[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id{{cite book | last=aAJLQW0oRlgC&pg=PA93&dq=%22When+I%27m+Alone+I+Cry%22+gaye&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipi4S49ILOAhXHJcAKHWgNCLM4ChDoAQgxMAI#v=onepage&q=%22When%20I'm%20Alone%20I%20Cry%22%20gaye&f=falseRitz | first=David Ritz,| ''title=Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye",Da| Capopublisher=Hachette Press,Books | year=2009,p| isbn=978-0-7867-3046-9 | url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aAJLQW0oRlgC&pg=PA93 | access-date=2022-03-17 | page=93]}}</ref>
== Critical reception ==
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>[http{{cite web |title=Review by Richie Unterberger |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/when-im-alone-i-cry-mw0000118514 Review by Richie Unterberger, ''|website=Allmusic.com''].Retrieved|access-date=17 21March July2022 2016|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.
