Number 1's

Even the four-disc box set The Master couldn’t accommodate every great track Gaye recorded; after all, this was someone whose throwaway songs were better than most artists’ singles. Rather than try to sort out which songs are worthy of anthologizing, Number 1’s simply collects every Gaye song to hit #1 on either the U.S. pop or R&B charts. Though it’s hard to accept a collection that doesn’t include “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” or “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” the buying public was actually a first-rate judge of his material. It speaks to Gaye’s power as an artist that he could take a something as risqué as “Sexual Healing,” or as politically direct as “Inner City Blues” and bring it to #1. Besides the detailed mastering job, the greatest asset of Number 1’s is its refusal of linear chronology; instead, the music is sequenced like a good mixtape, according to mood and intuition. Listen to the heartbeat rhythm of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” segue into the mysterious strings of “I Want You,” or the hazy riff of “Inner City Blues” drift into the dreamy dedication of “You’re All I Need To Get By,” and you’ll start to see the thread that binds together a lifetime of soulful artistry.