There are few actions more audacious than naming your album “The Rebirth of Marvin”. Justifying it is one of them. When I saw people raving about a new release that sounded almost exactly like Marvin Gaye, I could only be intrigued. Of course, Gaye's catalogue has conceived many musical children through the generations - your Maxwells, D’Angelos, Janet Jacksons. But to sound exactly like him, right down to the falsetto? That’s basically unheard of.
Still, October London - singer, songwriter, producer and actor - is not the first voice we hear on The Rebirth of Marvin. Snoop Dogg opens the show on “Sensual Conversations” and acts as M.C., even giving a spoken-word outro on the wholesome “You Give Me Love”. For the uninitiated (i.e. myself), that is the first surprise on an album of many. London has been signed under Snoop Dogg since 2016, and when Snoop acquired Death Row Records in early 2022, he was immediately on the roster.
With one line, October London completely floored me. His voice is a mirror of Marvin Gaye’s, especially in his breathier falsetto. No song demonstrates that better than the opener, “Sensual Conversations”, which sounds like Gaye resurrected. Let your headphones bear testimony. I have to go back to the late 1960s R&B singer J.J. Barnes to find anyone close. “Sensual Conversations” is only 97 seconds long, but by the end of it, I was all in.
The rest of The Rebirth of Marvin does not disappoint. If all you knew of Marvin Gaye was “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing”, you would be forgiven for mistaking October London’s tenor for Gaye’s. For the more devoted Gaye fans, Rebirth becomes a fun game of ‘guess the influence’. “Back to Your Place” is “Distant Lover”’s not-so-distant cousin, “You Give Me Love” floats with the same breeziness as “My Last Chance”, and the soaring falsetto on “Rollercoaster” harkens back to the beautiful agony of “Sad Tomorrows”’. I’ll hear Trouble Man where you might pick up Here, My Dear. At times, these feel like the absolute closest to Gaye’s songs beyond outright covering them.
Other influences reveal themselves on this album. The relaxed horns which open “Rollercoaster” are reminiscent of Isaac Hayes’ slinky “Early Sunday Morning”. You might catch a faint glimpse of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” in the chords of the melodramatic “Actor’s Remorse”. The most dubious example is the closing track, “You Look Better”. Here, Marvin takes a back seat to Barry White, right down to the bassy spoken word passages (Editor's note: Or maybe to Isaac Hayes, for its instrumental borrows quite heavily from his 1979 track "A Few More Kisses to Go"). Unfortunately, I cannot say White wouldn’t have delivered some of these lines either.
But The Rebirth of Marvin offers much more than musical trainspotting. For one, the production is gorgeous, largely staying true to the live instruments and lush arrangements which defined Gaye’s seminal 1970s albums. October London’s backing vocals are meticulously layered and often sing in (sensual) conversation with him. London’s lower range betrays his vocal differences and reveals an engaging tenor in its own right. Latoiya Williams’ smoky and enchanting voice gives an edge to the gently pining “Mulholland Drive”, which first appeared on last year’s Snoop Dogg Presents Death Row Summer 2022. The only clunker is the aforementioned “You Look Better”, which pairs a fine nocturnal groove with lyrics that scan like parody (sample lines: “Oh, the love we made was pure and unknown / Let Daddy take control”).
Close as it comes, Rebirth cannot match Marvin Gaye’s songwriting. The lyricism is fine but lacks the pathos, sincerity and character that makes Gaye’s music so fascinating (though “your place of residence” is absolutely a turn of phrase he would’ve used). Gaye’s greatest conflict - one that consumed his life - was the internal struggle between his high-minded spirituality and unbridled sexuality, something he never fully reconciled. It’s this internal dichotomy which makes his work so open to reappraisal, decades after the fact. October London is clearly a dedicated student, but I don’t catch much of that struggle in The Rebirth of Marvin.
Those who found Silk Sonic gimmicky will likely find even more to scrutinise with this album. London is closer than anyone to recreating Marvin Gaye’s soundscapes, but the risk of that is teetering between “tribute” and “tribute act”. I don’t dispute London’s love or commitment; check out his 2016 cut “Color Blind”, where the differences between Gaye’s sampled
harmonies and October’s very own are nearly impossible to distinguish. Nor do I dismiss his versatility - he dropped a full-on house EP three weeks later. With Rebirth’s release, London wrote, “Dear Marvin, I’m not trying to be you … I just want to pay homage to you brotha.” But a more cynical eye might see London smoking cigarettes in the studio, donning the full Let’s Get It On apparel, and view this whole exercise as a costume. Coming away from The Rebirth of Marvin, I’m unsure how well I know October London as separate from Marvin Gaye. Though maybe that’s the point.
Ultimately, if your source material is one of the greatest artists of all time, you’re bound to come out with something outstanding. October London has inherited a generational gift - Marvin Gaye’s ethereal head voice and falsetto - and immersed himself in his classics to create a work that can hold its head up against them. If you’ve worn out Let’s Get It On and I Want You, this is the record for you. I have no doubt this will hold up among the best releases of the year, and if I still find London something of a musical enigma - his Spotify page reveals titles like Crypto Winter (The Dubstep/House Album) - nobody can doubt his serious talent and potential. I’m keen to see where London goes next, for he’s already just about managed the impossible: a Marvin Gaye album in 2023.
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