Gaye’s adoration of his then wife Jan, half his age, oozes through every pore of his ’76 serenade. He’d met her while recording ’73’s Let’s Get It On, and if I Want You isn’t the nonpareil bedroom classic that album was, it’s pretty close. Chiefly conceived by Leon Ware and kind of co-opted by the increasingly reclusive Marvin, there’s enough ecstasy in the title song and “Come Live With Me, Angel” to keep the fillers afloat. Now over two discs with original masters, outtakes, single mixes, alternate vocals and a 28-page booklet (Ernie Barnes’ cover painting is a joy), it’s summer, it’s seduction, it’s 2am, it’s sunlight on water.
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