I beg you to do a Google search for his isolated vocal track for "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." Effortless and perfect.
I think he's probably the best soul vocalist in the genre's short history and I can't really imagine anyone being as good as Gaye was. It makes even more tragic that Gaye wound up with a heavy cocaine problem, money issues and his inexplicable death at the hands of his father.
I think What's Going On and Let's Get It On are the superior albums, but all three characterize Gaye in a lot of ways. After an extremely successful debut in the Motown world including a bevy of duet hits, he recorded the socially conscious What's Going On inspired by Obie Benson (of the Four Tops) witnessing police violence during a war protest in Berkeley.
Berry Gordy refused to release it. Gaye went on strike until it was. And it was in 1971 and went No. 1.
Two years later Gaye recorded and released Let's Get It On (I've always wondered if he intended these albums to be companion pieces because of the use of "on" as a sort of "make love not war" thing). In a lot of ways it's the complete opposite of What's Going On because it's just full of sexual, carnal energy.
Here My Dear is my least favorite of these three 1970s albums from Gaye. It's dour and sad. It is inspired by his divorce from his wife. In seven years, Gaye managed to run the gamut of emotions from the heartbreak to sheer elation.
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