‘I Want You’ followed Marvin Gaye’s two landmark records for Motown; ‘What’s Going On’ (1971) and ‘Let’s Get It On’ (1973). With a lot to live up to, 1976’s ‘I Want You’ still sold in excess of a million copies, thanks in part to the success of the album’s title track when it was issued as a single, which peaked at #15 in the Billboard Hot 100, as well as hitting the top spot of the soul and disco charts. Considered to be an influence on artists diverse as Madonna, Massive Attack, Robert Palmer and Todd Rundgren, and with a somewhat “explicit” content for its time, Rolling Stone felt that “the action here isn’t much more than attractive but unenthusiastic foreplay”.
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