Compilation producers: Marc Fieldstone, Trevor G. Shelton, Gerry Young.

Includes liner notes by Ruth A. Robinson.

Recorded during the summer of 1983, THE LAST CONCERT TOUR shows Marvin Gaye in the midst of a comeback doomed to be cut short by his murder the following year. Gaye's consummate showmanship and innate musicality leap out despite the poor sound quality of the two-track recording. Of particular interest is the way sex and religion continually pop up throughout the crooner's set. The brassy and sensual "Come Get To This" rubs shoulders with the sparsely arranged "God Is My Friend," in which Gaye is accompanied only by piano. Elsewhere, he reminisces about his preacher father before launching into a funky reading of "Joy." Gaye avoided the oldies path by updating well-known numbers such as "What's Going On" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" with more up-tempo arrangements, and including more recent material such as "Sexual Healing" and "Third World Girl" in his set.

Sentimentality did play a part in these shows, and Gaye stoked these fires by paying tribute to "his baby" Tammi Terrell in back-to-back versions of Ashford & Simpson classics "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" and "Your Precious Love." Hearing Gaye growl out the suggestive "Let's Get It On" amidst a chorus of screaming female fans, there is no doubt that his time on earth ended far too soon.