Top 10 Motown Performances

Fifty years after the founding of the iconic record label, TIME takes a look at some of the best Motown performances to be found

Marvin Gaye, I Heard It Through The Grapevine

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This is not your typical a capella — that Ivy League, let's-all-wear-blazers-and-sing-2Pac's-"California Love"-in-eight-part-harmony stuff. No, this is just a man doing his job better than you'll ever do anything in your life.

Or is it? This is a tricky video. It takes a viewing or two to realize that Gaye's not actually singing live. It appears that the song's vocal track (complete with echo, but free of all the snaps and claps that Gaye is clearly producing on stage) has been paired with a live performance. Not completely kosher, but entrancing nonetheless. Because, clearly, the man sang this vocal track at some point. And it's undeniably fierce.

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