Bolstered by the hit success of the title track, which returned Gaye to a blues format reaching number 4 on the Soul Chart and number 7 on the Pop Charts, respectively, the album followed in December where it reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200, peaking at number 12. On Cashbox and Record World Magazines Charts the album even reached the Top 5, peaking almost as high as its monumental predecessor What‘s Going On, eighteen months earlier, eventually being rewarded with a gold disc at Motown Records.

It would become Gaye's only soundtrack and film score. Critics gave the album favorable reviews while sometimes comparing Gaye's soundtrack efforts to that of Hayes' and Mayfield's. Following this, other R&B musicians would produce soundtracks of their own, including James Brown, Barry White and fellow Motown acts, Willie Hutch and Edwin Starr.

The title track plays in the 1995 film Se7en while Morgan Freeman's character, Detective Somerset, is having dinner with Brad Pitt's character, Detective Mills, and his wife Tracy Mills, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.

The title track features during the opening credits and final scene of the 2005 film Four Brothers.

In the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson recommends the album as essential listening to Steve Rogers, who had until recently been frozen in ice since the Second World War: Wilson says it's "everything you missed jammed into one album". Towards the end of the film the titular track is playing on an iPhone.

In the episode "Power Broker" of the 2021 Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Wilson notices that Bucky Barnes has the same pocket notebook and mentions that he had recommended the album to Rogers. When Barnes does not seem to share the same level of enthusiasm for the album, Baron Helmut Zemo enthuses flamboyantly about the album, telling Barnes that it is "...a masterpiece. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience", much to Wilson's amazement. The episode aired on Marvin Gaye's birthday.

Track listing

All songs written by Marvin Gaye.

Original LP

Side One

  1. "Main Theme from Trouble Man (2)" – 2:30
  2. "'T' Plays It Cool" – 4:27
  3. "Poor Abbey Walsh" – 4:13
  4. "The Break In (Police Shoot Big)" – 1:57
  5. "Cleo's Apartment" – 2:10
  6. "Trouble Man" – 3:49
  7. "Theme from Trouble Man" – 2:01

Side Two

  1. "'T' Stands for Trouble" – 4:48
  2. "Main Theme from Trouble Man (1)" – 3:52
  3. "Life Is a Gamble" – 2:32
  4. "Deep-in-It" – 1:25
  5. "Don't Mess with Mister 'T'" – 3:04
  6. "There Goes Mister 'T'" – 1:37

2012 Reissue

Disc one (bonus tracks)

  1. Main Theme from Trouble Man (2) (Alternate Take With Strings)
  2. "T" Plays It Cool (Unedited)
  3. Poor Abbey Walsh, Part 2 (Take 1)
  4. Poor Abbey Walsh, Part 2 (Take 2)
  5. Trouble Man (Extended Version)
  6. Theme from Trouble Man (Vocal Version)
  7. "T" Stands for Trouble (Unedited Vocal Version)
  8. "T" Stands for Trouble (Alternate Version)
  9. Main Theme from Trouble Man (Vocal Version)

Disc two (Original Film Score)

  1. Trouble Man
  2. Poor Hall
  3. "T" Plays It Cool
  4. Cadillac Interlude / Cleo's Apartment
  5. Man Tied Up / Jimmy's West / Conversation with Cleo
  6. Crap Game (A.K.A. The Break In) / Getting Rid of Body / Talking to Angel
  7. Outside Police Station
  8. Bowling Alley / Parking Lot
  9. Stick Up
  10. Cleaners / Cleo
  11. Closing Jimmy's
  12. Police Break In
  13. "T" Cleans Up / Police Station
  14. Packing Up / Jimmy Gets Worked / Saying Goodbye / "T" Breaks In / Movie Theater
  15. Car Ride / Looking for Pete
  16. Parking Garage / Elevator
  17. Penthouse
  18. Getting Pete
  19. My Name Is "T" / End Credits
  20. "T" at the Cross (film band bonus)

Personnel

Musicians

  • Marvin Gaye – vocals, drums, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, producer, arranger (9)
  • Trevor Lawrence – alto, tenor and baritone saxophones
  • Dale Oehler – horn & rhythm arrangements (track 9)
  • Eli Fountain – alto saxophone
  • Marty Montgomery – soprano saxophone
  • Gene Page – strings (track 9)
  • Robert O. Ragland – piano, string arrangements (track 7)
  • James Anthony Carmichael – horn arrangements (track 7)
  • Nesbert Stix Hooper – drums
  • Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums
  • Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
  • David T. Walker – guitar

Production

  • Dale Oehler – arranger (tracks 1, 6)
  • Gene Page – arranger (9)
  • Jack Hayes – arranger (3, 10–13)
  • J.J. Johnson – arranger (8)
  • Robert O. Ragland – arranger (4–5)
  • Leo Shuken – arranger (3, 10–13)
  • Jerry Long – arranger (2)

References