great covers 4. marvin gaye: Here, my dear

The legend of Gaye's alimony pay-off album is well known. Marv marries the boss's sister, they fall out and he ends up making an album all about the experience, the royalties of which go straight into the divorce settlement fund.

The artwork offers us Marvin as a philosopher god - a black Seneca - lionised in the Temple of Love. The temple itself combusts while pairs of Rodin lovers occupy the dead ground between the twin pillars of "Love and Marriage", "Pain and Divorce". On the inner gatefold Marvin and Missus are playing a game of Alimony by Waddingtons. All we see are the playing board, the couple's (ringless) hands, Marvin handing her the pay- off album and, in each corner, their accumulated winnings. Marvin still has the talent, the odd bit of equipment plus a measly dollar bill. She's got the rest of the loot, the house, the car and a pair of insects. Her victory is intended to look at best Pyrrhic. If we have any lingering doubts, Marv has the assembled multitudes of the general public on his side of the board while she has a smouldering wasteland on hers.

IAN BLACKABY