Marvin Gaye was shot and killed at 44 by his father in an argument, cutting short a career in full flow. But the last album that came out before his death, Midnight Love, is one of his catalogue’s most representative (and one of the best). It is by far the horniest album on this list, containing as it does “Sexual Healing”, that red-hot concoction of drum machine, slinky guitar and liquid vocal. “My Love Is Waiting”, “‘Til Tomorrow” and all the other tunes also shine as pieces of joyfully frisky funk, with an electronic edge to the instrumentation that elevates Gaye’s matchless voice even higher.

Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

Making Bridge Over Troubled Water was a stormy process that finally finished off the fragile partnership between Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Was the breakup worth it? Maybe: this is a truly lovely album, delicate and forceful in all the right places. Bongos and flute on a tribute to a diseased architect? “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” convinces you it’s a great idea. “The Boxer,” and “The Only Living Boy in New York,” meanwhile, are two of the duo’s most indelible and affecting songs for a reason. Though they reunited for live shows and tentative recording sessions, they never released another studio album. Not that they could’ve topped this one anyway.

This story originally appeared in British GQ.