Marvin Gaye originally conceived of his 1971 album What's Going On as a response to the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. The idea of remaking What's Going On originated with Shawn Amos, who was then the vice president of artists & repertoire at Shout! Factory. Amos had previously heard many stories about how most of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's members had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. While he was on a flight in October 2005, Amos listened to one of Gaye's songs. He subsequently sat down with the band and talked about what was happening in their lives. During this conversation, he mentioned the timelessness of Gaye's What's Going On album, and suggested that the band should cover it. The band's members decided that this would be a good idea, and initially sought to have Amos produce the album. Amos then called up his production partner, Anthony Marinelli, and the two of them went on to produce the album. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's decision to remake Gaye's album was influenced by Hurricane Katrina, the government's response to the storm, and the ongoing Iraq War. The group's saxophonist, Roger Lewis, told NPR that he had been interested in covering Gaye's music for a while already, and that when Katrina hit, it seemed like the "...perfect time to do it". Lewis further explained, The members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band were initially uncertain about whether they could successfully remake Gaye's highly-regarded album. This was partly because they lacked a bass guitarist who could replicate James Jamerson's famous Motown-style electric bass playing on the original album. Instead, the band decided to develop their own style in which to play Gaye's songs. As Lewis explained to The Times-Picayune, "We don't play exactly like Marvin Gaye's arrangements. You're supposed to take the music to another level, and we came up with our own ideas about how to do it." The Dirty Dozen Brass Band recorded What's Going On at two different studios: Austin, Texas's Bismeaux Studio, owned by Ray Benson, and Westlake Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. They began recording at Westlake with an attempt at recording their version of the title track from Gaye's album, featuring Chuck D performing his original lyrics. The band spent a total of three days recording at Westlake, where most of their sessions, according to Marinelli, focused on "conceptualizing and getting those basic tracks". They then traveled to Bismeaux Studio, where they recorded for five days using Pro Tools and the studio's Automated Processes, Inc. recording equipment. Next, they traveled back to Hollywood to mix the album with Pro Tools at Marinelli and Clint Bennett's Music Forever studio.
Release
What's Going On was released on August 29, 2006 on Shout! Factory, exactly a year after Hurricane Katrina first hit New Orleans and 35 years after Gaye's album was first released. Part of the proceeds from sales of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's album were donated to Tipitina's Foundation.
Critical reception
Thom Jurek of AllMusic gave What's Going On 4.5 stars out of 5, concluding that it was "...the most fitting tribute yet to Gaye, because not only does it prove the timelessness of the music itself, it echoes that what is indeed goin' on is even more true today than it was in 1971." Sam Chennault of SF Weekly also reviewed the album favorably, describing it in 2007 as "perhaps the most fitting tribute to the victims" and as "alternately brooding and invigorating". The Washington Posts Mike Joyce gave the album a generally favorable review, writing, "The music, for the most part, is so ingeniously arranged that the album colorfully accommodates several guest vocalists -- too many, in fact -- without robbing listeners of the pleasure of hearing the band swagger and shout or slide into a welcome instrumental interlude."
