Chris Clark - What You Doin'

**DJMoch** · 01-15-2018, 06:11 PM

Ever since I've owned Chris Clark's Motown Anthology set, I've always been wondering about that seemingly out-of-place final track, the nearly 9-minute disco track "What You Doin'". The liner notes didn't really give much info about it, such as when it was recorded or whatnot.

It's a fun little [[well, maybe not so little, LOL) number, but it does wear out its welcome after the first few minutes of listening. Anyone know more details about this track? I'm intrigued if this was simply a one-off recording, or if there may be an entire album's worth of recordings in the vault from the disco era.

**mysterysinger** · 01-15-2018, 06:30 PM

Good question - it doesn't seem to be listed on DFTMC either so has to be later than the period covered by that [[seems odd, maybe, since it was produced by Berry Gordy). It was written by Tom Baird. Paul Nixon may know more.

**TomatoTom123** · 01-15-2018, 07:44 PM

Mmm, I remember asking about this before, and got a similarly Tom Baird-themed response. I love the song though, a lot of fun as you say Emile.

**TomatoTom123** · 01-15-2018, 07:46 PM

here's my question...

Originally Posted by TomatoTom123

You know, speaking of Chris Clark rarities, the last track on her Motown Collection album is a 9-minute disco song entitled "What You Doing" - does anyone know when or how this came about?

and 144's excellent answer...

Originally Posted by 144man

I can only speculate. When Weed was discontinued in favour of the Rare Earth label, that would have become her natural home. As Tom Baird was a leading producer of that label, he would have been a prime candidate to produce her and he tended to be experimental.

**mysterysinger** · 01-15-2018, 10:08 PM

It would make sense if Tom Baird did produce that one rather than Berry Gordy as listed on one web site as it could explain why it's out of the DFTMC time frame.

Haven't checked as to whether any other of the tracks on the Chris Clark Motown collection don't appear on DFTMC but if there are some others that don't they might point to some other album that was in planning perhaps. I'm probably talking rubbish as usual lol.

**paul_nixon** · 01-16-2018, 06:26 AM

Originally Posted by mysterysinger

It would make sense if Tom Baird did produce that one rather than Berry Gordy as listed on one web site as it could explain why it's out of the DFTMC time frame.

Haven't checked as to whether any other of the tracks on the Chris Clark Motown collection don't appear on DFTMC but if there are some others that don't they might point to some other album that was in planning perhaps. I'm probably talking rubbish as usual lol.

I've never really know the full story behind What You Doin' - there was some initial reluctance to allow me to include that track for various reasons but I argued and I'm glad now that common sense prevailed. I love CC's little smutty giggle in the middle there. I've actually asked CC to tell me the story if she can remember so will pass that on if I get details. I do know that somewhere in the story Jermaine Jackson's name is mentioned. I also know that there was a big band session in LA with Tom Baird and that several unreleased songs are still in the vaults including her take on Sunny.

**mysterysinger** · 01-16-2018, 07:00 AM

Thanks Paul. All intriguing.

**DJMoch** · 01-16-2018, 09:20 AM

Thank you all for your replies. Very interesting!

**luckyluckyme** · 01-16-2018, 09:58 AM

https://www.discogs.com/Jermaine-Jac...elease/2199105

**luckyluckyme** · 01-16-2018, 10:06 AM

The bizarre B-side:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/playl...n-mw0002603979

**144man** · 01-22-2018, 04:30 PM

As the Chris Clark anthology lists the recording date as unknown, I wonder why it was thought to be past the DFTMC cut-off date. The track was indeed produced by Berry Gordy, but had originally been assigned to composer, Tom Baird.

**keith_hughes** · 01-22-2018, 06:17 PM

The track wasn't recorded at Hitsville, and was probably cut at Motown's MoWest studio in LA - we have very few recording dates for sessions there. Looking at the tape numbers used, I see they're close to the tape numbers used for Edwin Starr's soundtrack for "Hell Up In Harlem", released in Jan 1974. However, tape numbers are NOT a reliable guide to recording dates [[as anyone who's dug into the Hitsville DM numbers knows!). The mixing dates for the track shown on Chris's Artist Cards are all 1975, so I think it's probably safe to say it was completed by or during that year.

"What You're Doin'" probably is outside the admittedly elastic time frame of DFTMC, but as he says above, Paul had a lot of trouble getting it onto "Anthology" so I thought I'd honour that effort by including it.

**TomatoTom123** · 01-22-2018, 07:36 PM

Many thanks Keith! That basically answers the “when?” question...

**TomatoTom123** · 01-22-2018, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by luckyluckyme

The bizarre B-side:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/playl...n-mw0002603979

Originally Posted by luckyluckyme

https://www.discogs.com/Jermaine-Jac...elease/2199105

Ooh, that is interesting, thanks lucky.

**mysterysinger** · 01-22-2018, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by paul_nixon

I've never really know the full story behind What You Doin' - there was some initial reluctance to allow me to include that track for various reasons but I argued and I'm glad now that common sense prevailed. I love CC's little smutty giggle in the middle there. I've actually asked CC to tell me the story if she can remember so will pass that on if I get details. I do know that somewhere in the story Jermaine Jackson's name is mentioned. I also know that there was a big band session in LA with Tom Baird and that several unreleased songs are still in the vaults including her take on Sunny.

Thanks Keith but the issue was that I couldn't find it on DFTMC and thought it must be outside of the time frame for inclusion. That being the case, I wondered whether it was part of another album in preparation for Chris and the confirmation from Paul that there are other unreleased tracks might indicate that the assumption may be right. Perhaps another WEED release lol.

**keith_hughes** · 01-23-2018, 05:56 AM

oops! look again next month, mysterysinger, when the site has been updated! Thanks for the spot.

A 1977 Motown acetate went on sale at EBay recently containing three tracks by Chris: "You Dance My Heart Around The Stars", "When I'm Here Again" and "You Make My Life A Song". They might have been intended for another CC album ...

**DJMoch** · 01-23-2018, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by keith_hughes

The mixing dates for the track shown on Chris's Artist Cards are all 1975, so I think it's probably safe to say it was completed by or during that year.

Really? "What You Doin'" sure sounds a lot later than 1975, to me it sounds more from somewhere in the midst of the disco era, like 1978 or 1979. If it was from 1975, it was quite ahead of its time!

**paul_nixon** · 01-24-2018, 06:16 AM

I heard from Chris yesterday who tells me that Jermaine Jackson had a demo of the song [[by him)and played it to her this is what she wrote me

As to ‘What You Doin’ –
Jermain had the track…and had a demo vocal on it…
And when I listened to it – there was just the “I want to do it to…..I want to do it to….”
And when I heard it, I spontaneously said: ‘I want to do it to you’ – and sort of gasped and
put my hand over my mouth and blushed. [[and everyone laughed) ..
And it kind of kicked off from there.