The Doobie Brothers: C or D?

Geir OTM

i think i like the pre-mcdonald stuff better

Listening to "The Captain and Me" at the moment, and yeah. I don't think I prefer Tom Johnston to Michael McDonald as a vocalist, because that would be a crazy man talking. But I think I like the Hell's Angels period of the band better. The records were more solid.

"Clear as the Driven Snow" and "Ukiah" and so many other track off of this are underrated if not unknown. At their best, they were as good as The Band.

They're basically two different bands to my ears. Prefer the McDonald one, fwiw.

But take an album like Minute By Minute. So many dud tracks, and five or six brilliant ones. It's a band that's all over the place. How can "How Do The Fools Survive" (classic as hell) and "Steamer Lane Breakdown" (wtf awful) be on the same record?

I've long been curious about MxM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtyZM93YhLA

I've long been curious about MxM.

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, November 14, 2011 5:08 PM Bookmark

perfect post for ILX taken out of context

and in my case a redundancy.

Stormy otm about the slept-on debut

duddudududdududududududududududududududdudududdudududdududududud

mcdonald has a hell of a voice, tho. he should permanently front grizzly-bear.

dave q otm upthread about minute by minute chord changes...incredible. and mcdonald one of the great harmony vocalists of the whole rock era

mcdonald has a hell of a voice, tho. he should permanently front grizzly-bear.

Doobie Bros had a rhythm section, dude.

hm, true.

okay, mcdonald should be the singer, and chic should provide the rhythm section. the other grizzly-bears can sing backup vocals.

Just leave their mics off. They'll never know the difference.

*takes it to the streets*

I'm really surprised how few people are sticking up for Tom Johnston and his stack of riff rock gems.

And their take on "Take Me in Your Arms" is fab. Love the string arrangement, especially the plucked breakdown.

This is a pretty crazy arrangement; first you start with some folky CSN arrangement that moves into a big orchestral piece then onto some krautrock Doc Severinsen ending. It's a pretty weird Doobie Brothers track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7EZv5GsGzs

Been doing a deep dive in the pre-McDonald albums and the album cuts are full of some of the most wonderfully recorded, tastefully played acoustic guitar riffery in the whole 70s. (Some of the radio cuts were as well, but there is more of it beneath the surface.)

Good examples?

The title track on Toulouse Street and "Spirit" from What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits are the ones that really stood out to me the most, but it was just something I kept noticing continuously through my listening binge.

I think it's just that there's real "in the room" sound that was captured with the acoustic strings on a lot of things, more so than on a lot of other 70s recordings. Like, "shit, this guitar is right next to me!"

their whole catalog thru at least Minute By Minute is richly worthy of close listening. Beautifully recorded, beautifully played records

Johnny, those are nice. As is Black Water as long as you stop it before it becomes acapella barber shop.

Thirteen by big star is the acoustic recording holy grail imho.

Ah, Michael McDonald.

I did a deep dive into the catalog last year, and I wound up nearly hating them. They can be a fine meat-and-potatoes band, but after 15 or 20 minutes, the vocals (at least before McDonald came on board), the lyrics and the musical clichés start to wear thin, and stretched beyond an hour, it wasn't so enjoyable anymore. It was much more palatable to string all of their singles together - I didn't like them all, but even at their worst (like "Listen to the Music" or "Takin' It to the Streets" as Alfred suggested) there were still parts of their music that could be enjoyed, usually a riff or a light groove to hang on to while letting the rest zip on by.

I enjoy three songs apiece from their first two best-of collections (five sung by Mike McDonald), but get sufficiently annoyed by the ones I don't like that I'd never consider listening to an original album.

A lot of their music just sounds like nothing is at stake. There’s a bit of a blankly cherry, up with people kind of vibe to it.

*blankly cheery

For people who found the Eagles too intense.

For people who found the Eagles too intense.

LMAO

A lot of their music just sounds like nothing is at stake.

Pretty damning when one of their signature tunes is "Takin' It to the Streets."

Yeah but that song is just about getting a new remote-controlled car for Christmas

Neil Young:Model Trains::Michael McDonald:Radio-Controlled Cars

REMOTE-CONTROLLED

For people who found the Eagles too intense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9URZfqYf2o

^ pretty funky jammed-out version w Cornelius Bumpus leading the band

full show is here, those live mcdonald vocals are ridiculous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LCB_RdfdXc

Damn, that show is dope

Started crying this morning listening to Here to Love You for the first time, what a song.

that set is unbelievable

feel like this video disproves every old "Doobies pre-Mcdonald is real Doobies" douchebag so hard. This band only got classic when they went full funky r&b.

Yass ^

They can sit on the bench with the "Fleetwood Mac pre-Buckingham Nicks is real Fleetwood Mac" dorks imo

My dad insists everything post Peter Green stinks. xTRUEDADCHALLOPSx

feel like this video disproves every old "Doobies pre-Mcdonald is real Doobies" douchebag so hard. This band only got classic when they went full funky r&b.

They can sit on the bench with the "Fleetwood Mac pre-Buckingham Nicks is real Fleetwood Mac" dorks imo

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand (hand), take me by the hand pretty Mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
I want to honky tonk (take me by the hand)
Honky tonk (take me by the hand pretty Mama)
Honky tonk (come and dance with your daddy all night long) with you all night long

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
I want to honky tonk (take me by the hand)
Honky tonk (take me by the hand pretty Mama)
Honky tonk (come and dance with your daddy all night long) with you all night long

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
C'mon baby, c'mon baby (I want to honky tonk) (take me by the hand)
Honky tonk (take me by the hand pretty Mama)
Honky tonk (come and dance with your daddy all night long) with you all night long

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
C'mon baby, c'mon baby (I want to honky tonk) (take me by the hand)
Honky tonk (take me by the hand pretty Mama)
Honky tonk (come and dance with your daddy all night long) with you all night long

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty Mama come and take me by the hand
C'mon baby, c'mon baby (I want to honky tonk) (take me by the hand)
Honky tonk (take me by the hand pretty Mama)
Honky tonk (come and dance with your daddy all night long) with you all night long

imo

I always think of that line in Romancing the Stone.