The Doobie Brothers: C or D?

The China Grove riff is awesome.

What an amazing fucking band.

"Minute by Minute" makes me cry.

"Takin' It To The Street" -- come on! Great stuff.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC both versions of the band

i think i like the pre-mcdonald stuff better

oh, totally.

after owning their GH for, like, my entire life .. I decided to buckle down and just buy all the vinyl LPs whenever I can find them in great condition for a dollar. So far i have 'The Captain and Me' and 'Stampede'. Nice copies, total cost: about $3 ... and yeah, I do love Mike's vocals but the early group has some nice non-GH cuts like "South City Midnight Lady"

it's worth the ... 7 bucks .. or whatever it is to spend to get nice vinyl copies of all of the Doobie Brothers albums up through 'Takin It' .. I mean, that's like the cost of a draft beer plus tip

so much prefer the McDonald stuff myself.

grabbed their 1st LP for $1.99 tonite and ... it fucking rules!!

they really DID sound like Moby Grape-lite here! There is a pungent scent of marijuana on this LP.

as recommended as any LP where it says "Thanks to Skip Spence" on the backside of the LP.....

There is a pungent scent of marijuana on this LP.

good call. I have also noticed, myself, that the term "doobie" in "doobie brothers" is actually a reference to smoking marijuana. please get in touch, we may have enough material here for a grant application.

also: DB's = C

I recently discovered late-'70s-era Doobie Brothers. Takin' It to the Streets is so classic. The first 5 songs are perfect..."Rio" in particular. I think they got a little TOO smooth after this album.

I happened to be at a Japanese music store yesterday (with an extremely limited selection of western music--the Japanese love soft rock and fusion!), and they happened to have most of the Doobies catalog in nice mini-LP gatefold sleeves. I think all reissues of albums that were originally released on vinyl should be packaged this way. It's a lovely trend.

Seventies American butt-rock in excelsis or underrated masters of boogie-rock and seemless L.A. studio pop? Did you prefer the biker-band boogie or Michael McDonald's Steely Dan-esque smooth pop? Or was it all crap and the fact that this stuff sold boatloads in the US and is still played over the airwaves proof that American pop culture is pure ass?
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Best give me some recommendations, Tadeusz, as I only know of "long train running". Michael McDonald's solo material seems quite bland to me, especially "Sweet Freedom" but I suppose that was years later. I do know that they came out with one of the best album tiles ever in "What were once vices are now habits", but is the music on the album worthy of its clever title? Doobie Brothers never charted highly in the Uk so far as I know.
― MarkH, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers: "China Grove," "Black Water," "Rockin' Down the Highway," "Long Train Running," "Listen to the Music," "Jesus Is Just Alright."
Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers: "Takin' It to the Streets," "What a Fool Believes, "It Keeps You Runnin'," "Minute by Minute." Both McDonald and Skunk Baxter were Steely Dan alumni (and it shows).

I guess this makes as much sense to Brits as talking about Status Quo would make to Americans. And I'm embarrased to know this much about the Doobie Brothers (blame it on my Dad, who liked this sort of stuff) :-o

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
I like the smoothed out McDonald version of the Doobies is my first choice, but it's like a whole different band at that point. "What A Fool Believes" was a big R&B chart hit, too.
Michael McDonald is a powerful musical weapon, and it must be used judiciously. When used improperly ("Ya Mo Be There") there can only be disaster.

Remember the last gasp of the soft rock Doobies, with "Real Love" and "One Step Closer"?

― Chuck Tomlinson, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
The Doobies before Michael McDonald were totally useless. You listen to them and you think, were these guys EVER young? The opening riff to "China Grove" must've been inspired by some exceptionally weak drugs -- you keep waiting for Ronnie Van Zandt to come in and say, "Turn it DOWN". "Black Water" is pretty cool though. After McDonald, much less useless, owing almost entirely to MM. "Minute--by--minute--by--minute--by--minute--(Ahhkeepholdin'o'o n!!)..." Classic! Skunk Baxter is a better punk name than Steve Ignorant, too.
― Kris, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Jeff Skunk Baxter's waxed walrus moustache =classic.
― Arthur, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Docked at least 1,000,000 points for "Whoah-whoah, listen to the music, all the ti-i-i-i-i-me...", and the comeback with the Eddie Schwarz songs, which amounted to being a photocopy of a photocopy. Then again, "What a Fool Believes"...wow! Those chord changes! I'll never figure them out without downloading tab!
― dave q, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
How many times can I talk about the Doobies in one day? "What a Fool Believes" is one of the great soft-rock classics of all time, some of the most interesting lyrics, the most vaguely catchy arrangements (try transcribing the bass part -- you WILL fuck it up, no matter what you think).
I love this song. I've been breathing this song for 6 days straight for no apparent reason.

― Matt H, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Self's cover of "What a Fool Believes," as played entirely on toy instruments, from his album Gizmodgery, is far superior to the original, in both a. It sounds kitschy, but it's not at all. I think the Doobies could potentially have unintentionally established this as a genre--'music to be improved through cover versions in the future.'
― matthew m., Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
The Beatles established that genre when Stevie Wonder did "We Can Work it Out".
― Matt H, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Uh, oops, sorry, the evil phone strikes again and leaves me with a posted incomplete thought. That should read "...in both arrangement and execution."
― matthew m., Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
I thought Otis Blackwell invented that genre. Or Dino Valenti, who wrote "Hey Joe"
― dave q, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
THey can Doobie somewhere else thank you
― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Doobie or not Doobie?
― dave q, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
Always liked McDonald's singing all over 'Katy Lied' - gd contast with Fagen's sneer. 'What a fool believes' classic too - and what was the McDonald track sampled by Warren G?
― Andrew L, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
"I Keep Forgettin", right?
― Kris, Tuesday, 31 July 2001 00:00 (9 years ago) Permalink
2 years pass...
"what a fool believes" is weirdly classic -- completely of its time, it still doesn't sound like anything else. what an odd hook.
i just "black water" and that song is...awful.

is "w.a.f.b." really a doobies song or a m. mcd. solo tune?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 May 2004 02:51 (6 years ago) Permalink
well, "what a fool believes" wouldn't be TOTALLY out of place on a steely dan record (musically, NOT lyrically -- mcdonald's lyrical sensibility is a little sweeter than messrs. fagen and becker).
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 23 May 2004 03:00 (6 years ago) Permalink
aretha does a great cover of "what a fool believes." well worth slsking.
― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 23 May 2004 03:03 (6 years ago) Permalink
"What a fool believes" is great. I also love "Long train running", mainly due to hearing it in loads of early '90s "rave" clubs...
Did I imagine this? I'm sure it was a big hit in the clubs. Does anyone else remember this?

― Keith Watson (kmw), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:11 (6 years ago) Permalink
yes there was a remix version in the early 90s but i can't remember who did it. it was also covered by Don Pablo's Animals along with Bananarama's 'Venus' which was a top ten hit in 1990.
― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:15 (6 years ago) Permalink
I didn't realise that Don Pablo's Animals did Long Train Running! I heart their version of Shocking Blue's Venus (which Bananarama covered) tho.
― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:19 (6 years ago) Permalink
Cheers. I sometimes wonder...
A month or two ago after a night out I was watching the telly with one eye and then fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up freezing in the morning thinking "weird, the Flirtations' Nothing but a Heartache is on a KFC advert" and then put it down to just a stupid dream but then a few weeks later saw it.

I think I'm having difficulty separating reality with fantasy these days.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:20 (6 years ago) Permalink
"What A Fool Believes" is unutterably Classic.
― Tom May (Tom May), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:43 (6 years ago) Permalink
long train running = septic chicken scratch menace
― stevie (stevie), Sunday, 23 May 2004 15:08 (6 years ago) Permalink
i really hate their southern/dixieland/funky pretensions, because they are really so inept at such things.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 May 2004 19:31 (6 years ago) Permalink
Black Water is a fucking horrible song.
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 23 May 2004 19:35 (6 years ago) Permalink
"Then I was down south and I heard some funk with some main ingredients
Like Doobie Brothers, Blue Magic, David Bowie.
It was cool,
But can you imagine Doobie on your funk? Ho!
WEFUNK, we funk.
Make my funk the P.Funk
I want my funk uncut"
― briania (briania), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:19 (6 years ago) Permalink
Really awful shit. Even when they had Skunk Baxter playing with them. Their take on Holland/Dozier/Holland/Kim Weston is an abomination. "Takin' It to the Streets" might have been decent had it not contained Michael McDonald, whose voice drives me up the fucking wall. I don't mind the backing tracks of "What a Fool Believes" and so forth.
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:40 (6 years ago) Permalink
what is with the vocals on "taking it to the streets"? they always sounded processed in some really disturbing and unpleasant fashion to me.
what is the bacharach song that mcdonald recorded again?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:42 (6 years ago) Permalink
amateur!st, I believe the song you refer to is the odious "On My Own." BB and Carole Bayer Aspirin or whatever her name was.
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:50 (6 years ago) Permalink
see but even in that song there is some cool stuff
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:52 (6 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, Bacharach always is worth listening to on some level of musicality, it's the sentiment and the schmaltz in "On My Own," and MM himself, I object to.
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:54 (6 years ago) Permalink
michael mcdonald IS an acquired taste, i will confess. it took a while for me to like him (i think that the 1st time i heard him was "ya mo be there" -- like WTF?!?)
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 24 May 2004 04:54 (6 years ago) Permalink
2 years pass...
so what do folks think about da doobies NOWADAYS?!?
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 06:58 (4 years ago) Permalink
(Insert the usual "I don't believe in "guilty pleasures" disclaimer here), but I have to "confess" my love of their version of "Take Me in Your Arms."
Have we done a TS: "Take Me in Your Arms" (Doobies) vs. "How Sweet It Is" (James Taylor)?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 07:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
I've realized that "Black Water" is one of my favorite songs ever. Which is weird because it is completely unrelated to the rest of my taste in music. The violin/guitar duet and the "hand HAND" round on the coda are the bestest.
― Apocalypse '07: Rodney Strikes Back (R. J. Greene), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 14:13 (4 years ago) Permalink
Thread needs more love for my favorite Doobies song, "Another Park, Another Sunday." Their vocal arrangements were a lot more interesting before McDonald staged his bloodless coup of the band.
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 18:08 (4 years ago) Permalink
PS: Rickey, I know you and I have completely dissimilar tastes, but that's not going to stop me from declaring that JT's "How Sweet It Is" is one of the 100 worst records in rock history. Therefore pretty much anything will beat that in a TS.
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 18:09 (4 years ago) Permalink
5 months pass...
Self's cover of "What a Fool Believes," as played entirely on toy instruments, from his album Gizmodgery, is far superior to the original, in both a. It sounds kitschy, but it's not at all. I think the Doobies could potentially have unintentionally established this as a genre--'music to be improved through cover versions in the future.'

far superior my ass you lunatic
― rps, Friday, 30 March 2007 06:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
.....
― tipsy mothra, Friday, 30 March 2007 06:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
Joseph, are our tastes that different? I like "Another Park, Another Sunday," for one thing!
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Friday, 30 March 2007 07:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
"What a Fool Believes" is a perfect track. It cannot be improved upon.
― Hurting 2, Friday, 30 March 2007 14:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
1 month passes...
what a fool believes was playing in morrisons on holloway road yesterday:D
― 600, Sunday, 6 May 2007 09:51 (3 years ago) Permalink
...ehh, 'twas coming, in all its plentiful smoothnessness, over my radio the minute i switched it on yesterday morning:)

i also notice that i didnnae any doobie b's records whatsoevah when this thread was started, back in the day, whereas i now have ...mm, four! the recent-est-est acquisitions being stampede and sibling rivalry. so recent that i'mma yet to listen to them.
― t**t, Sunday, 13 May 2007 17:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
"What a Fool Believes" is a perfect track. It cannot be improved upon.

Truth in distilled form.
― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 13 May 2007 17:41 (3 years ago) Permalink
re: "what a fool ..." - the funnyish thing is, the first time i ever heard this song, it was some sort of olden live version of it on tv - and i only caught the very end of the performance - which was just (near-totally) a cappella, and that 20-30 second bit gave me for starters a *very* different idea what this song was supposed to sound like in its entirety, heheh. so when i finally got the minute by minute cd - hoho, great was my surprise :)
― t**t, Sunday, 13 May 2007 17:50 (3 years ago) Permalink
Minute by Minute is an uneven album -- I think you can kind of hear the unpleasant tension between old-Doobie and nu-Doobie in a lot of the weaker McDonald era stuff.

I've recently come to really like You're Made That Way.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 13 May 2007 22:58 (3 years ago) Permalink
i really wish that someone would defend the old-school/original doobie bros. i mean, EVERYONE (even seth "anal cunt" putnam) loves michael mcdonald -- where's the love for "black water" and the biker/boogie-band shit?!? ;__;
― Eisbaer, Sunday, 13 May 2007 23:19 (3 years ago) Permalink
I never liked the old Doobie Brothers much.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 13 May 2007 23:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
I've realized that "Black Water" is one of my favorite songs ever. Which is weird because it is completely unrelated to the rest of my taste in music. The violin/guitar duet and the "hand HAND" round on the coda are the bestest.

-- Apocalypse '07: Rodney Strikes Back (R. J. Greene), Wednesday, October 4, 2006 7:13 AM (7 months ago)

I already made my case for "Black Water". Most pre-McDonald Doobie stuff is total bunk, though. Ummm... "China Grove" is just alright. Jesus, however, not so much.
― The Reverend, Sunday, 13 May 2007 23:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
My mom (oh my god it's mothers day I just realized that : O) really likes old Doobs. Kinda ruined my childhood.
― The Reverend, Sunday, 13 May 2007 23:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, Steely Dan was the same thing for me but now I love them - although it creeps me out to think about my mom listening to some of those songs now that I actually know what they mean.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 13 May 2007 23:48 (3 years ago) Permalink
i didn't think the old doobies needed defending! lots of people like those records. i like those records.
― scott seward, Monday, 14 May 2007 00:22 (3 years ago) Permalink
I recommend The Captain & Me. That is one solid record. And the Ted Templeman production is astounding. Such a great SOUNDING record. At least on vinyl. i can't vouch for the cd.
― scott seward, Monday, 14 May 2007 00:29 (3 years ago) Permalink
4 months pass...
The China Grove riff is awesome.

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 23:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
What an amazing fucking band.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 23:38 (3 years ago) Permalink
"Minute by Minute" makes me cry.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 23:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
"Takin' It To The Street" -- come on! Great stuff.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:15 (3 years ago) Permalink
4 months pass...
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC both versions of the band

― am0n, Sunday, 3 February 2008 07:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
i think i like the pre-mcdonald stuff better

― am0n, Sunday, 3 February 2008 07:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
oh, totally.

after owning their GH for, like, my entire life .. I decided to buckle down and just buy all the vinyl LPs whenever I can find them in great condition for a dollar. So far i have 'The Captain and Me' and 'Stampede'. Nice copies, total cost: about $3 ... and yeah, I do love Mike's vocals but the early group has some nice non-GH cuts like "South City Midnight Lady"

― Stormy Davis,

xpost
buddy burned me a copy of captain and me awhile ago. sounding like a light classic tonight after a brew or two....otherwise only heard greatest hits. but they gotta be on the classic side; mayhap not a essential classic (i.e. moby grape, but it's innerestin' to hear/see the wee connection)

Long live smooth music. :)

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.

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.

LOL, he found out a couple of years too late

Michael McDonald, Living Meme, strikes again

Yah Mo Zoom U

Hope this story ends better than the little girl obsessed with Wire.

“Is your best friend Christopher Cross?” Hahaha