The Doobie Brothers Album: “The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers”

Description :

The Doobie Brothers: John McFee (vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, dobro, mandolin, violin, harmonica); Patrick Simmons (vocals, guitar, banjo, flute, synthesizer); Tom Johnston (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, synthesizer); Cornelius Bumpus (vocals, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, organ); Michael MacDonald (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Tiran Porter, Dave Shogren (vocals, bass guitar); Keith Knudsen (vocals, drums, percussion); Bobby LaKind (vocals, percussion); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar); Chet McCracken (vibraphone, marimba, drums); Michael Hossack (drums, congas, timbales, percussion); John Hartman (drums, percussion). <p>Recording information: 1972 - 2000. <p>From their early recipe of country harmony, funk, guitar grit, and gospel power to their morphing into a first-rate adult contemporary R&B band, the Doobie Brothers' arc in the '70s and early '80s mirrors that of early FM radio itself. The band has already documented this period on several greatest-hits collections, all of varying degrees of depth. Stretching out over 33 tracks THE VERY BEST OF THE DOOBIE BROTHERS offers all of the hits, such as "China Grove," "Listen to the Music," "Jesus is Just All Right," and "What A Fool Believes," while there are enough deep cuts such as "Sweet Maxine" and their reunion hit "The Doctor" to keep avid fans happy. Two discs is a whole lot of Doobies, and this collection may overstay the welcome of the undecided with its focus on the comeback era of the mid '80s. Otherwise, this is a solid place to get a broad view of this classic band.

The Doobie Brothers started out life as a greasy California biker band and took their name after a fondness for getting high. That ethic led to big riff rockers like "China Grove" and "Long Train Runnin'," but was lacking in the eventual slick sophistication of Michael McDonald's urbane soul. The original 1976 "Best Of The Doobies" included songs up to "Taking It To The Street," which meant that the number one "What A Fool Believes" was after the cut off date. This time The Doobie Brothers recognize the debut album a year before "Toulouse Street" by including one song, the acoustically flavored "Nobody."

Once McDonald joined, the band entered a second era and began to move more towards urban soul and Steely Dan jazz. Tom Johnston split after "Living On The Faultline" over the Doobies' new direction with Jeff Baxter and McDonald, and the resulting "Minute By Minute" bore little resemblance to the mellow hippy-vibes of "Rocking Down The Highway."

What this CD does is successfully chronicle both Johnston's biker bar band and McDonald's more soul dominated period. When the Doobies broke up after "One Step Closer," it put the band on ice until a 1989 Doobie Brothers reunion that yielded "Cycles" and a hit in "The Doctor." The band soldiered on minus McDonald, which meant that Johnston and Patrick Simmons were able to regain the steering wheel and make bar-band riff-rock once more. (Even if - IMHO - "Cycles" was pedestrian and "Brotherhood" worse, but "Sibling Rivalry" is OK.)

For my money, this double CD rates a full star over the 1976 set by virtue of the extra songs post "Taking It To The Streets" and remastered sound. But then again, I totally lost interest in the band when they started churning out factory made classic rock like "The Doctor." You will also get a few essential songs dropped from both single disc sets, like "Eyes Of Silver" and "Another Park Another Sunday" (the original A-Side of "Black Water"), and the two-disc set recognizes once again that "South City Midnight Lady" is one of the band's best. Short of the Rhino box-set, this is a solid representation of the Doobies.

With a two CD set, there should be no radio edits. In fact, the CD doesn't say so on the back cover. It's only after you start playing the CDs, or load them into I-tunes, that you find out. What a rip off!

There is simply no excuse for not including the full version of the songs listed. None!

This mars what could have been a fantastic collection over two CDs.