The Doobie Brothers Album: “Toulouse Street”

With the addition of bassist Tiran Porter, the Doobies revealed a newer, fuller sound on this, their second LP. Even 30 years later "Toulouse Street" has lost none of it's original charm and the transition to CD has served the music well. Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and Co. wrote and recorded a batch of catchy, brilliantly performed songs that were instantly tighter and more memorable than their debut, this is the sound of an actual BAND. The musical chemistry here is astonishing and for fans who only know the band for it's hits "Listen To The Music", "Rockin' Down The Highway" etc., the gentler, laid back vibe of the acoustic, folk-tinged numbers here will surprise many listeners. The title cut and "Snakeman" are of special note. This was a well deserved hit and still sounds remarkably fresh 3 decades later. This, along with 1973's "The Captain And Me" are two masterful albums that assure this band's place in music history.

There's some debate on this but it appears that this uses the same Lee Herschberg CD masters (which sounded extremely good) as the original CDs but slightly louder. The band's second album finally delivered a hit and gave them the audience they deserved. "Listen to the Music" was the big hit from the album (although there were others such as "Rockin' Down the Highway" and the gospel standard "Jesus is Just Alright" adapted for the band's sound)and we get the unabridged, longer version here. While fans will find the highlights of this album on the

collection, there are some terrific cuts here that didn't make that anthology.

The packaging replicates the original gatefold sleeve of the album. Although there is no booklet included (there wasn't with the original either), we get a replica of the original inner sleeve that housed the vinyl release as well. The only drawback here is that there is no plastic sleeve to put the CD in and product it from scratching.

Personally, I would have liked some outtakes but since this is a replica of the original release the fact that they didn't include them is no surprise. There are outtakes available on "Long Train Runnin'".

This album along with "The Captain and Me" and "Stampede" features the Tom Johnston led version of the band at their peak. Those two albums along with "Toulouse Street" are the core Doobie albums with Johnston as leader. After that, I'd suggest

.

I'm also a fan of the Michael McDonald led era even though the band's sound changed substanially from blues-rock to blue-eyed soul with a dash of Steely Danish jazz thrown in for good measure. From the McDonald era the albums

,

and

(the best sounding version of the album mastered by Steve Hoffman)are all terrific albums. I'd also suggest checking out Johnston's two solo albums which, although a bit inconsistent, feature his rough-edged vocals and some sharp songwriting on the best tracks.

The Japanese imports of the Doobie catalog are remastered.

Warner Brothers here in the U.S. is still selling the old LP-EQ'd, terrible-sounding masters they released on CD in 1990.

If you love these albums, get a set of the Japanese editions. They cost more, but they're worth it.

Here is the link to the Japanese remaster of

.

First off this is a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MFSL) Original Master Recording 2-channel SA-CD Hybrid. This is NOT a multi-channel recording. With that said, this is an EXCELLENT reproduction! I have an adequate system (Yamaha RX-V659 AV Receiver, Yamaha S1700 DVD Audio/Video SA-CD player, Polk Audio Monitor 70 front speakers, PSB Alpha B1 surround speakers, PSB Alpha C1 center speaker, Polk Audio PSW-505 sub-woofer) nothing spectacular but certainly not a "home-theater-in-a-box" either. I do not have the original CD release of "Toulouse Street" but I do own the "Long Train Runnin'" box set which was released in 1999 by Rhino. All of the songs were remastered and 6 of the 10 songs on "Toulouse Street" appear on the first CD of that box set. Those were the songs I used to compare against this MFSL SA-CD release.

With my amp set at the same volume the first noticeable thing is that the MSFL SA-CD release is not as loud as the remastered stereo versions. The songs from the "Long Train Runnin'" box set were louder but sounded somewhat muddy when compared to the absolute clarity of the MFSL SA-CD. Also, as I turned up the volume, the clarity of the MFSL SA-CD got even better while the "regular" stereo remasters only got louder but not any clearer. Not being an educated stereophile, I don't know all the fancy words or terms to use so forgive me. What I can say is the MFSL SA-CD made it very easy to separate each instrument from the next, it was just so clear.

I will now buy the other two Doobie Brothers SA-CD's I see on Amazon, "The Captain & Me" & "Takin' It to the Streets" with confidence.

The Doobies second album found the band finding their "sound" with a confident swagger previously not seen on their fine debut. The Mo-fi gold edition of the album on CD sounds warmer with better depth to the recording compared even to the recent Japanese remaster (which also comes in a replica of the original gatefold sleeve). Make no mistake, this isn't like a night and day difference but it's subtle; you may not recognize a huge difference unless you're listening to this on a nice stereo system or an SACD player. Nevertheless, this IS the best version I've heard of the album in a digital format.

The sound? It's marvelous. The remaster has a nice, warm tone, depth and nice dynamic range. In other words, it's about as close to perfect as I've heard this album.

I'm a bit perplexed though as some of Mo-fi's releases come with a booklet (even if it is only four pages for example the "Marshall Crenshaw" reissue on Mo-fi came with a small booklet)and this one doesn't (neither did the Mo-fi for Linda Ronstandt's "Don't Cry Now". I kind of like the booklets myself because I usually put these into CD cases to protect them from wear and tear.

Either way, "Toulouse Street" sounds terrific. A must buy for fans of The Doobie Brothers.