Spirit (The Doobie Brothers) (LP 4282 - 4285)

The Doobie Brothers  The Captain and Me (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1973) **** 

The Doobie Brothers  What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1974) **** 

The Doobie Brothers  Minute By Minute (CD, Warner Bros. Records, 1978) **** 

The Doobie Brothers  Live at the Wolf Trap (CD and DVD, Sanctuary Records, 2004) **** 

Genre: Rock, pop 

Places I remember: Fopp, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Another Park, Another Sunday (What Were Vices... and Live at the Wolf Trap)

Gear costume: Jesus Is Just Alright (Listen to the Music)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: I am not a huge fan of The Doobie Brothers but I do like many of their big hit songs. In the seventies it was impossible to ignore them. That helps explain my spotty collection. The albums I own came from the sale racks at Fopp many years after they were released.

The Captain and Me was their third album and at this time the band included Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons (both -vocals, guitars), Tiran Porter (bass), John Hartman and Michael Hossack (drums).

It contains a couple of their biggest hits - Long Train Runnin' and China Grove. This one also has South City Midnight Lady on it. The album as a whole is a very successful combination of seventies guitar driven hard rock (China Grove), and country rock (Clear as the Driven Snow), with wonderful harmony vocals done in a now signature Doobie Brothers style.

There's more of this on offer in their next album - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. Another Park, Another Sunday is just a gorgeous song. The melody gets to me every time. The overall album is great too. The Doobie Brothers sound which is a combination of The Byrds, The Eagles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, with CSN like harmonies is fully realised on these early albums.

I was never a great fan of the Michael McDonald led version of the band - a bit too slick and commercial for my money back in the seventies which is a pretty dumb attitude now that I come to think of it. Minute by Minute is my only album from this era and it's fantastic - funky as all get out! I do miss the guitars but McDonald's warm honey vocals are superb as well as his distinctive keyboard style. The big hits on the album were What a Fool Believes and the title track.  

Live at the Wolf Trap is a fantastic party record, with hit after hit after hit by the returned Tom Johnston version of the band. Ignore the naysayers - this is how the band should be remembered.

  
Where do they all belong? A compilation like the 19 track  Listen to the Music: The Very Best of The Doobie Brothers is probably your best introduction.