Doobie Brothers
Takin' It To The Streets

While the Doobie Brothers were in the midst of recording their sixth album, their main composer and singer, guitarist Tom Johnston, got an ulcer and could no longer keep up with the grueling pace (a five-year period spent two-thirds on tour and the remaining third in the studio recording music, enough to release an album a year) demanded by their manager and record label.

The forced withdrawal of the most prominent musician in the group, the one who initially characterized it with his somewhat raspy but strong and soulful voice, as well as his gritty and highly personal rhythmic style on both electric and acoustic guitar, the author of many of their most successful singles such as "Long Train Running", "China Groove", "Listen To The Music", "Another Park Another Sunday", obviously put the band in a bind: they needed a new instrumentalist, but more importantly, a good singer.

The best idea came from the former third guitarist, now the second by necessity, Jeff Baxter. Some time ago, towards the end of his stint with Steely Dan, he had the chance to admire the vocal services rendered in the studio to his group by a certain Michael McDonald. The only problem is that he is not a guitarist like Johnston and not even a classic rock keyboardist: he is a very personal pianist/composer, entirely devoted to rhythm & blues, despite his bearded Irish immigrant appearance and very blue eyes.

Composer?

 "Let us hear something of yours, Mike!" producer Ted Templeman suggested. And McDonald, more reluctant than the band itself about the possibility of integrating into their music, played the tape of his demo, emphasizing that it was quite far from the characteristic style of the Doobies and thus he couldn't really see the connection, but since they insisted...

While he was still talking, they went crazy! They were listening to the demos of "It Keeps You Running" and "Takin' It To The Streets" (the song), certainly not much to do with the Doobie Brothers' style at the time, but very much connected to the sumptuous melodic class, the spirited and sexy vocal tone, the harmonic elegance of the piano chords, and the general commercial appeal. The doubts and hesitations continued to linger with him, but only for a little while longer, as everyone else instantly converted to the new course: a step back in the direction of rock, bikers, grit, but simultaneously a decisive step forward toward rhythm & blues, American jazz pop, and, ehm..., women (adults), to whom Mike's shaggy and shaggy face, with those two bright blue eyes planted in the middle, serves as an irresistible attraction.

This is therefore a classic album of transition, or rather, a turning point. Tom Johnston is still credited, given that before becoming seriously ill he managed to play and sing his composition "Turn It Loose", admittedly quite unremarkable, and sporadic guitar and choruses here and there. Waiting to see how it will all end, his position is left unclear even on the album cover, which features a bespectacled Pat Simmons (guitar and vocals) on the front, all seven members including Johnston inside and the sextet without Johnston on the back (in a shot taken in the middle of a Chinatown intersection, San Francisco).

McDonald signs and performs four of the ten tracks on the album. His voice is so distinctive and important that it makes the Doobie Brothers' brand almost unrecognizable in them, but his personality and his artistic history eventually influence the rest, meaning the production, the arrangements, the style of those tracks that do not feature him. Indeed, there is a lot of Steely Dan air, a lot of desire to make quiet and classy light music, dusted with jazz and white blues.

The producer raises the creative bass (but to my taste, it sounds a little too much like a pick) of Tiran Porter a lot in the mix, especially making the double-drumming style of the Allman Brothers that had accompanied the rock tracks almost disappear (and indeed, there is very little rock in these tracks, just Johnston's composition). The second drummer, Keith Knudsen, is almost constantly engaged as a percussionist, while the first drummer, John Hartman, often finds himself sweeping the snare and doing little else. The guitar solos, if any, last a maximum of eight bars or are overwhelmed by some guest saxophonist. More importantly, the guitarist, singer, and composer Simmons appears transformed compared to the image he had created on previous albums: no acoustic guitars in his hands (sigh!), the country rock phase zeroed in the mix of styles rooted in their music, which saw him prominently thanks to his arpeggiation skills.

Without the contrast, from song to song, between strong rhythmic guitars with chiseled country arpeggios, without distortion solos and the roar of the double drums, all the rock fans of the formation feel betrayed or at least disappointed. Even today, many of them curse the day when the paths of blue eyed soul singer Mike McDonald and the Doobies intersected.

For many others, this is not the case, and their appreciation goes to both incarnations of the group, but I side with the former: McDonald is a fine composer and a voice that cannot go unnoticed, but my undying love goes to Johnston's Doobie Brothers (who fortunately return in 1989). The "McDonald phase" (four albums, from this one in 1976 to the last in 1980 before their temporary breakup in 1982), as for me, is interesting and adorned with beautiful songs, but lacking the magic that permeates, in my opinion, all the other episodes of their discography.