The Doobie Brothers - The MFSL SACD Collection (6x SACD, 1972-1976) PS3 ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

As one of the most popular California pop/rock bands of the '70s, The Doobie Brothers evolved from a mellow, post-hippie boogie band to a slick, soul-inflected pop band by the end of the decade. Along the way, the group racked up a string of gold and platinum albums in the U.S., along with a number of radio hits like "Listen to the Music", "Black Water", and "China Grove".

The roots of the Doobie Brothers lie in Pud, a short-lived California country-rock band in the vein of Moby Grape featuring guitarist/vocalist Tom Johnston and drummer John Hartman. After Pud collapsed in 1969, the pair began jamming with bassist Dave Shogren and guitarist Patrick Simmons. Eventually, the quartet decided to form a group, naming themselves the Doobie Brothers after a slang term for marijuana. Soon, the Doobies earned a strong following throughout Southern California, especially among Hell's Angels, and they were signed to Warner Bros. in 1970. The band's eponymous debut was ignored upon its 1971 release. Following its release, Shogren was replaced by Tiran Porter and the group added a second drummer, Michael Hossack, for 1972's Toulouse Street. Driven by the singles "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus Is Just Alright," Toulouse Street became the group's breakthrough. The Captain and Me (1973) was even more successful, spawning the Top Ten hits "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove". Keith Knudsen replaced Hossack as the group's second drummer for 1974's What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, which launched their first number one single, "Black Water," and featured heavy contributions from former Steely Dan member Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Baxter officially joined the Doobie Brothers for 1975's Stampede. Prior to the album's spring release, Johnston was hospitalized with a stomach ailment and was replaced for the supporting tour by keyboardist/vocalist Michael McDonald, who had also worked with Steely Dan. Although it peaked at number four, Stampede wasn't as commercially successful as its three predecessors, and the group decided to let McDonald and Baxter, who were now official Doobies, revamp the band's light country-rock and boogie. The new sound was showcased on 1976's Takin' It to the Streets, a collection of light funk and jazzy pop that resulted in a platinum album.

Toulouse Street was the album by which most of their fans began discovering the Doobie Brothers, and it has retained a lot of its freshness over the decades. Producer Ted Templeman was attuned to the slightly heavier and more Southern style the band wanted to work toward on this, their second album, and the results were not only profitable – including a platinum record award – but artistically impeccable. Toulouse Street is actually pretty close in style and sound at various points to what the Eagles were doing during the same period, except that the Doobies threw jazz and R&B into the mix, as well as country, folk, and bluegrass elements, and (surprise!) ended up just about as ubiquitous as the Eagles in peoples' record collections, especially in the wake of the singles "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus Is Just Alright." But those two singles represented only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what this group had to offer, as purchasers of the album discovered even on the singles – both songs appear here in distinctly longer versions, with more exposition and development, and in keeping with the ambitions that album cuts (even of popular numbers) were supposed to display in those days. Actually, "Listen to the Music" (written by Tom Johnston) offers subtle use of phasing and other studio tricks that make its seemingly earthy, laid-back approach some of the most complex and contrived of the period. Johnston's "Rockin' Down the Highway" shows the band working at a higher wattage and moving into Creedence Clearwater Revival territory, while "Mamaloi" was Patrick Simmons' laid-back Caribbean idyll, and the title tune (also by Simmons) is a hauntingly beautiful ballad. The band then switches gears into swamp rock for "Cotton Mouth" and takes a left turn into the Mississippi Delta for a version of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Don't Start Me Talkin'" before shifting into a gospel mode with "Jesus Is Just Alright." Johnston's nearly seven-minute "Disciple" was the sort of soaring, bluesy hard rock workout that led to the group's comparison to the Allman Brothers Band, though their interlocking vocals were nearly as prominent as their crunching, surging double lead guitars and paired drummers. And it all still sounds astonishingly bracing decades later; it's still a keeper, and one of the most inviting and alluring albums of its era.

Tracklist:

01 - Listen To The Music
02 - Rockin' Down The Highway
03 - Mamaloi
04 - Toulouse Street
05 - Cotton Mouth
06 - Don't Start Me Talkin'
07 - Jesus Is Just Alright
08 - White Sun
09 - Disciple
10 - Snake Man

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 1,44 GB

The Doobie Brothers' third long-player was the charm, their most substantial and consistent album to date, and one that rode the charts for a year. It was also a study in contrasts, Tom Johnston's harder-edged, bolder rocking numbers balanced by Patrick Simmons' more laid-back country-rock ballad style. The leadoff track, Johnston's "Natural Thing," melded the two, opening with interlocking guitars and showcasing the band's exquisite soaring harmonies around a beautiful melody, all wrapped up in a midtempo beat – the result was somewhere midway between Allman Brothers-style virtuosity and Eagles/Crosby & Nash-type lyricism, which defined this period in the Doobies' history and gave them a well-deserved lock on the top of the charts. Next up was the punchy, catchy "Long Train Runnin'," a piece they'd been playing for years as an instrumental – a reluctant Johnston was persuaded by producer Ted Templeman to write lyrics to it and record the song, and the resulting track became the group's next hit. The slashing, fast-tempo "China Grove" and "Without You" represented the harder side of the Doobies' sound, and were juxtaposed with Simmons' romantic country-rock ballads "Clear as the Driven Snow," and "South City Midnight Lady." Simmons also showed off his louder side with "Evil Woman," while Johnston showed his more reflective side with "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman," "Ukiah" and "The Captain and Me" – the latter, a soaring rocker clocking in at nearly five minutes, features radiant guitars and harmonies, soaring ever higher and faster to a triumphant finish.

Tracklist:

01 - Natural Thing
02 - Long Train Runnin'
03 - China Grove
04 - Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
05 - Clear As The Driven Snow
06 - Without You
07 - South City Midnight Lady
08 - Evil Woman
09 - Busted Down Around O'Connelly Corners
10 - Ukiah
11 - The Captain And Me

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 1,69 GB

The Doobies team up with the Memphis Horns for an even more Southern-flavored album than usual, although also a more uneven one. By this time, Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, and company had pretty well inherited the mantle and the core (and then some) of the audience left behind by Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty, with Johnston songs like "Pursuit on 53rd Street," "Down in the Track," and "Road Angel" recalling pieces like "Travelin' Band," while Simmons' "Black Water" (their first number one hit) evoked the softer side of the "swamp rock" popularized by CCR. Actually, in some respects, given the range of instruments employed here, including an autoharp (courtesy of Arlo Guthrie) and viola, the songs on the original LP's first side suffer somewhat from a sameness that makes What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits a little less interesting than the albums that preceded it. The original side two had a lot more variety, which is as good as any full album the band ever recorded: Simmons' "Tell Me What You Want (And I'll Give You What You Need)" and Johnston's "Another Park, Another Sunday," which both outdo the Eagles and Poco at their respective country-rock games (and keep a certain soulful edge, too), Simmons' lyrical, ethereal, slightly spacy "Daughters of the Sea," and the very spacy, shimmering instrumental "Flying Cloud" (written by bassist Tiran Porter). In all, despite the weakness of its original first side, it's got a lot more to offer than the single hit, and has at least six numbers (out of 12) that rate with the better album tracks the group has ever done.

Tracklist:

01 - Song to See You Through
02 - Spirit
03 - Pursuit on 53rd St.
04 - Black Water
05 - Eyes of Silver
06 - Road Angel
07 - You Just Can't Stop It
08 - Tell Me What You Want
09 - Down in the Track
10 - Another Park, Another Sunday
11 - Daughters of the Sea
12 - Flying Cloud

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 1,81 GB

Talk about greatness – the Doobie Brothers, with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter added to their lineup, delivered their best album to date helped by a fairly big hit, though "Take Me in Your Arms" never did anything close to its predecessors despite some chords and modulations that recalled "Black Water" ever so slightly. Stampede's virtue was its musicianship, which, in addition to new member Baxter, was also showcased in the guises of some impressive guests. the Doobie Brothers' rootsiest album to date, Stampede was virtuoso soulful countrified rock of a gritty nature, crossing over into blues as well as reaching back to a raw, traditional rock & roll sound that wouldn't have sounded too out of place 20 years earlier. That was the opener, the searing "Sweet Maxine," which just might've made a good single with an edit or two to bring it down to three and a half minutes; the record gets better with the bouncing "Neal's Fandango," which is highlighted by lyrical as well as instrumental acrobatics on the verses and a delicious guitar and piano break. "Texas Lullaby" is one of the prettiest pieces of country rock (though it's a little more "Western rock") to come out of the genre since the Byrds and the Beau Brummels had treaded into it eight years earlier, and gets a magnificently soulful performance from Tom Johnston. And speaking of soul, Curtis Mayfield is the arranger on Johnston's hard-driving "Music Man." The group strips down to its acoustic basics for "Slat Key Soquel Rag," which could have been an outtake from the group's self-titled debut album; Maria Muldaur is the guest vocalist on "I Cheat the Hangman," representing Patrick Simmons' songwriting at its most ethereal. Baxter's "Précis" was the group's nod to classical and Spanish guitar technique, and "Rainy Day Crossroad Blues" provides guest artist Ry Cooder with a gorgeous canvas on which to paint his slide guitar licks. And the album lands with its feet firmly in 1970s-style roots rock on "I've Been Workin' on You" and "Double Dealin' Four Flusher".

Tracklist:

01. Sweet Maxine
02. Neal's Fandango
03. Texas Lullaby
04. Music Man
05. Slack Key Soquel Rag
06. Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)
07. I Cheat The Hangman
08. Precis
09. Rainy Day Crossroad Blues
10. I Been Workin' On You
11. Double Dealin' Four Flusher

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 1,65 GB

The group's first album with Michael McDonald marked a shift to a more mellow and self-consciously soulful sound for the Doobies, not all that different from what happened to Steely Dan – whence McDonald (and Jeff Baxter) had come – between, say, Can't Buy a Thrill and Pretzel Logic. They showed an ability to expand on the lyricism of Patrick Simmons and Baxter's writing on "Wheels of Fortune," while the title track introduced McDonald's white funk sound cold to their output, successfully. Simmons' "8th Avenue Shuffle" vaguely recalled "Black Water," only with an urban theme and a more self-consciously soul sound (with extraordinarily beautiful choruses and a thick, rippling guitar break). "Rio" and "It Keeps You Runnin'" both manage to sound like Steely Dan tracks – and that's a compliment – while Tiran Porter's hauntingly beautiful "For Someone Special" was a pure soul classic right in the midst of all of these higher-energy pieces. Tom Johnston's "Turn It Loose" is a last look back to their earlier sound, while Simmons' "Carry Me Away" shows off the new interplay and sounds that were to carry the group into the 1980s, with gorgeous playing and singing all around.

Tracklist:

01 - Wheels of Fortune
02 - Takin' It to the Streets
03 - 8th Avenue Shuffle
04 - Losin' End
05 - Rio
06 - For Someone Special
07 - It Keeps You Runnin'
08 - Turn It Loose
09 - Carry Me Away

Mastered by Rob LoVerde at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastopol, CA.


Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 1,85 GB
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