|
Doobie Brothers Are still Relevant After All These Years
Nov 4, 2010 – Most bands from the seventies that are still hitting the road seldom see the inside of a recording studio. Maybe they don't have the juice anymore? Perhaps some of these old dogs don't feel they have to – a large catalogue can do that. That's not the case for the Doobie Brothers who have just released their first album since 2000's “Sibling Rivalry” and the fans seem to love it. In fact, the new one, “World Gone Crazy,” entered the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at #39.
After 40 years the band still has original lead singer Tom Johnston (though he left, for a few years, in the mid seventies, being replaced by Michael McDonald), also original member Patrick Simmons on guitar and vocals, drummer Michael Hossack, who joined the band in 1971 for their “Toulouse Street” album and John McFee who dates back to 1979 (he replaced Jeff Skunk Baxter).
"The main thing is you want somebody to hear the damn thing," says Johnston, "You really want to get their take on it and make as many people as possible happy."
“World Gone Crazy” took three years to complete, the longest the band has ever spent on a project, and the boys in the band said it gave them time to make sure the end result would be something they would never regret. "We ran into a couple of songs, personally me speaking for myself, I said this is not what I had in mind," Johnston said. "So we went back in and got it where it needed to be. That's the blessing of taking the time. At the time it didn't seem like a blessing, but in hindsight I'm glad it took this long. Now that we got here, wow, it came out a lot better than we ever thought it would."
The band also brought in longtime producer Ted Templemen who had not worked with them since 1983 and Michael McDonald who, though changed the direction of the band, also gave them their biggest album with “Minute by Minute.” Mcdonald has gone on record many times stating his honorary status as a member of the band. He sings background on Simmon's, Don't Say Goodbye" - by John Beaudin
|