Customer Reviews

Doobie's Choice

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Hand Picked Primo Cuts" is what it says at the bottom of the CD cover. "Primo" should say "Supremo" as this is an excellent CD. First it's not a greatest hits CD, it's the songs outside of the hits that the Doobies, felt were some of their greatest, regardless of the airplay that they might have gotten in the past. EVERY BAND has excellent songs that you never hear on the radio and it's good to see a band put out some lesser knowns onto CD in a collection so that even a new fan who would normally just buy a greatest hits CD can now get a good taste of the larger and so far as I've heard, great Doobie Catalog without having to just buy random past albums and just hope they enjoy what they bought.

Second The CD features a decent mix of songs from all 3 of the lead singers (McDonald does however get the shorter end of the stick with only a couple.) The CD also gets it's songs from all periods of the Band's career from their early rock-on years with Tom Johnston - Their mellow middle with Michael McDonald and even the short lived tougher guy years in the late 80's when Tom came back. Unless I've misunderstood, only two albums got snubbed, their first album and their newest, Sibling Rivalry.

To conclude, I don't think I've ever listened to a CD all the way through in one sitting without replaying a single song, or skipping over one since Carly Simon's Greatest hits. After listening to this, songs like Neals Fandango, Song to See you Through and Steamer Lane Breakdown are some of my new favorites. This is an excellent CD to get a hold of, ESPECIALLY if you are a new Doobie fan (like me). I hope more bands put out CD's like this.

Right up front it should be noted that this compilation of Doobie hits DOES NOT contain what most rock fans consider to be the GREATEST hits of this eclectic rock band. It DOES however contain some terrific cuts from Doobie albums (up to "Brotherhood" anyway). Most of the cuts are sans Michael McDonald which include many of the songs that the band recorded during the middle '70s. For true Doobie fans, however, this album will be a treat! It's an opportunity to showcase some lesser known, albeit great cuts of music.

Most "Greatest Hits" albums are compilations that are basically demanded by the public based on record sales. This set, however, is refreshing from the standpoint that it is conceived and generated by the band themselves.

For those of you who are new to the "band", I would suggest some of their better-known songs featured in either one of the two Greatest Hits albums. But, for those who of you are true fans, (like myself) you'll find this album refreshing from two standpoints - the music is great and it's interesting to find out what the Doobies themselves feel are some of their better cuts.

You can't go wrong either way! 5 stars!

Doobie's Choice is a great idea that I wish more band's would follow. Instead of the standard hits compilation, the band selects their favorite songs and twenty of them appear on the disk. Almost all the songs were never released as singles and the few that were like "Another Park, Another Saturday" and "Little Darling" barely squeaked into the Top 40 and are hardly hits. Most the songs come from the early days of the band and not the late 70's configuration that has a strong Michael McDonald influence. The band also takes some songs that are from recent reunions like the album's opener, "Divided Highway" from their Brotherhood album. Some strong tracks include "Sweet Maxine", "Chinatown", "South City Midnight Lady" and "Toulouse Street". The band does get a bit obscure with some tracks like "Cotton Mouth", "Nothin' But A Heartache" and "don't Stop Watchin' The Wheels", but the overall approach is superb.

A first rate album by the Doobie Brothers but many tracks are replicated from other albums. But this was their intent. The DBs wanted to release an album of their own favourite songs which were perhaps, for lack of a better description, 'sub-greatest hits' but were nonetheless great songs. If you are a die-hard DB fan from the early days and have many of their albums, then this may not appeal to you. Having said that however, as an old DB fan from decades ago, I love this album. It is a convenient compilation of terrific songs.

If you are just getting into the DB and do not have any of their albums, then start with "Listen to the Music: The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers". Perhaps follow on by getting "Doobies' Choice".

This disc was never intended to be a catch-all of the Doobies' more obscure stuff - that would take 3 discs! Instead, it is an amazingly varied set, designed to please folks like me who used to own all of the old Doobies cassettes, but don't want to have to buy every album in order to get some quality non-single songs. Most of the best non-hits are here. This disc is a real treat, and I insist that anyone who likes their 'hits' should have this one as a companion to any DB gr hits collection.

Made in USA in 2002, Serial# R2-78298, Playing Time 74:57

This disc compiles tracks previously released on various albums, up to their "Brotherhood" album.

Selected after taking a survey within the band members (the process is explained in greater detail within the liner notes), it represents a "Greatest Misses" of some sort (they left out, on purpose, every single hit of their career)

This disc is intended for the "real" fans (i.e. people who buy their albums, regardless of the hits played on the radio) but presents no left-overs, no alternate versions, basically nothing that anyone that has their albums would look for...

"Greatest Hits" always present the dilemma of choosing tracks that a wide audience would like, and most people feel that one of their favorites has been left out of the selection. That's not a problem on this disc: every track included here is a subjective choice, based on the band members' choices. Even though some tracks do present some real "should-have-been-a-hit" material, the bulk of it is, well, pretty eclectic!

I'd say you're better off making your own choices and burn your own CD; this disc is sure to disappoint, in one way or another. I think it's also a sacrilege that not a single track was taken from their "Takin' It To The Streets" album. What kind of choice is that?