Customer Reviews

Listen to the Music: The Very Best Of The Doobie Brothers

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

 

 

This compilation takes all the tracks from the U.S Best of Volume one plus the cream of Best of Volume 2 (6 tracks), and also adds a dance re-mix of Long Train that was a massive Eurodisco hit (who woulda thunk it?) and puts it all in an attractive package with excellent remastered sound and even some historical notes. An excellent one-cd sampling and typical of non-US releases by filling up the CD.

I liked this Best of the Doobies collection even more than the American collection Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits. Most of the classic hits by both Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald are here in a single disc: China Grove, Long Train Runnin', Listen to the Music, Jesus is Just Alright, South City Midnight Lady, Take Me in Your Arms, Without You, Takin' It to the Streets, Minute by Minute, What a Fool Believes, Real Love, Little Darlin' I Need You. Even though this album does not contain the hits "The Doctor," "Dangerous," and "Dependin' on You," it is still a great collection. I liked this disc because it contained the full version of "Jesus is Just Alright" (the Greatest Hits collection has the shortened version). Also, another additional feature is the remix of "Long Train Runnin'", which sounds even better than the original version. Highly Recommended!

One reviewer has assigned 3 stars to this volume, while another gives it 1, both asserting that, in their opinion, these tracks do not constitute the group's "best" - preferring, instead, some album cuts. Once again, this reflects a difference in the interpretation of "best" - something that they share with a number of distributors.

But really, in my long experience with recordings, "best" and "greatest" more often than not refers to those single releases that got the artists into the public mind, through a combination of air/jukebox-play and record sales. That's what the vast majority strove for since a hit or two usually led to albums, where they could let their creative juices flow. So, while some may regard "best" as being selected album cuts, it's the hit singles that made them popular. As with Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and The Beatles to name the dominant artists of the 40's, 50's and 60's.

This San Jose group (which underwent many many changes over the years) put 27 onto the Billboard Pop Hot 100 from 1972 to 1989, nine of which also made the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts (plus one more that charted there only as late as 2001 - Ordinary Many, a # 29 from their album Sibling Rivalry), and four that crossed over to the R&B charts. So, despite the transient nature of the band, their sound remained consistent - and popular.

Here they give you 13 of those hits plus three B-sides to go along with one track containing a remix of one of those hits (despite what is indicated above, there are 18 tracks here - not 19), and another (You Belong To Me) that was culled from their 1977 album Livin' On The Fault Line. The hit version of You Belong To Me (# 79 Hot 100 in summer 1983) was a "live" rendition recorded later.

Which brings up the reason why I only went as high as 4 stars because, even if they had included the hit version, it was a minor one, as were Here To Love You - # 65 Hot 100 in February 1982 and Little Darling (I Need You) - # 48 Hot 100 in August 1977. These, and the uncharted B-sides (tracks 7, 9 and 10) were thrown in at the expense of these Top 40 hits: Another Park, Another Sunday - # 32 Hot 100 in May 1974; Sweet Maxine (# 40 Hot 100 in August 1975; Dependin' On You - # 25 Hot 100/# 37 AC in September 1979; and One Step Closer - # 21 AC/# 24 Hot 100 in late 1980.

All their hits to 1983, except one, were on the Warner label, and that one exception was Wynken, Blynken And Nod which made it to # 31 AC/# 76 Hot 100 early in 1981 from the multi-artist children's album In Harmony which came out on the Sesame Street label. Their two 1989 hits (including the # 9 Hot 100/# 31 AC, The Doctor) were on Capitol, and that 2001 album-cut hit was released by Pyramid.

The sound quality on this release is excellent, and with the insert you get five pages of background notes written in 1993 by John Tobler, the well-known British writer, broadcaster, and rock music journalist.

It's every thing I was looking for. I had a cassette with the same songs but lost it over time

Sure it doesn't have all of the songs the Doobies ever recorded, but it isn't a "all the songs" CD, it's a greatest hits CD. It even might not have all the songs some people consider their greatest hits, so go and download the ones they missed. The only thing I didn't like was the remixes, I'd have preferred other songs, but that's just me. Listen and enjoy to the Doobies, no matter who the lead singer is.

and not a concept album.

It was good and solid and had all of the good songs that the Doobie Brothers did together. Or, at least the ones that I like. When you get a compilation CD by one artist that has all of his songs that you like, then that is about as good as it gets.

This CD had all the songs that I liked, but I didn't like all the songs that it had. So, it gets docked one star.

Describing this album as the very best is a little bit misleading. The hits are here and so too a lot of other songs spanning the Doobies career pre-early 1990's. I personally found the Doobies to be at their best on the album "The Captain and Me" (see my review), and I don't rate the post-Tom Johnston era Dobbies as terribly exciting. There is a good mix of songs from both era's here which is why I only gave the album three stars. But for those wishing to sample the Doobies collection this is a reasonable start. Personally I think the album "The Captain and Me" and any of the "Best of" albums are all the casual Doobies fan needs.

This isn't much of a compilation for my taste anyway. Don't get me wrong great tunes on here. But I think The Best Of The Doobie Brothers is a much better music overview summination highlighted by all their original studio album recordings instead!