Not long ago, I was flipping TV channels when I came upon a recent live concert by the Doobie Brothers on PBS, which inspired me to create this imagined album. I always like creating “what if” albums for groups that have more than one vocalist, as it is fairly easy to do by combining tracks from the vocalists’ solo albums. And that’s what I did here.
After the Doobie Brothers released One Step Closer
in 1980 and completed a farewell tour, the group officially broke up in 1982.
At that point, the group had two primary vocalists, original member Patrick Simmons
and Michael McDonald, who’d joined in 1976.
So, I wanted to see if I could compile an album for the group as if they had released an album in 1982-83 rather than breaking up. The songs of this imagined album are sourced from three solo albums: Michael McDonald’s If That’s What It Takes, Patrick Simmons’ Arcade, and the Cornelius
Bumpus Quartet’s Beacon.
SIDE A
1. Out On The Streets
2. I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)
3. I Gotta Try
4. Why You Givin’ Up
5. If That's What It Takes
SIDE B
1. Playin' By The Rules
2. So Wrong
3. Have You Seen Her
4. Waltz For Little Buddy
5. Believe in It
Simmons used several former bandmates on his album, making
it somewhat easy to pick which tracks should be included here. “Out on the
Streets” includes guitar by John McFee as well as backup vocals by Tom Johnston
and McDonald; “Why You Givin’ Up” (which was co-written by McDonald) has Jeff “Skunk”
Baxter on guitar, Bumpus on sax and McDonald on backup vocals; and “Have You
Seen Her” also includes McDonald on backup vocals. In addition, I also included the track “So Wrong,” which apparently surprised Simmons and record executives
when it became a U.S. dance/disco hit, peaking at #8.
From McDonald’s album, I chose five tracks: “I Keep
Forgettin’” was the big hit from the album; “I Gotta Try” was co-written by
Kenny Loggins as was a previous Doobie Brothers hit “What a Fool Believes”; the
title track “If That’s What It Takes”; as well as “Playin’ by the Rules” and “Believe
In It.”
On One Step Closer, Bumpus wrote and sang on one
track, so I wanted to include a song of his on this album also. Despite the
group bearing his name, the only track on Beacon written by Bumpus is “Waltz
for Little Buddy” – an unassuming jazzy instrumental. One Step Closer
also included an instrumental as the second to last track of the album, so that’s
where I included this Bumpus song.
I struggled with ideas for an album cover. Eventually,
I chose the cover of the Doobie Brothers’ album Farewell Tour, cropped
the image and added new text. For a title, I took part of McDonald’s solo album
title and named it What It Takes.
Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.
