The Doobie Brothers - "What It Takes"

 

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.