Doobie Brothers Livin' On The Fault Line CD

Doobie Brothers: Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons (vocals, guitar); Michael McDonald (vocals, keyboards); Tiran Porter (vocals, bass); Keith Knudsen (vocals, drums); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar).
Additional personnel: Dan Armstrong (electric sitar); Norton Buffalo (harmonica); Victor Feldman (vibraphone); Bobby LaKind (congas); Rosemary Butler, Maureen McDonald (background vocals).
Recorded at Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, California.
Livin' on the Fault Line fell between two of the Doobie Brothers' biggest-selling records. The album had no hit singles, and one-time leader Tom Johnston kept a markedly low profile (this would be his last record with the group, not including a later reunion). Despite this, Livin' on the Fault Line contains some of the most challenging and well-developed music of the band's career, with Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald really stepping to the fore. There's a vague mood of melancholia running through the songs, as well as a definite jazz influence. This is most obvious on the title track, which has several instrumental passages that showcase the guitar abilities of Simmons and Jeff Baxter. Similarly, "Chinatown" is a spooky mood piece not unlike the smooth fusion of late-period Steely Dan or Little Feat. But "Echoes of Love" and "Nothin' But a Heartache" are both intelligent, glistening pop songs that confirm Simmons and McDonald as first-rate tunesmiths. The record slips a little at the end, with a plodding R&B song and a Piedmont guitar instrumental thrown in as filler. Overall, though, this is a chapter in the Doobie Brothers' history that deserves a second look. ~ Peter Kurtz
The Doobie's second album of the Michael McDonald era is one of their best and jazziest. The title song, for example, features a lengthy vibraphone solo by Victor Feldman, and the moody "Chinatown" gives guitar wiz Jeff "Skunk" Baxter a chance to show off some impressive Wes Montgomery licks. Other high points include the obligatory Motown remake, in this case Marvin Gaye's "Little Darling (I Need You)," McDonald's catchy vehicle "You Belong to Me" (co-written by Carly Simon) and in a nod to the band's roots, the closing acoustic folk-blues instrumental "Larry the Logger Two-Step," which makes a nice showcase for founding Doobie Patrick Simmons fingerpicking.