Doobie Brothers Minute By Minute CD

The Doobie Brothers: Patrick Simmons (vocals, guitar); Michael McDonald (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Jeffrey Porter (guitar); Tiran Porter (bass, background vocals); Keith Knudsen (drums, background vocals); John Hartman (drums).
Additional personnel: Herb Pedersen (banjo); Byron Berline (fiddle); Norton Buffalo (harmonica); Andrew Love (saxophone); Ben Cauley (trumpet); Lester Abrams (electric piano); Bill Payne (synthesizer); Bobby LaKind (congas background vocals); Tom Johnston, Nicolette Larson, Rosemary Butler (background vocals).
Recorded at Warner Brothers Studios, North Hollywood, California.
The Doobie Brothers: Patrick Simmons (vocals, guitar); Michael McDonald (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Tiran Porter (vocals, bass guitar); Keith Knudsen (vocals, drums); Jeff Baxter (guitar); John Hartman (drums).
Additional personnel: Nicolette Larson (vocals).
With Tom Johnston gone from the lineup because of health problems, this is where the "new" Doobie Brothers really make their debut, with a richly soulful sound throughout and emphasis on horns and Michael McDonald's piano more than on Patrick Simmons' or Jeff Baxter's guitars. Not that they were absent entirely, or weren't sometimes right up front in the mix, as the rocking, slashing "Don't Stop to Watch the Wheels" and the bluegrass-influenced "Steamer Lane Breakdown" demonstrate. But given the keyboards, the funky rhythms, and McDonald's soaring tenor (showcased best on "What a Fool Believes"), it's almost difficult to believe that this is the hippie bar band that came out of California in 1970. There's less virtuosity here than on the group's first half-dozen albums, but overall a more commercial sound steeped in white funk. It's still all pretty compelling even if its appeal couldn't be more different from the group's earlier work (i.e., The Captain and Me, etc.). The public loved it, buying something like three million copies, and the recording establishment gave Minute by Minute four Grammy Awards, propelling the group to its biggest success ever. ~ Bruce Eder
The Doobie's biggest commercial success coincided with Michael McDonald's emergence as the leader of the band. His brilliant brand of sophisticated, keyboard-driven pop soul, as exemplified by the title track and the huge hit "What a Fool Believes," was instantly identifiable and almost impossible to resist. There are tracks here that look back to the Doobie's earlier days as a biker boogie band, in particular "Don't Stop to Watch the Wheels," and "Steamer Lane Breakdown," a country song reminiscent of the Byrds' "Nashville West." But the sound here is mostly McDonald's.