One of the few live representations of the Doobie Brothers currently on video, and probably the only one readily available, Live At Wolf Trap <\/i>is a gift to fans of the early albums of this long-running boogie rock band. Featuring a reunited Doobies band sans Michael McDonald, the music is heavily rooted in the band\u2019s \u201870s prime, the period where Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons ran the show before the blue-eyed soul metamorphosis.<\/p>\n
That time period is ignored here, making this a 23-song boogie rock romp with hints of country, folk, Southern rock, and good old hard rock, with a few jams and stabs at virtuosity. Although never considered instrumentalists in the league of, say, the Allman Brothers, the Doobies were able to pull off complex harmonies and guitar patterns, and they prove both a skill and flair for playing and jamming that enhances many of the songs.<\/p>\n
10 of the 11 tracks from Best Of The Doobies <\/i>are present, with the final five songs a virtual best of in its own right. The middle of the concert will not appeal to casual listeners but is a treasure trove to longtime fans, who also may appreciate the handful of songs here taken from the band\u2019s latter day reunion discs. Granted, classic rock radio has played \u201cRockin\u2019 Down The Highway,\u201d \u201cBlack Water,\u201d and \u201cListen To The Music\u201d to death, and the band looks a bit bored in playing these hoary chestnuts, but they still sound great.<\/p>\n
Album tracks like \u201cSnake Man,\u201d \u201cAnother Park, Another Sunday,\u201d \u201cRainy Day Crossroad Blues,\u201d \u201cClear As The Driven Snow,\u201d and \u201cSpirit\u201d add depth to the proceedings, while an extended introduction to \u201cTakin\u2019 It To The Streets\u201d (one of two songs from the McDonald era) and the always energetic \u201cJesus Is Just Alright\u201d are easy highlights. Early single \u201cNobody\u201d and the instrumental \u201cSteamer Lane Breakdown\u201d are appealing, and latter-day songs like \u201cDangerous\u201d and \u201cFive Corners\u201d fit in nicely with the rest of the stuff here. <\/p>\n
Only a couple of the songs fail to excite, such as \u201cDon\u2019t Start Me Talkin\u2019\u201d and a subdued take on \u201cTake Me In Your Arms (Rock Me),\u201d but the closing rock of \u201cChina Grove\u201d and \u201cWithout You\u201d make up for it. Simmons is a calming presence throughout, his long hair and beatific smile befitting of an old hippie, while Johnston is a muscular, driving force who tries mightily \u2013 sometimes too hard \u2013 to get the crowd singing, dancing and cheering (the camera work does the same thing at times, favoring a jump-cut editing style that does not fit this type of music at all). A sax section and keyboard rounds out the music, but never does it sound cluttered or too busy.<\/p>\n
Fact is, fans of those early Doobies records will enjoy pretty much all of this, and casual fans who love those radio hits may find more to the band than they previously thought existed. Live At Wolf Trap <\/i>is worth the effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6972],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43173","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-doobie-brothers","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43173"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}