Although Stampede <\/i>had been a good album, the Doobie Brothers was interested in expanding their sound, and so Takin\u2019 It To The Streets <\/i>marks the first step away from their old sound and toward their eventual classification as a pop-soul band. It\u2019s also considered the final \u201cclassic\u201d Doobies album; the last one represented on their seminal Best Of The Doobies collection, it\u2019s the final one that gets regular airplay on classic rock radio. From here, the boys would land on pop radio with songs like \u201cWhat A Fool Believes\u201d and \u201cMinute By Minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dichotomy here is compelling, though, showing a depth that builds on the established Doobies sound by adding funk elements, horns, smooth jazz, and the singing of Michael McDonald. This also is where the Doobies started to share DNA with Steely Dan, as both McDonald and guest guitarist Jeff \u201cSkunk\u201d Baxter brought elements of their old band into this one. It\u2019s not unthinkable that songs like \u201cRio,\u201d \u201cCarry Me Away\u201d and \u201cFor Someone Special\u201d could have been on, say, Katy Lied<\/i>. Part of the change, of course, is because Tom Johnston was having health issues and had to reduce his involvement in the band, leading to McDonald coming on to help with the tour and then being asked to join them in the studio to record this disc.<\/p>\n
For someone raised on \u201cBlack Water\u201d and \u201cChina Grove,\u201d hearing the jazzy cadences of \u201cRio,\u201d and the white soul elements of \u201cWheels Of Fortune\u201d can be a bit jarring at first, but the album flows nicely and retains its own mellow personality. Although the band\u2019s rock side and good-time-boogie personality are what they\u2019re remembered for, many of their best songs are moodier, more acoustic pieces like \u201cUkiah,\u201d \u201cI Cheat The Hangman,\u201d and \u201cDaughters Of The Sea,\u201d and this album follows more along those lines. The best examples are the title track (a deserved hit) and the clanky \u201cIt Keeps You Runnin\u2019,\u201d both featuring solid singing from McDonald.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurn Me Loose\u201d is a welcome addition at the end of the album, the song that sounds most like the old Doobies, and it\u2019s a fine rocker but a bit derivative of much of What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits<\/i> and doesn\u2019t really leave a lasting impression. \u201cCarry Me Away\u201d also is unlike any other Doobies song at the time, though it points the way forward to the rest of the decade more than any other song here\u2026so if you loved \u201cMinute By Minute,\u201d you\u2019ll love this one, too.<\/p>\n
But a couple of mediocre songs tucked away at the end does not a bad listening experience make, and the entire 38 minutes are self-assured, confident AOR pop-rock-soul that do not betray the tentative nature of the sessions; the band knew adding McDonald would alter their sound, but they went ahead with it. Aside from the three hit songs (\u201cWheels,\u201d \u201cIt Keeps You Runnin\u2019,\u201d the title track), \u201c8th<\/sup> Avenue Shuffle,\u201d \u201cRio\u201d (with guest vocals from Maria Muldaur), and \u201cFor Someone Special\u201d are as good as most other Doobies album tracks, with all six showing a successful merging of styles. <\/p>\n The band would go on to pursue McDonald\u2019s vision above their old ways, leaving this as the last classic Doobies record and one to check out no matter if you are a longtime or casual fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6972],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44505","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-doobie-brothers","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44505","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=44505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44505"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44505"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}