We have now reached the top 10. These were the ten most popular albums on AOR stations in 1976. So as in any worthwhile conversation on rock and roll, we get to talk about The Doobie Brothers.
For the band’s first five albums, Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons were co-leaders, writing and singing the vast majority of the songs. Sadly, in 1975, Johnston was diagnosed with stomach ulcers. His condition was getting so bad that they had to cancel tour dates, and in general, he was forced to scale back his involvement with the band. He didn’t outright quit, though. He would still appear on their next album, singing two songs including one he wrote by himself. But we’ll get to that in a minute. The band still had tour dates that they were presumably unable to cancel.
At this point, I should inform you that in 1974, The Doobie Brothers had gone on tour with an opening band called Steely Dan. Steely Dan’s founding guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter left that same year to join The Doobie Brothers. When Johnston had to step away, Baxter had a suggestion. One of his friends from his tenure in Steely Dan was their touring keyboardist, Michael McDonald. He was between gigs at the time, so Baxter called him up to recruit him for The Doobie Brothers. McDonald was reluctant, but joined anyway. They rehearsed for two days and finished touring. McDonald thought the band would be done with him after that, but to his surprise, they invited him to work on their next album.
That album was Takin’ It To The Streets, released in March 1976. While the band had already scored hit records before, this album going Platinum and having the title track hit the top 20 on the Hot 100 proved that the band could carry on with someone else in the lead. It might have helped that the title track, written and sung by McDonald, is a great song. Heck, his very first lyric in the song is “You don’t know me, but I’m your brother” as if he’s literally telling the listener “Hello, I’m the new guy, please be nice.”
The title track was officially released two days before the whole album, though I suspect the title track had already been played on AOR stations by that point. The actual album opens with “Wheels Of Fortune,” which has Johnston and Simmons on lead vocals. I wonder if the band thought that someone out there might have bought the album without hearing the single first and wanted to start them off with the old and familiar singer before easing into the new singer. If so, I don’t think it worked the way the band intended. When “Wheels Of Fortune” was released as the second single, it flopped, peaking at #87 on the Hot 100. That’s a real shame because “Wheels Of Fortune” is also a great song.
The whole album is pretty great. “8th Avenue Shuffle,” “Losin’ End,” “Rio,” the Johnston-penned “Turn It Loose,” and the closing track “Carry Me Away” are all fantastic. “For Someone Special” is a very good song that bassist Tiran Porter wrote and sang for Johnston. “It Keeps You Runnin’” was another top 40 hit. Whether you know it from the Carly Simon cover or the “Forrest Gump” soundtrack, it is… look, I won’t lie. The song isn’t terrible but it is easily the weakest song McDonald wrote for the album. The song is sluggish in pace and the Clavinet sounds silly. But somehow, as I said, it was a top 40 hit on the Hot 100. Damned if I know why.
In summary, Takin’ It To The Streets is a great album that’s one song away from being perfect.
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