Tom Johnston
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Hello, Bob! When I was 18, I spent a year in an arts school and met a girl who introduced herself as Doobie. She was a nice person, and I asked about the name. "It's because I love Doobie Brothers. It's the greatest band in the world. Haven't you heard?" I was puzzled, because I thought I knew all worthwhile bands from the US by then. Mind you, I'm from Finland, and the year was 1990. The next day this girl brought me not one, not two, but three cassette tapes she'd recorded from her vinyls. "Hey, here's some Doobie Brothers for you. Check these out!" What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits was my favourite. When I told her that I liked the music, she gave another two cassettes. "You can return them if you don't like them, but otherwise you can keep them." I kept them all.
Cheers, Miikkali
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Counsel: consider: Mamaloi it is magical. Picked up Toulouse Street out of Dad's collection as a five year old in Cedar City, Utah. Haven't pit it down since. Long live the Doobies!
Kurt Lambeth
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One of my favorite LP's front-to-back. A vastly under-rated masterpiece. The DB's at their pre-McDonald pinnacle.
Michael J. Sammis
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Thanks for getting me back with an old friend.
Mike Giunta
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That album was my X's favorite, so it is hard to listen to.
John Payne
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Hey Bob. Funny coincidence - Just last week for the first time in years I was playing my old bootleg cassette tape of WWOVANH in my car which still has a tape player. Great stuff, although I confess I FF'ed through Black Water, as I've been supersaturated on that one for years. The tape sounded surprisingly good, despite my having recorded it on a cheap tape deck way back in nineteen seventy-something, and on a generic tape, to boot. Not Maxell, TDK, etc. I still have all my old cassettes - it's fun to flip through them every once in a while...
Cheers, - Bruce in Atlanta
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Great email on the Doobies! I've always loved them.
I'm not quite your age (I'm 61) but the Doobies have always had a top spot on my "Favourite Bands" list. I'm also an "entire album" guy when I sit down to hear tunes from my fave bands … and the Doobies always deliver. (Although every so often a 'greatest hits' package is what a gathering at a house party needs too!)
I've gone from having massive old stereo systems from my youth, to having a laptop now, with a huge hard-drive full of all my favourite stuff, in top HD format where possible.
I've only got one external bluetooth speaker now – but oh, what a bluetooth speaker it is! It's one of the first generation Bose ones, weighs a lot more than it looks, and produces wonderful, rich AND crisp sounds (providing of course the music is the digital HD kind you mentioned). On my laptop, a Macbook Pro circa late 2015, I also have the equalizer app "Boom 3D". It'll pull all the depth, warmth, and crispness that there is to pull out of an HD track.
And now I'm listening to "What Were Once Vices"! Nice for a throwback Sunday here in New Zealand!
Cheers
Steve Cossaboom
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Vices is one of those albums that took me by surprise. I'm too young to remember its initial release, but Toulouse St.through Stampede were in my parents' collection growing up. Captain probably got the most play in our house and on road trips because it was my mother's favorite, with Toulouse not far behind. In high school, Stampede became my favorite. Although I didn't dislike it, Vices didn't really stand out to me.
Until, that is, I heard Rob LoVerde's superlative master on Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD. Suddenly, the music came alive and I was grooving hard. What was once an afterthought was now my favorite, and it remains so to this day. It's even one of my reference recordings for both mixing and equipment testing. Yes, it's that good.
This is the power of presentation. Great music—even with superb production—can pass you by sometimes if it doesn't sound as good as it could or should. Thankfully, the more widely available 2016 remaster is also no slouch, and a definite improvement over the original CD release (can't speak to the vinyl). I'm really excited to experience a new-to-me presentation of the album when Rhino's Doobie Brothers Quadio box is released next month. Steve Woodard deserves major kudos for the Quadio program and championing this release in particular.
- Rick Jones
Get Ricked Productions
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Doobie wah----I went to college on a tennis scholarship.....early spring senior year 1976 in CT it was down to 3 schools in the midwest...visited each on the first warm weekend....chose the school where Doobie Bros wafted from every fraternity open window. Chaired the concert committee and evening deejayed the campus radio station (converting it to aor from top 40 format---as a wnew-fm 102.7 disciple) as a freshman. Trivia---'Doobie Wah' is an ode to the Doobie Bros. from Peter Frampton's Somethin's Happening elpee (1974-3rd solo)...very infectious groove and featured on Comes Alive (1976).
Scott Hazlewood
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Glad to know someone outside of the studio actually listens and hears what we spend our lives perfecting. When asked, "why bother in the time of earbuds?", the best answer I ever heard was, "because someday people may care." (Pretty sure that's a quote from George Massenburg). I love the fact your playback can handle 192K, but I hope you have the requisite sound proofing to mollify the neighbors. Back in the analog days, we were satisfied with Ampex 456 at plus five in an Augsperger-tuned room with freshly re-coned tad drivers.
As for the Doobies, well, what's in a name?Sometimes your rants reek of sativa (music), other times indica (political), but I always appreciate the inspiration between the words. As for sound quality, no one made better records (then) than Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, but they didn't limit their inspiration to herb.
Victor Levine
Studio City
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I loved that album from the start. Saw them live in Charlotte just after it was released too. I have identified with many of your thoughts about the sounds of the 70's and the power of the listening experience, the purity etc. with the connections to your lifetime, places and events. One of the great things about the Doobies for me was the way the sound was put out of the speakers dancing from different places across the 5 across sound spots on my JBL-100's. I always appreciated how Ted Templeman's production helped make the Doobie sound so perfectly alive. There was always something new to hear no matter how many times I listened to the same cut. Glad to see someone else has special appreciation for their sound as well. Thanks for all your sharing thoughts about those golden musical times and how it moved you as I experienced much of the same.
Hugh Harmon
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After my "Ramble On" session yesterday, and Rick's offer to suggest subjects for future segments, I too curiously found myself in front of the Doobie Brothers cannon, and came up just short of asking Rick to see if he could replicate the sonic (my uneducated term) sound of the drums/percussion beginning at the 3:09 mark of the title cut on "The Captain and Me." I know there is a lot of echo (reverb?) deployed, but something about that crescendo just stops me in my tracks. And its only my third favorite song on the album, after my all-time Doobie favorite "South City Midnight Lady," and then "Clear as the Driven Snow." Not to mention the three smash hits that open the album. And Tom and the band can still deliver live. He and Pat still have their voices, and one gets the sense, having seen them in both corporate and philanthropic settings, that they have genuine passion for their artistry and compassion for their audience.
Scott Kauffman
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One if my all-time favorites. As a young, aspiring rock guitarist in the seventies I would stare at that cover with them on the stage covered in fog lit by those lights and think: man, that's where I want to be! As for "Another Park", at sixteen that song got me through my first real heart break.
Philbillie
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Still my go to album to this very day Bob, feels like a comfortable pair of track pants.
Tom Johnston (the most obliging bloke and one of the most energetic performers around. You get the impression he loves playing as much as the fans love going) and those horn arrangements, OMG!
I don't live in the past but The Doobies are top of mind when I reflect.
Don Elford
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You nailed me.
Patrick and Tom = brilliant writing
China Grove and 12 more.
I do believe I have spent heavy money on stereo gear.
Yeah!
Steve Brown
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Another Park, Another Sunday was excellent. But did you ever get into the first album from '71, which leads off with Nobody? Fine album. I regret selling it when I did the grand downsize.
Joel Marver
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The story of Black Water is a great one - heard it straight from Ted when I did the book with him. He loved working with the Doobies!
He chuckles about how he didn't think it was much more than a nice album track and then it gets played on Roanoke radio - spreads organically all over the country and goes to number one. Love the Pat vocal here - although note that Ted and the guys wanted Tom to sing on the track even though according to Ted, Tom wanted the song to be Pat's vehicle so he resisted the idea - but in the end Ted and the guys won out and TJ vocalizes a bit on the outro. Timeless. What a wonderful lyric and the vocal breakdown -- Ted explained he "stole" that from the Harpers' Bizarre track "Feelin' Groovy," - he borrowed the acapella idea from that tune, which was a Lenny Waronker production. Thanks for keeping the memories alive.
Greg Renoff
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.Doobies we're always my fave. In college playing 'Without You' till my JBL L100's once vibrated off the mantle!
Then the Eagles made it tough to decide who my favorite band was:)
(Still have my MARANTZ 2270 and JBL's.)
Peace- Gary Pigg
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Hi Bob - I wish you made your playlists on Amazon HD Music. It's definitely superior sound. I also have Apple because I like their interface and Apple is good at predicting songs I like. But I chose Apple over Spotify for exactly what you said. I did a back to back test and Apple's sound was surprisingly superior to Spotify. I tested them both on my home stereo and car stereo and Apple won in both cases, by a good margin. Of course Amazon offers the best sound, but their ap really tests my patience. It's constantly buffering and conking out altogether while I have no issues whatsoever with my Apple ap, which is another reason I have Apple, to get me through those times when the Amazon ap doesn't play nice.
Stephen Cabral
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Re: Amazon Music
Steve Boom ("like an ice cream man named Cone!!") needs to step on the gas. Their hi fi product, the Echo Link, won't even run full res from the digital out and the onboard DAC is kinda crap. What the fuck. I don't want to run stuff off my computer, give me full blast after speaking the song into the air. The mobile app could and should be better. Ultra HD is for power users, people who care. Give us more options. They could be destroying everyone but Spotify... but then only people I know who use Amazon Music are UHD subscribers. Feels like they're dropping the ball. Because they don't care that much; I guess they don't need to. Shouldn't they, though?
Dave Conklin
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Weird. I've been listening to What Were Once Vices all week. I have Amazon HD too but my go to right now are these wonderful Sony wireless, noise cancelling earbuds. In my opinion, Amazon HD is far superior to the other platforms.
Harold Love
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Yes, Yes, Yes on the Doobies.
Their music has aged beautifully.
Both the Tom Johnston era and the Michael McDonald era.
And as you wrote: "they say the quality of the sound no longer makes a difference."
Doobie's records all sound spectacular.
The credit for making that sound goes to the musicians and singers, of course.
But just as significantly (or more) to legendary Producer Ted Templeman, and Engineer Extraordinaire Donn Landee.
They listened to the music, made decisions how best to capture it, and most critically, balanced it with brilliant mixes.
This was the golden age of Engineering, when the best sound was valued by all: the Artist, the Label, the Fans.
Nowadays, it's nearly impossible to even find accurate credits for these critical professions.
Two other notes:
Yes, Genelecs are worth the trouble and $.
They are in studios all over the world for good reason (I have a pair of S30's at home).
I'm all about Amazon Music HD.
The HD tier (for $3 a month extra) makes all the difference.
It's the best sounding streaming I have found.
The stereo sound stage is the clearest I have heard.
Playing "What Once Were Vices…" right now, on Amazon Music HD.
Thanks for reminding me,
Hank Neuberger
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Thanks for bringing this album up Bob.
I was in high school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (Canada). I had already decided that I would be a career musician no matter what and it was reflected in the fact that I rarely attended anything in school aside from my 4 music classes a day. The rest of the time I would generally be skipping out to jam at the local music store to jam with the many musicians who came through town to play the clubs in those days. Back then a music store was a musician's 'home away from home' in a sleepy town such as the one I lived in. The alternative was possibly 'The Price is Right' or soap operas on TV in lackluster hotel accommodations.
Like you, 'Natural Thing' opened my ears up to the Doobies. I have an ear that likes a 'hit' (like your aforementioned Listen to the Music, China Grove and Long Train Running), so I already loved the hits, but Natural Thing gave me a new excitement for them. Ukiah and a few other 'side cuts' were so special. It was back in the days when albums weren't chocked full of 'fillers'. The hits simply brought you to the band's album where they showed what they were really made of.
'The Captain and Me' was that for me.
My school friend Vince Buczel and I loved music (as did most of the aspiring musicians that hung out in the smoking area between classes). As a matter of fact, he was the one who turned me on to the first Bachman Turner Overdrive album. I knew of the 'Guess Who' of course but really had no idea who Randy Bachman was at that time...(more on this later...)
Vince had bought the 'What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits' album and he was going to unveil it for me in his basement lair that night. I was excited. As previously mentioned, their last album was amazing to me.
You have to know that, Sault Ste. Marie gets more than its fair share of snow. It can be up to 4-5 feet high outside your house in the winter. Needless to say, that covers up your basement windows completely, so once the lights go out, you've never seen absolute darkness like this. This was the setting for the first listening of this incredible album.
The lights went off. You couldn't see your hand in front of your nose (literally) and the album went on. Each song was better than the last; but somehow you still wanted to listen to the song you had just heard again while listening to the current one... it was that kind of album.
To cut to the chase here, the album ends with 'Daughters of the Sea' and 'Flying Cloud'. As it faded out Vince and I muttered an 'Oh Wow' and couldn't wait to put it on again. We talked of that moment many times afterwards. It was a defining moment for us as teenagers.
Music… what a gift!
At this point I have to tell you - drugs and booze were never a part of our scene. Yes I had drank a bit but I didn't like it much... and I never saw any drugs at all until probably the next year or two when I was 17 and had finally seen what a joint and a bag of weed looked like. (Still not a fan to this day…)
It just wasn't part of our make up. Music was our drug of choice.
Many years later, I have had a pretty good musical career by now and I am playing in Bachman and Turner. I had already been playing with Randy Bachman for many years as his bass player/lead singer, but now that Fred Turner is back in the fold, I am playing guitar in a new version of BTO with the two original guys. It's pretty exciting and a moment the 'gearheads' have waited for, for many years. We are touring fairly extensively and one of the upcoming dates we have is with The Doobies. I am extremely excited to say the least.
We were to close the show so I made sure to be there all day to somehow hook up with Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston. I needn't have worried. They were the most cordial and wonderful people I have ever been on the same bill with. Their set was, of course, excellent. Their band was/is incredible and I was able to share the above story with Pat and Tom. Pat particularly took interest and I think he found the sentiment (for lack of a better term) 'sweet'.
I'm so happy that I get to do this for a living (go away COVID) and that sometimes my heroes are even more amazing than I imagined them to be as a young kid with so many dreams...
Thanks for the time and re-igniting a wonderful memory Bob
Mick Dalla-Vee
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Hi Bob,
The Doobie Brothers: in September of 1967, a blind date took me,
blue blazer, tie and wejuns, to see Cream at the Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston. Being into soul music at the time, I had no idea who Cream was and found the 4 hour show excruciatingly boring.
Later back at the dorm at B.U. in the shared bathroom area on our floor, I heard this blond, long haired skinny kid raving about the show, specifically about this guy Eric Clapton he had heard for the first time that night. I stopped to listen for awhile, he went on and on and was so passionate, me amazed and thinking again that there was something going but I didn't know what it was.
Later I found out that "kid" was Jeff Baxter.
Best,
Jeffrey Bauman
Wendell, MA
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