Quadly McQuadmeister
Well-known Member
Unlike the B, S&T/Chicago discussions I've participated in, I don't have a clear preference between the "Johnston vs. McDonald" eras. From a sheer musicianship and originality point of view, the McDonald era wins hands down because they still had their signature compositional/stylistic contributors in the members that were still there plus the not to be sold short musicianship/compositional wherewithal of McDonald himself. I probably do favor the latter records a bit more, but (I may have posted this elsewhere) there was no shortage of "instrumental" or musically ambitious offerings on those earlier records. ("South City..." and "I Cheat The Hangman" come instantly to mind-"Hangman" featured Jazz icons and Tonight Show Band members Conte and Pete Candoli (brothers) in the opened up improv section. It wasn't "either/or" it was both. The lattermost iteration of the Doobies betrays a certain formulaic stagnation that would've happened much earlier if Johnston hadn't had his, er, um, "stomach ailments". It's a lot like what I read in the "Nakamichi vs. Pioneer TOTL cassette deck" debates. The CT-F1000/1250/A1/93, etc., could've never existed had the Nakamichi 1000/ZX7/RX505/Dragon/CR7/DR1 not pushed the technological envelope first and given everyone else something at which to plink away. But Pioneer made their versions of those advances available for us the merely fiscally mortal. No Johnston, no McDonald. He'd have probably stayed with Steely Dan a little longer maybe. Who knows? Fun to think about, but the Doobies are on a very short list of Pop/Rock acts that I truly love, discographically speaking, stem to stern. There are no records by the Doobies that I outright dislike. That's a rare thing in popular music for me. EMMV...
