Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Listen To The Music
2. Jesus Is JustAlright
3. Rockin' Down The Highway
4. Long Train Runnin'
5. China Grove
6. South City Midnight Lady
7. Another Park, Another Sunday
8. Eyes Of Silver
9. Nobody
10. Black Water
11. Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)
12. Sweet Maxine
13. I Cheat The Hangman
14. Takin' It To The Streets
15. Wheels of Fortune
16. It Keeps You Runnin'

Disc 2:

1. Little Darling (I Need You)
2. Echoes Of Love
3. What A Fool Believes
4. Minute By Minute
5. Depending On You
6. Real Love
7. One Step Closer
8. Wynken, Blynken and Nod
9. Keep This Train A-Rollin'
10. Here To Love You
11. You Belong To Me
12. The Doctor
13. South Of The Border
14. Need A Little Taste of Love
15. Dangerous
16. Rollin' On
17. Ordinary Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1886 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-13
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Album Description
Doobie Brothers, Very Best Of

Customer Reviews

Listen to all of the music
The Doobie Brothers started out life as a greasy California biker band and took their name after a fondness for getting high. That ethic led to big riff rockers like "China Grove" and "Long Train Runnin'," but was lacking in the eventual slick sophistication of Michael McDonald's urbane soul. The original 1976 "Best Of The Doobies" included songs up to "Taking It To The Street," which meant that the number one "What A Fool Believes" was after the cut off date. This time The Doobie Brothers recognize the debut album a year before "Toulouse Street" by including one song, the acoustically flavored "Nobody."

Once McDonald joined, the band entered a second era and began to move more towards urban soul and Steely Dan jazz. Tom Johnston split after "Living On The Faultline" over the Doobies' new direction with Jeff Baxter and McDonald, and the resulting "Minute By Minute" bore little resemblance to the mellow hippy-vibes of "Rocking Down The Highway."

What this CD does is successfully chronicle both Johnston's biker bar band and McDonald's more soul dominated period. When the Doobies broke up after "One Step Closer," it put the band on ice until a 1989 Doobie Brothers reunion that yielded "Cycles" and a hit in "The Doctor." The band soldiered on minus McDonald, which meant that Johnston and Patrick Simmons were able to regain the steering wheel and make bar-band riff-rock once more. (Even if - IMHO - "Cycles" was pedestrian and "Brotherhood" worse, but "Sibling Rivalry" is OK.)

For my money, this double CD rates a full star over the 1976 set by virtue of the extra songs post "Taking It To The Streets" and remastered sound. But then again, I totally lost interest in the band when they started churning out factory made classic rock like "The Doctor." You will also get a few essential songs dropped from both single disc sets, like "Eyes Of Silver" and "Another Park Another Sunday" (the original A-Side of "Black Water"), and the two-disc set recognizes once again that "South City Midnight Lady" is one of the band's best. Short of the Rhino box-set, this is a solid representation of the Doobies.

All the hits, not enough of the misses
Without saying so, what this 2-CD set includes is every Billboard chart single the Doobie Brothers ever notched - something no other album (except their boxed set) can boast. That means that 'Very Best Of' collects songs like 'Eyes Of Silver' (#52, 1974), 'I Cheat The Hangman' (#60, 1975), and 'Wheels Of Fortune' (#87, 1976) that were never included on similar previous collections. It even picks up 'Wynken Blynken and Nod' (#76, 1981) from the Sesame Street LP 'In Harmony.' And, two key non-hits ('Rockin' Down The Highway' and 'South City Midnight Lady') get tossed in, plus some stuff from the group's latter day albums.

What you don't get are enough of the Doobies' great album tracks like 'Spirit' (1974) or 'Nothin' But A Heartache' (1977). For those, you'll need to upgrade to the boxed set - which nevertheless omits 'Without You,' a perennial favorite previously included on 'Best Of The Doobies' and 'Greatest Hits.' Go figure....

Beware of Radio Edits
Beware if you choose to purchase this set. I did without realizing that some of the songs are completely chopped up, namely 'Jesus Is Just Alright.' It sounds nothing like the album version. If the individual albums are remastered, I will burn my own version of the cd with unedited album cuts replacing the butchered songs here. Pretty pathetic and unforgivable when two discs are used to compile the set. The remastering is ok, but there is still not enough low end on the older songs. The Doobie Brothers are like Chicago. You get a recycled greatest hits package every year. Again, beware.