The Doobie Brothers Celebrated Their 51st Anniversary With A New Album - BONUS - New Music Friday
News and Record - The Doobie Brothers are still rockin’ down the highway after 51 years, despite four of the band’s members being stricken with COVID-19.
“We’re back at work, but it’s an odd time for anybody doing this,” said singer, guitarist and Doobies co-founder Tom Johnston. “The option is to not go out on tour. A lot of people have chosen that option.”
With or without the pandemic, the longevity of the Doobies is a happy surprise for Johnston, 73.
“When we started, we didn’t even know what was going to happen the next day!” Johnston recalled.
“How does any band know? You’re just trying to get it together and move forward. At the start of this band, we hadn’t done anything yet and we were playing bars like everyone else. Luckily, we did a demo tape that got us a record deal with Warner Bros. Our first album didn’t sell, but the second did. And the rest is history.”
Indeed, it is for the Doobies, whose 19th album, “Liberte,” was released Friday. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, albeit virtually because of COVID-19, and is now embarked on its 50th-anniversary tour — a year late because of the pandemic-fueled shutdown of live events.
51 years!
Some people don't live that long.
Rarely do marriages last that long.
Same for friendships.
But these handsome bastards with voices smooth as silk have been doing the damn thing for 51 years now!
The band has sold more than 48 million albums and scored 16 top 40 hits, thanks to fire jam favorites like “Jesus Is Just Alright,”
“Black Water,”
“Long Train Runnin’,”
“Listen to the Music”
and — after Steely Dan alum Michael McDonald joined-up — “What a Fool Believes”
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and “Minute By Minute.”
and "Takin It To The Streets"
I could seriously list out 30 bangers if we were doing a complete greatest hits collection. That's how many smashes this group has under their belt. It's incredible.
(Sidebar- you oldtimers that were around when these guys were putting these songs out had no idea how lucky you were. Or maybe you did. I can't even imagine hearing these songs debut at the time. These songs are real music.)
The fact that Michael McDonald was in a bar cover band in Missouri going around singing Doobie Brother's covers, before becoming a backup vocalist and keyboardist for Steeley Dan, before landing a shot with Doobie Brothers and impressing them so much they kept him on is a story that needs a VH1 Behind The Music for itself.
Guy is a powerhouse.
McDonald replaced lead singer Tom Johnston in the Doobies’ lineup in 1975 when Johnston become sick and couldn't tour. Johnston returned for the group’s 1982 farewell tour and has been a staple of the band since it reunited in 1987.
Two of the Doobies’ co-founders, Johnston and fellow singer-guitarist Patrick Simmons, are still on board today. So is ace guitarist John McFee, who joined in 1979. The band’s lineup now also includes veteran Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and former Yellowjackets saxophonist Marc Russo
McDonald rejoined for the 50th-anniversary tour, but missed several performances in early September after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He is now back in the fold.
Guitarist McFee and saxophonist Russo also had COVID last year, but they all managed to beat it and get back out on the road.
Warriors.
I haven't gotten to see these guys lives but I need to. They put on two and a half hour marathon shows, performing 29 songs.
And they just released their 19th studio album, Liberte. The album was produced and co-written by Bon Jovi’s John Shanks. His previous production and songwriting credits include Alanis Morissette, Van Halen, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, and Keith Urban to name a few.
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The album is classic Doobie Brother's 70s smoothness. Enjoy-
Here's everything that happened in music this week -
POP
- Justin Bieber released a new deluxe edition of Justice. Dubbed the “Complete Edition,” the fuller LP spans 25 songs including three new numbers in “Hailey" and "Angels Speak", which appeared on the Japanese edition of Justice; and "Red Eye," a bonus track on his European webstore alternate cover CD.
The latest expansion comes six months after Biebs dropped the "triple chucks deluxe" version of Justice, which contained six additional songs with appearances from Tori Kelly, Jaden, Quavo, DaBaby and Lil Uzi Vert.
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Bieber also released the album’s sixth single, “Ghost,” accompanied with an official music video.
Directed by Colin Tilley, and starring Bieber alongside Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton, it’s a haunting, somber tale of a family dealing with grief. And finding joy in the little things.
- MGK alluded to a New Years Eve release for his upcoming album Born With Horns.
I'm not scared anymore, there's nothing holding me back from being my true self — and my true self can't be silenced, can't be restrained. It's a force, it's like a hurricane. Can't stop that, it just goes until it feels like stopping, and I don't feel like stopping anytime soon."
Kelly also alluded to a New Year's 2022 release date saying, "the second you open your eyes and it's 2022, you'll have something to listen to."
- New Jesy Nelson feat. Nicki Minaj, “Boyz”
- New Pinkpantheress, “I Must Apologise”
- New James Blake, Friends That Break Your Heart album. The new offering may be Blake’s most straightforward project to date, but the ballads still rely on smartly deployed repetition and absorbing production techniques amidst the verse-chorus structures
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- On Thursday (Oct. 7), Tears for Fears announced their return to rule the world once again with their long-awaited seventh album The Tipping Point. Their first new album since 2004, The Tipping Point is a reflection of the pop rock duo's personal and professional "tipping points" and is set to arrive Feb. 25 via Concord Records.
In anticipation, Tears for Fears duo Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith also dropped the title track and music video inspired by Orzabel's own life and struggles with grief and the loss of a loved one. The music video, directed by Matt Mahurin, conveys the imbalance of death and disease through dark imagery.
- On Friday (Oct. 8), Lauren Jauregui returned with a brand-new release, "Colors," taken from her upcoming solo project titled PRELUDE.
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- Adele began teasing her new HIGHLY anticipated album.
Speaking to the magazine in the wind-up to the release of her upcoming single, the gentle piano ballad "Easy On Me," due out Oct. 15, the singer opened up about why she thinks this is her finest work to date and how the emotional rollercoaster she's been on since the release of 2015's record-smashing 25has brought her to a more centered, peaceful place.
"It’s sensitive for me, this record, just in how much I love it," she said of the collection fans are speculating will be called 30 in keeping with the number-focused titles of previous efforts 19, 21 and 25. "I always say that 21 doesn’t belong to me anymore. Everyone else took it into their hearts so much. I’m not letting go of this one. This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don’t think I’ll ever let this one go.”
Her first single drops Friday the 15th
She also looked pretty fuckin good on the cover of this month's Vogue
- In a Wednesday (Oct. 6) interview on Jan-Willem Start Op, a morning radio program from Dutch radio station NPO Radio 2, Ed Sheeran officially announced that he and John would be releasing a Christmas song together this December.
- Coldplay has another superstar collaboration in the works for their upcoming album, this time teaming up with actress/singer Selena Gomez. The Only Murders in the Building star took to Twitter on Monday (Oct. 4) to announce that she and the English rock band have combined forces on the new song "Let Somebody Go."
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- New Kids on the Block is hitting the road next spring. On Monday (Oct. 4), the boy band announced that they'll be traveling across the country in 2022 for their MixTape Tour, on which they'll be joined by special guests Rick Astley, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue.
- Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have officially announced the release date for their collaborative first album is November 12th.
An Evening with Silk Sonic was initially targeted for a January 2022 release, as revealed by the duo in an August interview with Rolling Stone. At the time, Mars explained that they wanted to share a few more singles to give their music more space. “I don’t want to be binge-watched,” said Mars.
- Kylie Minogue has released her new single, “A Second to Midnight,” with some help from Years & Years. It’s the first preview of her recently-announced album DISCO: Guest List Edition.
HIP HOP
- New Don Toliver, Life of a Don album dropped. Travis Scott is featured twice, including on the blissfully spaced-out “Flocky Flocky,” but solo tracks like “Way Bigger” and “Double Standards” artfully blend rhythmic pop and crooned rapping
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- YoungBoy Never Broke Again vaults from No. 40 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Oct. 9), returning as the top musical act in the U.S. for a second week, thanks to his new LP, Sincerely, Kentrell.
- New York will be in the house agains on Oct. 17 when Brooklyn's finest, Big Daddy Kane, faces off against the Bronx's KRS-One in the latest Verzuz battle. The event will take place at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and kick off at 7 p.m. ET in a battle of two MCs who helped define the genre with in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- The music video for Meek Mill's introspective track "Expensive Pain" has arrived, and it's complete with footage of Meek during his years as an aspiring star. The song is the title track from Mill's fifth studio album, which dropped last week
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson spits bars on “Face Off,” the new song from prolific Kansas City MC Tech N9ne. The track appears on ASIN9NE, Tech N9ne’s 23rd studio set which dropped today, October 8th.
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- The Alchemist has dropped This Thing of Ours 2, the star hip-hop producer’s sequel to his April EP This Thing of Ours.
- Conway the Machine has released his new single “Piano Love” via Shady Records
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- Producer and composer Robert Glasper has unveiled “Shine,” his new single featuring rapper D Smoke and his cousin Tiffany Gouché. It serves as a preview of Glasper’s upcoming album, Black Radio 3.
ROCK
- Major news from The Red Hot Chili Peppers this week.
Todd the Squirrel (Flea) and Johnson Hammerswaddle (Anthony Kiedis) were back at it on Thursday morning (Oct. 7) with the latest fake news report about the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2022 global stadium tour. Only this time the funk-loving pranksters in phony mustaches and bad wigs actually had dates to share for the massive outing that is slated to kick off on June 4 in Seville, Spain at the Estadio La Cartuja De Sevilla.
The 32-city outing marks the second return of beloved guitarist John Frusciante and the Chili Peppers' first U.S. stadium tour, on which they'll play a selection of their most beloved hits as well as songs from their as-yet-untitled new album, according to a release announcing the dates.
The road trip will feature support from a wide range of special guests, including The Strokes, A$AP Rocky, Beck, Haim, St. Vincent, Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals, Thundercat and King Princess, with U.S. dates kicking off on July 23 with a gig at Denver's Empower Field at Mile High.
- St. Paul & The Broken Bones are back with their fourth studio album, The Alien Coast, which stretches their sound with new sonic elements and marks the band’s first time recording in their hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.
According to the band, recording locally gave them the time and space to lay down their most ambitious work yet with producer Matt Ross-Spang, who has also spent studio time with Jason Isbell, Margo Price and the late John Prine. Unlimited hours in the studio gave the quartet – lead by singer and preacher-in-training Paul Janeway – the ability to experiment beyond their soul and gospel background, adding synths, hip-hop beats and samples into their mix.
The psychedelic lead single “The Last Dance” was released on Tuesday (Oct. 5) along with a video directed by Machete Bang Bang and features Euphoria’s Liv Mai.
- New Måneskin, "MAMMAMIA"
- UK folk punk singer Frank Turner has announced his ninth studio album FTHC, due out February 11th, 2022 via Xtra Mile Recordings/Polydor. He’s also shared “Haven’t Been Doing So Well” as the latest preview from the record.
- Synth-pop veterans Soft Cell have unveiled “Bruises on My Illusions,” the latest preview from *Happiness Not Included, the duo’s first album in 20 years.
- Gang of Youths have unveiled “the man himself,” a soaring ode to frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s father who passed away in 2018 after a battle with cancer.
- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss did not write an original song for their Grammy-winning 2007 album Raising Sand, and 11 out of the 12 tracks on the upcoming sequel Raise the Roof are covers. But “High and Lonesome” is a novelty: an all-new tune, co-written by Plant and producer T Bone Burnett that’s as fun as anything in Plant’s recent discography.
EDM
- Dillon Francis returns to jovial happy-house with his newest LP, Happy Machine. His third studio album, the project features a grip of new material including the recently released “Reaching Out” with Bow Anderson, “Unconditional” with 220 KID and Bryn Christopher, and “Love Me Better” with Shift K3Y and Marc E. Bassy.
- DJ Snake and Malaa have come together for their next collaborative effort—following “Ring The Alarm“—in honor of Fifa 22's soundtrack,
- Tchami and Habstrakt have come together for a collaboration that has been “a long time coming”—”Eternity” featuring Lena Leon.
- DEORRO joins forces with hit-making Cuban duo, Gente De Zona, for this vibrant cumbia dance collab that lands as a certifiable smash. Just try not to dance. “Se Vuelve Loca’,’ the 6th single release on DEORRO’s upcoming album “ORRO”, is one of the his more tried-and-true outputs.
- ARTY continues his streak of progressive aces with the release of “Live For”
- Steve Aoki is channeling his darker side with the launch of his newest side project, Ninja Attack, formally debuting with Aurora.” Announced as a techno and house project, “Aurora” channels hard-style undertones and serves as a moodier display of Aoki’s artistry.
- SLANDER and MARAUDA take to Gud Vibrations as they unleash their blistering vocal dubstep collaboration “Suffer” featuring Elle Vee.
- Tiësto has released his official rework of French 79’s “Diamond Veins” under his deep-house moniker VER:WEST.
- Fans are patiently awaiting Louis The Child‘s new EP, Euphoria, the duo has released the next single off the record, which officially arrives on October 15.
- Afrojack, DubVision, and Lucas & Steve hold progressive house reigns on ‘Anywhere With You’
- Elephante ramps up the anticipation of his forthcoming sophomore album with the release of its third single, “Dopamine.”
- VASSY unites with Vinny Vibe for ‘Don’t Wanna Be Right’
COUNTRY
- Tyler Childers is adding another contribution to the plethora of Prine covers with his rendition of “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You,” a preview single of the forthcoming tribute album Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2.
- In anticipation for the Man in Black’s forthcoming live album, Bear’s Sonic Journals: Johnny Cash, At The Carousel Ballroom April 24, 1968, his cover of Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right” from that special evening is being released for the first time.
- Your eyes weren't deceiving you if it looked like Kacey Musgraves was wearing nothing but a pair of boots and a smile during the first song on Saturday's show.
“She was nude,” Musgraves’ publicist told Variety. “Precautions were taken, and this was the first time it’s happened on the show.” Thanks to some clever lighting tricks and her full-coverage acoustic guitar, you may not have noticed that Musgraves was rocking her birthday suit
- This weekend, Eric Church will perform two solo concerts on his The Gather Again Tour after members of his band tested positive for COVID-19. Church will turn his Friday (Oct. 8) show in Pittsburgh and his Saturday show in Philadelphia into solo performances.
On Friday, Church posted a message on social media explaining the situation. "Despite thorough safety protocols, a limited number of breakthrough cases have occurred within the Eric Church Band. In the best interest of everyone's health and safety, Eric Church will perform this weekend's shows in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as a special solo performance. Get ready PA."
- Chase Rice released his latest single today, Friday (October 8th) called “If I Were Rock & Roll.” Chase wrote the song solo during quarantine, and it’s the first new music off his upcoming album called Intertwined, which will be released on November 5th.
Chase said, “The night I wrote this song, I decided to take a break from social media, so instead of aimlessly scrolling like most nights, I put Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You documentary on my living room TV. His song ‘If I Was the Priest’ stood out to me and got me thinking about my own relationship with Jesus and all of the things I love in life; Country music, NASCAR, my friends and family. I picked up a guitar and wrote ‘If I Were Rock & Roll’ alone in that moment. No track and no cowriters meant I had no choice to focus on the lyrics and lean into what is real to me.”
“If I Were Rock & Roll” is the follow-up to Chase’s latest chart-topping hit, “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.,” featuring Florida Georgia Line.
- Jameson Rodgers and featured artist Luke Combs each add to their runs of consecutive career-opening No. 1s on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, as "Cold Beer Calling My Name" ascends to the top of the list dated Oct. 9.
- Chris Young and Mitchell Tenpenny's new collaboration, "At the End of a Bar," practically elevates a saloon to a church.
- The latest album from Brandi Carlile is here. In These Silent Days, the folk rocker’s seventh studio album, arrives today via Low Country Sound/Elektra. She recorded the full-length at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A alongside producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings, as well as her longtime collaborators and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth.
If I missed anything or you want to submit something, hit me at dante@barstoolsports.com