The Doobie Brothers
Live At The Greek Theatre 1982: Farewell Tour
Eagle Records/DVD
www.eaglerockent.com
By George W. Harris

There’s something that is just quintessentially 70s American to have a
band that is named after a marijuana joint to sing about “Jesus being
all right with me.” That essentially sums up the attitude of the
popular rock band The Doobie Brothers, who dominated the airwaves with
a surfeit of anthems during the wild and wooly Nixon, Ford and Carter
years. This cd and dvd captures the band, still with most of the
original members, on their heralded Farewell Tour, and they sure went
out Rockin’ Down The Highway.

The music reflects a time when vocal harmonies were de riguer, as
opposed to today’s era of angst driven solo performances. The melding
of Michael McDonald with Tom Johnston, Patrick Simons, Cornelious
Bumpus and Willie Weeks on upbeat tunes like “Listen To The Music” or
“What A Fool Believes” is a sonic wonder. Even the folk-blues “Black
Water” mixes acoustic picking with some ‘round the campfire singing
symbiosis. Both the cd dvd have some extra material, while the dvd
includes some interesting interviews with the band. Hard to believe
that there was a time when people actually wrote and performed happy
songs. “Feelin’ good…feelin’ fine.” What a concept!!