Tag Archive for: Jeff Skunk Baxter

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Doobie Brothers- Takin’ It to the Streets 50th- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Michael McDonald

The fact that the Doobie Brothers reinvented themselves for their March 1976 album "Takin' It to the Streets"  is quite widely known, but the reasons for the musical shift, and the manner in which they made it work so successfully, is a fascinating back-story worthy of an HBO mini-series.. On the album's 50th anniversary, Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, & Michael McDonald are all here In the Studio to recall how it really went down.
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Steely Dan- Pretzel Logic- Donald Fagen, the late Walter Becker

The third Steely Dan album,"Pretzel Logic" in February 1974, has always served as a distinct demarcation line in the evolution of the eclectic band led by my guests, songwriting duo Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. "Pretzel Logic" by Steely Dan is significant because it contained the #4 Billboard hit, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", with the album Top Ten in sales as well. Rolling Stone magazine ranks "Pretzel Logic" at #386 on their Top 500 Albums of All Time.
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Doobie Brothers- Minute by Minute- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Michael McDonald

Even though my guest Tom Johnston sang and wrote their early hits "Listen to the Music" and "Long Train Runnin' ", and guest Michael McDonald did likewise on million-sellers "Takin' It to the Streets","It Keeps You Runnin'", & Grammy winners "What a Fool Believes" and"Minute by Minute", it is  guitarist/singer/songwriter Pat Simmons around whom the 25+ members have always rotated.
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Doobie Brothers- Minute by Minute- Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, John Hartman

Back when the Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute album was released in December 1978, I wasn't aware of the following Hollywood maxim, but the band's Warner Bros. record label apparently was. A little-known showbiz PR secret to which no one in…