The Doobie Brothers - The Doobie Brothers [Japan Edition] (1971)

Well, everybody has to start somewhere, right? Here's the debut of the Doobie Brothers & though it didn't sell well & doesn't exactly represent what they sounded like, (according to both Tom Johnston & Pat Simmons), this is still not only a solid debut album, but a very good album in general. The singing is first rate, with the initial appearance of the Doobie's trademark three part harmonies, as well as Tom Johnston's "chunka-chunka" guitar style, & Tom shows some excellent vocal range on "The Master". "Nobody", "Greenwood Creek" "It Won't Be Right" & "Feelin' Down Farther" are also first rate songs.
So, what are the drawbacks? A somewhat shaky rhythm section hampers them, & though the songs are solid, neither Tom nor Pat had mastered how to write hook filled songs yet. Couple that with a rather muffled mixing job & primary producer Lenny Waronker's vision of the band as CS&N in leather jackets & the album, while good, falters somewhat.
Rated three & a half stars, & if just one of the drawbacks I mentioned had been addressed, this would be four stars.
by Mark Moore
After hearing back in the day the radio hits Listen To the Music and Jesus is Just Alright, I picked up a bootleg 8 track tape of this album previously unknown to me. Upon hearing it I wondered for some time if it really were The Doobie Brothers as it had an understated style and production quite unlike the highly stylized and produced songs found on Toulouse Street and later DB recordings. Yes, the music is simple, understated, and definitely folky, but it has an upbeat, demure, gentle quality that draws me in every time. The album flows placidly along from Nobody to Greenwood Creek to The Master and ends all too soon with Chicago. Even with its minimalist production and arrangements you can hear the template for the highly polished DB recordings that follow. I seriously doubt most pop rock fans have heard this record, even fans of later DBs, and well worth a listen to hear where the DB developed their sound. Of course there is a DB demo record available (bootleg?) that gives an even earlier clue to how the DBs whittled their craft. But this record is probably the one that set them on their way to becoming superstars.
by Roger Lawry
(allmusic.com/album/the-doobie-brothers-mw0000643714/user-reviews)