Another one of those genre-blurring records...

...from the '70s, on Classic Vinyl, Sirius Ch. 14: "Well I built me a raft, and she's ready for floatin', oh, Mississippi, she's callin' my name..."
For those of you who aren't classic rock fans, that's "Black Water," the Doobie Brothers' monster hit from 1975 featuring Patrick Simmons on lead vocals, the band's first No. 1 hit. That's my personal favorite song of theirs. I loved all the songs from that era, most of which had Tom Johnston on lead vocals. I liked the earlier incarnation of the Doobie Brothers, with the country-rock hybrid sound, much, much more than the Michael McDonald era. When he came in after Tom Johnston's departure it was as if they turned into a completely different band. I know there are a lot of people who like that soft-rock sound, but compared to what they were doing before Johnston's departure...well, from my perspective, to say they sucked would have been a charitable assessment. I don't know how much of a backlash there was from the older fans after McDonald came in and they effectively turned into The Doobie Brothers In Name Only, but however much there was I can't help but think it was fully justified.