[.ca] One Step Closer

The Final Curtain with The Doobie Bros & Michael McDonald:
Ignore this Medicore review from Craig Baumken & get this CD along with all The Doobie Brothers CD's Featuring Michael McDonald That's the real Doobie Brothers to me.

The Doobies Swan Song...:
The Doobies' One Step Closer has some good tracks on it - such as the hits "Real Love" and the title track, plus "One By One" and "Keep This Train Rollin'". I also really dig "Thank You Love". The album does however have a couple of fillers - mainly near the end of the album: the insrumental "South Bay Strut" and "Just In Time". All in all a fair album. It really shows where Michael McDonald's head was at. It was sort of a blueprint of what McDonald's solo career would sound like. A sort of a wimpy sounding Steely Dan.

Smooth Doobies:
Fine, this doesn't sound anything like the "classic Doobies" period (71-75), but it's as good as anything from that era, even if it's very different. It is also vastly superior to the previous album - the patchy "Minute By Minute" (Undoubtedly remembered so fondly because it's best patches were very good indeed). There isn't anything here that really leaps out at you like "What A Fool Believes", but there's no clangers either, it's simply a great batch of solid pop/rock, indicative of the style(s) Michael McDonald would soon after employ on his solo recordings. Following the top 5 success of "Real Love" the title track hit the top 30, and "Keep This Train A'Rollin'" was a further minor chart entry. All of these prominently featured McDonald, but vocal and writing contributions from Doobie Stalwart Patrick Simmons and newcomer Cornelius Bumpus were just as strong. Certainly an album fans of latter-day Doobie recordings will be into, and a must-have for any fan of Michael McDonald.

One Step Closer:
The same can be said about this CD and track #5 (which share the title "One Step Closer"): it's not bad, yet it's not great either. A lot of the songs on here are rather forgettable and bland, but there are a few gems, like "Real Love" done by Michael McDonald, my favorite singer in this band. A handful of other band members get their share at the mic, except in "South Bay Strut," which is the only "mute" track on here--a smooth, somewhat relaxing jazz/instrumental tune. Overall, "One Step Closer" is a pretty good CD. Doobie Brother fans should like this one fairly well.

Not sure why I like it, but I do!:
I won't try to claim that ONE STEP CLOSER is a masterpiece, yet I find it a very friendly and enjoyably laid-back album -- particularly compared to the rather cold and uneven MINUTE BY MINUTE. Some have said that McDonald dominates this album, but in fact it's a very democratic work -- everyone in the band (including 3 new members and then-future Doobie Bobby LaKind, but strangely not longtime bassist Tiran Porter) gets, at the very least, a definite songwriting spotlight. No, much of this is not the Doobies we know. The jazzy instrumental "South Bay Strut" is straight off of a Chet McCracken (drums/vibes) solo album (even though there wouldn't be any of those for another 10 years!). Cornelius Bumpus' lengthy "Thank You Love" has rather obnoxious singing and embarrassing lyrics, yet the exuberent instrumental stuff going on makes up for it. Pat Simmons' "No Stoppin' Us Now" and "Just In Time" are rather slight yet interesting. John McFee and Keith Knudsen's title track (with another, unexpected Bumpus vocal) is a lot of fun. LaKind's closing "One By One" is, to my ears, one of the best Doobies tracks ever. That leaves the McDonald tracks which, if not his best, are still really good. Trivia: Six of the seven Doobies in this album's lineup, at one time or another, would sing lead vocals for the band. (MacDonald & Simmons, of course; Porter, on 2 earlier albums; Bumpus, on this album; and Knudsen & McFee on 2000's SIBLING RIVALRY.)

• Dedicate This Heart
• Real Love
• No Stoppin' Us Now
• Thank You Love
• One Step Closer
• Keep This Train A-Rollin'
• Just in Time
• South Bay Strut
• One By One