A new Doobie Brothers album might not be a surprise in itself, since core members Tom Johnston, John McFee and Patrick Simmons have been chugging along merrily this century, releasing four well-crafted albums. What is a surprise – and a very pleasant one – is the return of vocalist Michael McDonald, an intermittent guest of late but now a full participant for the first time since 1980’s fractious One Step Closer.
The format, though, echoes 2021’s Liberté, for which songwriters Johnston and Simmons collaborated individually with producer John Shanks before taking the finished product to the group. McDonald has submitted to the same regime. And while it sounds awkward, at their best the Doobies were a church sufficiently broad to accommodate disparate talents.
