Now Available: The Doobie Brothers, The Warner Bros. Years 1971-1983

With all due respect to the work accomplished by the band in more recent years, most music fans generally perceive the glory days of The Doobie Brothers to be during the Warner Brothers era of their career. Why? Well, obviously, it’s because that’s when they appeared on an episode of What’s Happening!! and famously provided Rog – played by Ernest Thomas – with the excuse to call the Brothers’ hotel room and ask one of the greatest questions in both TV and rock ‘n’ roll history.

Oh, right, and they released a lot of really great music while they were on Warner Brothers, too, which – as of today – you can now conveniently pick up in a single box set.

The Doobie Brothers’ The Warner Bros. Years 1971-1983 contains all 10 albums that the band released during their time on the label, which means that you get nine studio releases plus the live release that, in addition to being their final WB release (excluding the inevitable best-of collections which would follow), also served as a temporary closing chapter for the band’s career, one that lasted ‘til their 1989 reunion album, Cycles, which emerged on Capitol Records.

Here’s the albums that you get in this set, along with the singles that were released from those albums, just to help you remember exactly how many hits you’ve got in the mix:

• The Doobie Brothers (1971): “Nobody,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Beehive State”
• Toulouse Street (1972): “Listen to the Music,” “Jesus is Just Alright,” “Rockin’ Down the Highway”
• The Captain and Me (1973): “Long Train Runnin’,” “China Grove”
• What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974): “Another Park, Another Sunday,” “Eyes of Silver,” “Black Water”
• Stampede (1975): “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me),” “Sweet Maxine,” “I Cheat the Hangman”
• Takin’ It to the Streets (1976): “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “Wheels of Fortune,” “It Keeps You Runnin’”
• Livin’ on the Fault Line (1977): “Little Darling (I Need You),” “Echoes of Love”
• Minute by Minute (1978): “What a Fool Believes,” “Minute by Minute,” “Dependin’ on You”
• One Step Closer (1980): “Real Love,” “One Step Closer,” “Keep This Train A-Rollin’”
• Farewell Tour (1983): “You Belong To Me”

So, yeah, what we’re saying is, there’s a lot of great music in this set. If you’re a Doobies fan and you’re looking for an easy, convenient way to get as many of their classic albums in a single box set as possible, this is the only way to go.