Takin' it to the Streets 1976

Seeing as it's so quiet I think I shall begin a short series of short meditations on some great records. They must not be confused with just great records, they are my great records. It will give me something to do in the afternoons. This is strictly drift off on the day-bed material with memories of this and that.

So if I say whilst this is a record I bought on tape when I was sixteen and has long since disintegrated, but actually it wasn't until Seattle twenty years later that it paid off knowing it, that sets the tone. Hells Angels are very fond of the Doobies, and if you want a ride on the back of a Harley, make sure an angel is riding it, and riding it out of some bar in the middle of nowhere late in the balmy evening near where they filmed Twin Peaks.
This may also have been a very early encouragement to wear Ray Ban aviators, but of course, I realize now those are not Ray Ban aviators.
The Captain and Me and Stampede are the commonly favourite Doobie Brothers albums. Takin' it is mine, made when the Doobies appeared to leave their cowbay hats and lassos behind and mosey down to Miami and dip their noses in some funky bass lines and a much cooler sound, not that I'm sure they actually did that, more metaphorically speaking, perhaps LA was tiring of cowboy chic. The guitars get  not a lot more than a gentle strum and artful pick, maybe somebody was listening to Steely Dan (Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter was playing with both) or Hall and Oates and all the time Michael McDonald swims lusciously over the top. Lie back for side two, tracks 2&3 'For Someone Special' and the sublimely catchy 'It Keeps You Running' and think of palm trees, ocean breezes and the girl who did corporate plants twenty years after you'd first thought this sounded pretty good.