Best of the Doobies, Vol. 2 [2013 Vinyl Edition]

Doobie Brothers: Patrick Simmons, John McFee, Tom Johnston (vocals, guitar); Cornelius Bumpus (vocals, soprano & tenor saxophones, organ); Michael McDonald (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Willie Weeks, Tiran Porter (vocals, bass); Keith Knudsen (vocals, drums); Bobby Lakind (vocals, congas); Jeffrey Baxter (guitar); Chet McCracken (drums, vibraphone, marimba); John Hartman (drums).
Engineers: Donn Landee, Jim Isaacson.
Recorded at Warner Brothers Recording Studios, North Hollywood, California.
This collects the best of the second incarnation of the Doobie Brothers, after they stopped being a post-hippie guitar-driven folk rock band (originally influenced by Moby Grape) and morphed, rather attractively, into a sophisticated, keyboard-dominated blue-eyed soul band with a passing nod to lite jazz. The reason for the shift can be reduced to two words: Michael McDonald. He was the band's de facto leader during this period, and his clench-jawed vocals embodied the band's sound (on genre-establishing hits like "What a Fool Believes") as much as their two guitar attack and gospel harmonies had summed up earlier hits like "Listen to the Music."