The Doobie Brothers

The original version of the band has continued to tour and are a popular concert draw, though their recordings' success has been limited. In 2002 Q magazine named The Fall as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". Meanwhile, Michael McDonald has forged ahead with his own solo career. Like traditional reggae, which Smith reports having listened to frequently as a teenager, most Fall songs are composed of simple, repeating riffs that Smith rants/sings over in a rhythmic drawl. Four members of the Doobies have since passed away (percussionist Bobby LaKind in 1992, original bassist Dave Shogren in 1999, Cornelius Bumpus in 2004, and drummer Keith Knudsen in 2005). A reggae influence is also evident. Eventually, Bumpus lost the case. The Fall's influences are worn lightly, though Can, Captain Beefheart, and the more experimental work of The Velvet Underground are all evident, and their infrequent cover songs are mostly obscure songs by obscure musicians.

Saxophonist/vocalist Cornelius Bumpus was sued by his former bandmates because Bumpus and other musicians were using the band's name. Perhaps his most distinctive trait is an explosive syllable added after some words, such as in his delivery of a lyric from "Free Range": "This is the spring-uh without end-uh". But by the end of the decade the Doobies were engaged in a legal battle of their own. Smith is far from a great singer, but his sense of rhythm and attack, however, is second to none. Also, Michael McDonald rejoined the band briefly in 1995. 'Sing Harpy'). New albums (many via independent labels) continued through the 1990s. see 'C.R.E.E.P' and 'Hard Life in Country'), and some brutal ad hominem diatribes (e.g.

They reunited with their original line-up (obviously minus lead singer Michael McDonald), released a new album (Cycles), and a new Top Ten single ("The Doctor"), and toured in 1987 to promote their new music, but the band was unable to continue their momentum. 'Marquis Cha Cha'), magic and mythology ('Elves', 'Wings'), devastating critiques of passing fads (e.g. The final show on that tour reunited former lead singer Tom Johnston with his former bandmates. His lyrics are sometimes maddeningly obscure (especially to non-British listeners), and usually caustic in their satire, wildly imaginative in their scope, embracing politics (e.g. By 1982, the Doobie Brothers announced their imminent break-up by embarking on a "farewell tour". Smith's ranted lyrical poetry. The LP, which featured the Top Ten hit "Real Love" (not to be confused with the John Lennon composition that would later be a hit for The Beatles), was a success, but did not match the blockbuster figures of Minute by Minute. What unites them is the sound of Mark E.

By the beginning of the 1980s, former Moby Grape saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus joined the band as an occasional lead singer for the album One Step Closer. The Fall's sound has generally remained constant from the clanking, almost rockabilly guitars of their early work to the amphetamine-rush of the more recent digitized backing tracks. Their hit "What a Fool Believes" won them a Grammy Award. The album also featured the first (and to date, the only) female lead vocal, from Nicolette Larson (who herself scored a hit with Neil Young's "Lotta Love"). The Real New Fall LP (reputedly renamed from Country on the Click after an earlier mix of the album appeared on Internet file sharing networks) followed in 2003, with a slightly different mix and some extra tracks for the US version. Their career peaked with the success of 1978's Minute by Minute which spent five weeks at the top of the charts and brought the group their greatest success. Further rifts followed in 2001, the new lineup of Smith, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Jim Watts (bass) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums) releasing Are You Are Missing Winner to mixed reviews. Their new sound was further forged with their next album, Livin' On The Fault Line, which featured "Little Darlin' (I Need You)", "Echoes Of Love", and "You Belong To Me" (later a hit for Carly Simon). From this nadir, the Fall achieved another comeback with Smith and Nagle being joined by Neville Wilding on guitar, Karen Leatham and later Adam Halal on bass, and Tom Head on drums for the acclaimed albums The Marshall Suite (1999) and The Unutterable (2000).

Their first album under McDonald was Takin' It To The Streets (which featured the singles "It Keeps You Runnin'" and the title cut). tour ended in the departure (April 1998) of Steve Hanley (bassist for 19 years), Burns (back for a final spell on drums) and guitarist Tommy Crooks, following a violent on-stage row with a drunken Smith. Their sound also changed, from a hard-edged guitar-filled sound to that of mellow rock (filled with keyboards and horns). The group was temporarily reduced to Smith and Nagle when a disastrous U.S. So he left the Doobies (eventually he forged his own short-lived solo career), and shortly after a new lead singer named Michael McDonald (another member of Steely Dan) was recruited to replace Johnston. With Bush gone and Scanlon sacked after 16 years (a decision later regretted by Smith), 1996 saw Brix's brief return and the arrival on keyboards, guitars and computers of Julia Nagle for The Light User Syndrome. But by 1976, lead singer Johnston grew tired of touring, and fell ill as a result. With Dave Bush joining on keyboards, 1992's Code: Selfish saw a welcome return to the group's unpredictable ways, followed by The Infotainment Scan (1993), Middle Class Revolt (1994) and Cerebral Caustic (1995).

Their live shows had given them an energetic fanbase, primarily among the Hells Angels of Southern California. With Brix's departure in 1989, Bramah returned briefly for 1990's successful Extricate, leaving with Schofield in advance of 1991's Shift-Work. The following year (1975), Steely Dan member Jeff Baxter (nicknamed "Skunk") joined the band as a guitarist. The autumn of 1983 heralded another dramatic change, this time to a relatively more pop music-oriented sound, with the arrival of Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, Californian Brix Smith, as guitarist alongside Scanlon, giving the group their nearest approach to hit-single stardom as well as the highly acclaimed albums Perverted By Language (1983), The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall (1984), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985), the underrated Bend Sinister (1986), the less memorable The Frenz Experiment (1988) and I Am Kurious, Oranj (the fruit of a ballet project between Smith and dancer Michael Clark), with Simon Rogers and later Marcia Schofield on keyboards, and Simon Wolstencroft replacing Burns on drums after This Nation's Saving Grace. These early singles continued to be hits for the next few years and eventually earned continued airplay among today's Classic Rock radio stations. Dragnet signalled a sparser, still more jagged feel, which was to fill out into a more grinding, industrial sound though Grotesque (1980), the 10-inch Slates (1981), Hex Enduction Hour (1982) and Room to Live (1982). Under the leadership of Johnston and Simmons, the Doobies' trademark sound (a cross between heavy metal and Southern rock) helped lead the band to the Top Ten charts with such other hits as "Long Train Runnin'" & "China Grove" (from their 1973 album The Captain And Me), and "Black Water" (from 1974's What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits). With Craig Scanlon and recent bassist Marc Riley on guitar, Steve Hanley on bass and Mike Leigh on drums (subsequently to be replaced by Paul Hanley and then a two-drummer lineup with a returned Burns), late 1979's L.P.

But it was after their next album (on which bass player Dave Shogren was replaced by Tiran Porter), Toulouse Street (which spawned the hit singles "Listen To The Music" and "Jesus Is Just Alright"), that brought the band their breakthrough success. Their EP Bingo-Master's Break-out (1978), already minus Friel, and debut album Live at the Witch Trials (1979, and not, incidentally, a live album), now without Baines too, served up a caustic mix of belligerently provincial urban paranoia and scorn for cultural norms, atop a deceptively unsophisticated musical arrangement. The group's 1971 self-titled debut album failed to chart. From their first lineup of Smith, Martin Bramah (guitar), Tony Friel (bass), Una Baines (keyboards) and Karl Burns (drums) onward, the group produced a sound quite unlike anything else playing in the run-down dancehalls of northern England's new wave scene, drawing sometimes violent reactions from hardcore fans of uncomplicated punk guitar thrash. The band's name was taken from a slang term for the marijuana joint. A May, 2004 interview with Smith reports "49 (band) members, 78 albums and 41 singles," and also records longtime supporter John Peel's opinion of The Fall: "They are always different, they are always the same." [1] (http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/interviews/story.jsp?story=525563). In 1970, after leaving that band, they joined up with bass player Dave Shogren and guitarist Patrick Simmons, and thus The Doobie Brothers was formed. Smith providing the one constant note through more than two prolific decades of bewildering personnel changes.

The founding members were lead vocalist Tom Johnston and drummer John Hartman, both former members of a group called Pud. Formed in Manchester in 1977 at the height of punk rock's rise, but never quite fitting into that movement or its post-punk/new wave offshoots, The Fall have continued for a quarter of a century to produce unpredictable and challenging music, varying richly in both character and quality, the abrasive lyrics and half-droned, half-ranted vocals of frontman Mark E. They were popular throughout the 1970s. The Fall are a British rock music group, named after Albert Camus' novel. The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band, best known for hit singles like "Black Water". For other uses, see Fall (disambiguation).. Live at Wolf Trap [Live] (2004). This article is about the English punk band.