The Doobies light up their first tokes! And then come back for second helpings...

Blame Lenny Waronker. As good a producer as he is, if there is someone who is responsible for the false start of the Doobie Brothers' recording career, it's probably him. I know Waronker mainly for his production on Gordon Lightfoot's albums of the 70s, which gives a good indication of his sensibilities, which lay more in the acoustic, folk area than in some urgent rock'n'roll, as further evidenced by his work producing or co-producing artists such as Arlo Guthrie and Ry Cooder. Waronker formed a co-producer duo with Ted Templeman for the Doobie Brothers' self-titled album release, and the duo would continue working together throughout the 70s, but all following Doobie releases would be helmed by Templeman alone. 

It was a curious decision to approach the Doobies' debut album with an accent on acoustic sound and harmony singing, trying to model the Doobies' as Warner/reprise Records' attempt at a Crosby, Stills & Nash-style group. Now, One Buck Heads (I see you, Jonder!) will rightfully imagine that I have no problem with that, considering my love for country rock and acoustic folk of the era, and I really like this album with its low-key, relaxed set of tunes. But it was so low-key that it didn't exactly scream "arrival of an exiting new rock band" and neither album nor singles off it charted. 

The stark black and white photograph of a bunch of serious-looking, beer-swilling longhairs on the album cover, including massive drummer John Hartman looking imposing in the foreground of the shot would have you believe that the music inside would be a bit more unruly, and it normally should have been. When the Doobies' got signed, they had been making their name playing rock'n'roll all over Northern California, becoming a sort of inofficial house band at the Chateau Liberté, an extravagant name for a dive bar hidden in the Santa Cruz mountains, that was extremely popular with the local chapters of the Hell's Angels. Like the bikers they would play for, the early Doobies were leatherclad biker types, which the debut album cover convincingly portrays. But the mellow, acoustic, country-tinged music mostly didn't, offering only fleeting moments of their patented bar room boogie that was Tom Johnston' stock and trade. The most curious thing about this album was then, that it wasn't necessarily what Warner Brothers had signed up for when they had signed the Doobies. 

The band's crunchy biker boogie sound was in ample evidence on the demo tape that got them signed to Warner by future producer Templeman. These thirteen tracks, which make up the First Tokes section of our One Buck Record of the day do show the Doobies' three-part harmonies (which no doubt gave Waronker the whole fake-CSN idea), but - more importantly - the fuzzy electric lead guitars and powerful drumming of Hartman, that only intermittently showed up on their debut album. These tracks made their way onto a number of bootlegs, so if you are a serious fan of the Doobies, you probably already have this. I simple sequenced the songs to my liking and what I feel is the best flow and edited "Tilted Park Crud Hrunchery" (they really needed to work on their titles a little bit more) down a bit, not being a huge fan of the song's drum solo and adjacent jam section. 

But wait, there is more! Second Helpings, the last nine tracks on this album, sees them return to Pacific Recorders studio, where they recorded their debut album, in January 1972 for a live set in front of a small audience. The set list is obviously dominated by tracks from their debut album, albeit in more muscular versions than their studio counterparts. But they also previewed their version of "Jesus Is Just Alright" that would become a hit for them towards the end of the year as well as "Disciple" which, like "Jesus" would show up on their breakthrough Toulouse Street in July. And there is an early version of "Road Angel" which would only show up three albums and two years later. Finally, there is "Goin' Down", a groover that they never recorded in the studio. To fit in better with the studio tracks I omitted the (sparse) audience clapping. 

So, all in all First Tokes & Second Helpings comprises 21 tracks which summarize the early years of the Doobies pretty well and arguably more realistically than their odd, if likeable, studio debut. There are plenty of the things you and I like about the Johnston-led Doobies here, to discover or rediscover. So, light it up with the Doobies, for the good times...