With the addition of bassist Tiran Porter, the Doobies revealed a newer, fuller sound on this, their second LP. Even 30 years later "Toulouse Street" has lost none of it's original charm and the transition to CD has served the music well. Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and Co. wrote and recorded a batch of catchy, brilliantly performed songs that were instantly tighter and more memorable than their debut, this is the sound of an actual BAND. The musical chemistry here is astonishing and for fans who only know the band for it's hits "Listen To The Music", "Rockin' Down The Highway" etc., the gentler, laid back vibe of the acoustic, folk-tinged numbers here will surprise many listeners. The title cut and "Snakeman" are of special note. This was a well deserved hit and still sounds remarkably fresh 3 decades later. This, along with 1973's "The Captain And Me" are two masterful albums that assure this band's place in music history.

Toulouse Street finds the Doobie Brothers expanding from a quartet to a quintet by adding bassist Tiran Porter. After their self-titled debut disappeared off the charts without a trace, the band became alot more pop conscious with their second album. The album's first track, "Listen To The Music" is pure AM Gold. Instantly hummable, with a memorable opening guitar riff, the song climbed to number 11 on the charts and started an impressive run for the band in the 70's. The second track, "Rockin' Down The Highway" has a harder edge, but it too is extremely catchy. The album's other big track was their cover of "Jesus Is Just Alright" which is one of their strongest tracks. Besides the big hits, the album offers up some other interesting and strong songs. "Mamaloi" has a reggae vibe and "Cottonmouth" is more in line with the blues based sounds of their first release. The title track is a beautiful, folksy song and the album's closer, "Snake Man" is an especially strong track. The album's original gatefold sleeve is infamous for the inside photo shows the band cuddled up to naked women who are intended to represent the ladies of the night from the street the album's title is inspired by.

This is a comparison of the MFSL SACD and the excellent Rhino CD remaster of a few years back. I was not able to A/B the two discs, so I had to make the comparison by switching discs and listening to segments of individual tracks. In my opinion, the SACD sounds a tad smoother in the high end and midrange and has slightly tighter bass. The differences are more noticeable on louder passages...perhaps the CD employs a wee bit more compression? The differences between the two are not dramatic which is more of a compliment to the earlier Rhino remastered CD rather than any criticism of this wonderful SACD. Oh, but how I wish they would have redone this one in 5.1!

The Japanese imports of the Doobie catalog are remastered.

Warner Brothers here in the U.S. is still selling the old LP-EQ'd, terrible-sounding masters they released on CD in 1990.

If you love these albums, get a set of the Japanese editions. They cost more, but they're worth it.

Here is the link to the Japanese remaster of Toulouse Street.

There's some debate on this but it appears that this uses the same Lee Herschberg CD masters (which sounded extremely good) as the original CDs but slightly louder. The band's second album finally delivered a hit and gave them the audience they deserved. "Listen to the Music" was the big hit from the album (although there were others such as "Rockin' Down the Highway" and the gospel standard "Jesus is Just Alright" adapted for the band's sound)and we get the unabridged, longer version here. While fans will find the highlights of this album on the Long Train Runnin': 1970-2000collection, there are some terrific cuts here that didn't make that anthology.

The packaging replicates the original gatefold sleeve of the album. Although there is no booklet included (there wasn't with the original either), we get a replica of the original inner sleeve that housed the vinyl release as well. The only drawback here is that there is no plastic sleeve to put the CD in and product it from scratching.

Personally, I would have liked some outtakes but since this is a replica of the original release the fact that they didn't include them is no surprise. There are outtakes available on "Long Train Runnin'".


This album along with "The Captain and Me" and "Stampede" features the Tom Johnston led version of the band at their peak. Those two albums along with "Toulouse Street" are the core Doobie albums with Johnston as leader. After that, I'd suggest What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.

I'm also a fan of the Michael McDonald led era even though the band's sound changed substanially from blues-rock to blue-eyed soul with a dash of Steely Danish jazz thrown in for good measure. From the McDonald era the albums Takin' It to the Streets, Livin on the Fault Lineand Minute by Minute(the best sounding version of the album mastered by Steve Hoffman)are all terrific albums. I'd also suggest checking out Johnston's two solo albums which, although a bit inconsistent, feature his rough-edged vocals and some sharp songwriting on the best tracks.