The Captain and Me
Limited Edition European pressing of this album comes house in a miniature LP sleeve. WEA. 2006.
The Captain and Me Accessories
 Toulouse Street
What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
Stampede
Takin' It to the Streets
Minute by Minute
The Doobie Brothers
Livin' on the Fault Line
One Step Closer
Very Best Of
Hotel California
The Captain and Me Reviews
I'd give this one six stars if it was possible. Solid from the first note to the last and packed with the most consistent songwriting the Doobs ever did.This is real Doobiesnot the soft rock, Christopher Cross clones that they became when mushmouth Michael MacDonald took over( the beginning of the end for me as a Doobies fanat least until Tom Johnston returned). What a tremendous album.
Better than the CD release but not great by any means. I believe they could have done better.
Not a single cut is filler. A mixture of hard driving rock and mellow touches of acoustic work. It is a shame that most people seem to think the Dobbie Brothers began with "Takin It To The Streets" and Michael McDonald. I remember when this album first came out and it symbolizes everything good about those times. "Captain" is by far the best album created by the Doobies.
The mood and texture of this set is just beyond comparison. The thing is that the best work of the Doobies is found in between all the hits on their early albums. Then they followed up with "Vices" - my God what a back to back triumph that has rarely been rivaled. When you rattle off all the big hits that were part of the Tom Johnson era, the same people go "oh yeah", now I get it. The finest example of this kind of rock.
My favorite on this album, 'Dark-eyed Cajun Woman' is Tom Johnston's definitive rhythm and blues effort, and 'South City Midnight Lady' (another of my favorites) is Pat Simmons at his country-rock finest (what fabulous background harmonies). Marginal Doobies fans will certainly gravitate towards the obvious hits on this album, 'Long Train Runnin,' 'China Grove,' and 'Without You,' but as is the case with the album "What Were Once Vices are Now Habits," many of the other cuts are equally as compelling, if not more. And this one is a MUST HAVE. Anything you could ever want in an album is here - hard-driving rock, country rock, rhythm and blues, balads, guitar riffs, accoustic guitar, soulful harmonies, driving percussion - anything you could ever want. 'Natural Thing,' 'Ukiah (more fabulous Doobies harmonies),' and the title cut 'The Captain and Me' are also tremendous cuts, as is the slower, melodious 'Clear as the Driven Snow,' sung by Simmons.
Compilations just don't do the Johnson-Simmons Doobie Brothers era justice. As is the case with "Vices," there isn't a bad cut on this album. The only way you can get your fill of the absolute best rock group of all time is to, one-at-a-time, purchase individual albums. "The Captain and Me" is yet another timeless Doobie Brothers Classic.
We've all heard "China Grove" a million times, along with "Long Train Runnin". "Clear As the Driven Snow" has some fantastic vocals that remind me of an Amish village down the road from me. A song that immediately struck me as brilliant. "Ukiah" is AWESOME.
Overall, not perfect, because of two songs that have been overplayed over the years, but the songs that HAVEN'T been played a million times are quite excellent. The vocals in this track show you exactly why the Doobie Brothers deserve to be remembered forever- no one else sounds like that. Quite fantastically. Another brilliant song is "Natural Thing". I love where I live out in the country. A short fast-paced rocker with a great guitar solo. So how do the rest of the songs stand up.
"Dark Eyed Cajun Woman" is once again, another treat for vocal melody lovers. "South City Midnight Lady" might be mistaken as just another soft rocker from the 70's except for the fact the guitar playing is excellent and doesn't deserve to be called typical or anything. A certain talent for being distinct in terms of vocal delivery. It's completely unique. Some claim this to be the ultimate Doobie Brothers album, and even though I can't quite agree with that, it's a very good album anyway (sorry, the debut will always be the best and most underrated album they ever did just for the fact not a SINGLE song from that album is *ever* played on the radio).
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