| Review by sonnysin168 February 23, 2010 (2 of 5 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
| Frankly, I bought this just to hear Long Train Running and my favorite South City Midnight Lady in hi-def. Well, the two are excellent tracks, undoubtedly better than similar tracks in my quite expensive DCC Compact Classics Best of the Doobies 24k gold cd. However, other tracks have loud guitars that just overwhelms. On some tracks I can hear faint (tape?) hiss in the background. IMO this sacd release sounds sharper than the earlier MFSL Toulouse Street release, the latter being more analougue sounding which I prefer.
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| Review by kegumo July 4, 2010 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
I always enjoyed the cruisey sound of the Doobies. It harks back to a time where bands wrote their own songs and weren't afraid to experiment with different genres of music. Unlike today's " production line" pop music which is recorded on laptops.
This album certainly has a lot of variety. Aside from the super hits, - China Grove and Slow Train Raining, there are bluesy/folkie tracks such as South City Midnight Lady and Dark eyed Cajun Woman. Evil woman sounds more heavy metal and wouldn't look out of place on a Black Sabbath album. There a also two or three fillers.
Sonically, it is a bit of a mixed bad. The sound is very clear and uncompressed. Although it is a two channel SACD you can hear a clear breakdown of all the instruments and after playing the disk several times, I can still hear new sounds.
The powers songs China Grove/Slow Train Running area a bit bright and when I first heard them I had to double check my Oppo had recognised it as a SACD not a CD. They have a live feel which sounds good but isn't consistent with the analogue sound MOFI promotes. I also have to adjust the volume for certain songs and suspect a bit of tone/bass has been added to the remastered SACD.
More mellow songs such as South City Midnight Lady,Captain and Me and Natural thing have been superbly reproduced. The sound is clear and the string instruments,arp synth and steel guitar sound beautiful. The sound is well balanced and not bright at all. It is worth buying the SACD just to hear how good they sound.
The CD layer also sounds very good.
Overall this is a good SACD and I look forward to receiving "Taking it to the Street" in a few weeks
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| Review by analogue July 13, 2010 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics: |
Hey. Mobile Fidelity has been on a tear over the last few years releasing great classic rock albums. tHERE ARENT MOANY LABLES THAT DO THIS ANYMORE.
This Doobie Brothers album is no exception. Most of the songs have been heard on the radio for many years.
However........I will be honest and admit that I was put off by this sacd upon first listen. I was let down.
It took me awhile to think of how I could write this review. I needed to come up with the correct words.I think I can do this now. But only after listening to this sacd many times over several months.
When a really good sacd tranfer is done, whether its classic rock or classical or whatever, we come to expect that individual instruments will be seperated and come out of the mix. So one can easilly detect where the drummer or the singer is located in the mix.
Well this sacd does not really present this musical quality and this is why I was let down. Essentially it was my expectations that caused the problem.
It was when I compared both Mobile Fidelity Doobie Brothers sacd's, this and Tolouse Street that I finally understood what I was hearing.
Both discs have the same sonic characteristics. That is....everything starts from the midrange and always seem to be connected to it.Once I understood this I was better able to appreciate the sacd transfer.
This can be a busy album and I would bet that many indivual layers of tape were mixed together to create the original 2 channel mix. And because of this it could seem a tad flat....almost listless. But when one listens to the sacd transfer its really easy to detect the quality of the sound which is excellent. The sound is lively, warm, robust and lifelike. Just sit back and you really can hear exactly whats going on even though it seems as if all the instruments are massed together instead of standing out. It just sounds different from other sacd transfers where individual instuments sound distinct and seperate from the mix. Once you get over this hurdle one can appreciate the quality of the sound.
Hey.....the music is fabulous.
Because both sacds sound identical in terms of sound and mix I must conclude that thats the way they are supposed to sound since day one.
Highly recommended.
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| Review by pvcmusiclover January 16, 2013
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Performance: Sonics: |
| This is my least favorite of all the Doobie Brothers albums, which generally sound amazing. Simply, the midange is just too peaky/shouty and the mix doesn't have that "separated insturment" soundtage easily heard on their other albums.
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