A place to talk about the music of the Grateful Dead
tigerstrat wrote:Doobie Brothers? OK, I'll bite: which DB's song influenced this?He's probably thinking It sounds ALOT like a Michael McDonald era Doobies Bros tune.
Capt Rosebuddy wrote:I'm a little surprised that I have to defend my point that the studio Far From Me sounds like the Doobie's. I guess I should clarify, FFM while not reminiscent of any particular Doobie Brothers song, for sure grabs the esthetic that was invouge in the post disco world. Lemmie take that back, it kind of reminds me of "What a fool Believes" on Minute by Minute. And of coures Midland is doing and full on McDonnald impersonation, not just a tip of the hat, but a full blown impersonation.DB's did have a compressed and well separated sounded. And so did alot of the Go To heaven.
Here's my point the Garcia tone on the track in question, is just the guitar with the Phase 100 and distortion +, no special sause on the rig (my best guess anyway). The discrepancy in the studio version to the live ones is the production tricks that where popular at the time, ie lots of compression. Rack mount studio compressors are what give all of those tracks that squishy soft focus kind of sound. It's all over other songs on GTH, listen to Don't Ease Me In, the piano, vocal even the mutron sounds very soft and compressed, the only thing really wide open in that mix is the B3.
Capt Rosebuddy wrote:And of coures Midland is doing and full on McDonnald impersonation, not just a tip of the hat, but a full blown impersonation.That whole Michael McDonald comparison has always stuck in my craw just a little bit, but I have never heard anyone accuse Brent of doing an impression of him. Have you ever heard Brent's singing on Silver, the band's eponymous (and only) album? He was mostly backup vocals and only sings lead on a couple of tracks, but it was being recorded in 1975 at about the exact time as McDonald joined the Doobies, which was his first lead vocal gig (after singing backup in Steely Dan). Both singers' debut lead vocal recordings came out the same year, 1976. I would hesitate to call Brent's natural singing style an impression simply because the other guy became better-known in the mainstream.
