The follow-up to a comeback is a crucial release. It determines whether an act will be able to maintain its restored status or fade back to the oldies circuit.
The Doobie Brothers surprised many observers when they re-formed the early-'70s edition of the band in 1989 and returned to the winner's circle with the gold-selling
Cycles and its Top Ten hit single, "The Doctor."
Brotherhood, however, suggests that that success had more to do with the anticipation of longtime fans than a sustained relevance to the music of the early '90s. Teaming with
Jerry Lynn Williams, author of the 1985
Eric Clapton hit "Forever Man," on three tracks,
the Doobies sound like a number of other veteran performers, as well as their earlier selves. The
Williams co-written "Is Love Enough" borrows the basic riff of
Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"; "Under the Spell" recalls
Journey in places; and "This Train I'm On" has a slide guitar part straight out of
the Allman Brothers Band's "Ain't Wastin' Time No More." When they aren't impersonating another arena rock band,
the Doobies are impersonating
the Doobies, however. Consider the subject matter: Songs like "Divided Highway," "This Train I'm On," and "Rollin' On" (which is about a river) ape the travel metaphors previously used in such
Doobies oldies as "Rockin' Down the Highway," "Long Train Runnin'," and "Black Water." Maybe that will reassure old fans, but the challenge for
the Doobies in 1991 is not only to retain its existing audience, but also to attract a new one. Capitol may have hoped that the
Williams-penned ballad "Our Love" would do that, but AOR radio latched onto the '70s-style arena rock of "Dangerous" instead. The result was that the album disappointed, and the reunited
Doobie Brothers had to depend on road work. ~ William Ruhlmann