In February of 2000, several world-renowned soul, r&b, and rock artists gathered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the man who virtually defines this thing they call "blue-eyed soul".
McDonald's star began to climb once he began lending his distinctive baritone vocals to some of Steely Dan's great albums, starting with 1974's Pretzel Logic. Who the hell can forget McDonald crooning "PEEEEG" on their brilliant Aja album? All hell broke loose when he joined the already successful Doobie Brothers in 1976 and stole some of the lead vocal chores away from Tom Johnston, starting with the Takin' It To The Streets album.
It would be the Grammy-award winning Minute By Minute album, however, that redefined The Doobie Brothers' sound and made McDonald the real star of the show. All the while he was lending his vocals to other artists songs including Carly Simon, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins, before eventually leaving the Doobies and releasing his first solo album, 1982's If That's What It Takes.
Most of the artists who McDonald has struck gold with showed up for this show, with the only notable exception being Carly Simon, who may have cancelled at the last minute since they still performed her hit song "You Belong To Me", only with Patty Austin.
This was kind of strange because Austin, James Ingram and McDonald were together on the same stage and didn't even sing their #1 hit "Baby Come to Me", but she performs another artist's song? Maybe they did perform it, but it was left on the cutting room floor for some reason. Believe me, this would not have been the only thing that was left on the cutting room floor. The actual show was about two and 1/2 hours long, and featured many more artists than were featured on this DVD.
Some of the notable artists who never made it on the disc were Steve Winwood, Ray Charles, and Boz Scaggs. This is kind of criminal if you ask me, seeing that the DVD only presents a measly 70 minutes of the show - and includes no extra features! Its a frigging DVD, not a CD people!
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Article comments
1 - Angie Little
I, too, love this DVD... and I have to echo what was said about Edwin McCain's "Holy City." What a great performance... what an awesome song. That one is my personal favorite on the DVD. I hope others find your review & run out and buy it; it's a great addition to anyone's music collection.
Angie Little
2 - Laura Jones
I bought this DVD a few years ago, after discovering it on Amazon.com. What a wonderful collection of music from one of my favorite voices. This is especially sweet, however, since we get to hear McDonald's voice with others I adore. The version of "Maria", which I also had on a "West Side Story" Tribute CD with James Ingram and David Pack is probably my favorite song ever. The harmonies and those voices all together will give you chills. David Pack, of Ambrosia, James Ingram and Michael McDonald all at once. WOW!
If you are buying this DVD to see all McDonald, there are times that he seems to step back, but I think it says a lot about him, that he is willing to step out of the limelight for a song or two and kind of be the supporting voice. His distinctive voice and harmonies add to any work he has ever done, and you will hear this in in "Ride Like The Wind" and "Holy City". It amazes me how his voice blends so well with so many others from so many diverse sounds... Patti Labelle to Kenny Loggins.
I would have loved to have been there in person for this show, and I also wish we had extra features or interviews and that missing footage, but even as it is, it's a great way to bask in some wonderful music for a while and check out some newer artists (McCain) and revisit some old musical memories with Christopher Cross (I also remember when he was on the radio every hour!) and The Doobies. Buy it, it's worth every penny.
3 - Temple Stark
Paul, This work of yours now has another venue for success, glory and taking control of the world :-) - and many more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a place affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
Also please let your contact know, if you had one, that this article, is published at one more place. That helps a lot.
Thank you.
Temple Stark
4 - chad meyr
I love michael mcdonald! there is not a day that goes by that i don't have this dvd in the player in my apartment. the performances are fantastic. his soul emerges from his velvet pipes and prove to me there is a god.
5 - Evan
Christopher Cross is much better then Hilary Duff and i did not know it was Michael Mcdonald