Stampede (The Doobie Brothers album)

Stampede is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Doobie Brothers. The album was released on April 25, 1975, by Warner Bros. Records. It was the final album by the band before Michael McDonald replaced Tom Johnston as lead vocalist and primary songwriter. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA.

Stampede
Studio album by the Doobie Brothers
Released	April 25, 1975
Recorded	September 9 – October 6, 1974
Studio	Warner Bros. Studios, North Hollywood, California; Burbank Studios, Burbank, California; Curtom Studios, Chicago; and The Record Plant, Sausalito, California; "I Been Workin' on You" recorded at Creative Workshop, Nashville
Genre	Rock
Length	40:50
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Ted Templeman
The Doobie Brothers chronology
What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974) Stampede (1975) Takin' It to the Streets (1976)
Singles from Stampede
"Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)" / "Slat Key Soquel Rag" Released: April 23, 1975 "Sweet Maxine" / "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" Released: July 8, 1975 "I Cheat the Hangman" / "Music Man" Released: November 12, 1975

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[2]
The Great Rock Discography	5/10^[3]
Rolling Stone	(mixed)^[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[5]

Recording and content

Stampede showed the band diversifying elements of their sound more than ever before, combining elements of their old sound as well as country-rock, funk and folk music. Many guest musicians contributed on the album including Maria Muldaur, Ry Cooder and Curtis Mayfield.

This was the first album featuring Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as a full-fledged member of the band, although he is absent from the cover photo. He had previously played on a couple of songs as a guest on the two previous albums and toured with the band prior to this one.

The first and most successful single released from this album was "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)" on April 23, 1975, a classic Motown tune written by the legendary songwriting trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Tom Johnston had wanted to record the song for several years. "I thought that would be a killer track to cover," he said. "It's probably one of my favorite songs of all time. I thought our version came out great."

The next single, released on July 8, 1975, was "Sweet Maxine" which was more akin to the Doobie Brothers' earlier hits style-wise. "Pat wrote the music to this and I wrote the words," Johnston recalled. "And Billy Payne had a lot to do with the sound of the song, because of his incredible keyboard playing." The track stalled at #40 on the Billboard charts. Record World said that "after a barrelhouse piano intro, the boys zoom back into that familiar rockin' groove."^[6]

The third and final single was Patrick Simmons' "I Cheat the Hangman", released November 12, 1975. It is a somber outlaw ballad that was inspired by the story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. "It's about a ghost returning to his home after the Civil War and not realizing he's dead," said Simmons about the song. The album version of the song is a progressive rock-style composition ending in a twisted collage of strings, horns and synthesizers made to sound like ghostly wails. "We'd cut the track, and we kicked around how to develop the ending—I thought about synthesizers and guitar solos. Ted [Templeman] got to thinking about it, and he ran it past [arranger] Nick DeCaro for some orchestration ideas. 'Night on Bald Mountain' by Mussorgsky really inspired the wildness of the strings, and Nick came up with the chorale thing at the end." The ambitious "I Cheat the Hangman" only managed to reach #60 on the music charts.^[7] Cash Box said it was a "rather lengthy piece quite unlike any previous single release from this super-group" and "a low-key ballad carried by a single, melodic voice against flowing guitar picking that grows into beautiful vocal harmony from the group, soon to segue into sustained orchestration holding a sweeping power chord under which some jazz improvisation goes on."^[8] Record World said that "the Doobies stretch out with a searing ballad that relies on a strong vocal harmony sound."^[9]

"Neal's Fandango" was inspired by the Santa Cruz mountains and was an homage to Neal Cassady, Merry Prankster bus driver and former Jack Kerouac sidekick in On the Road. It was occasionally played on San Francisco Bay Area classic rock station KFOX "K-FOX" (that means KUFX) because of the Doobie Brothers' South Bay roots.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Sweet Maxine"	Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons	Johnston	4:26
2.	"Neal's Fandango"	Simmons	Simmons	3:20^[nb 1]
3.	"Texas Lullaby"	Johnston	Johnston	5:00
4.	"Music Man"	Johnston	Johnston	3:34
5.	"Slack Key Soquel Rag^[nb 2]"	Simmons	instrumental	1:54

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
6.	"Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)"	Holland–Dozier–Holland	Johnston	3:39
7.	"I Cheat the Hangman"	Simmons	Simmons	6:38
8.	"Précis"	Jeff Baxter	instrumental	0:56
9.	"Rainy Day Crossroad Blues"	Johnston	Johnston	3:45
10.	"I Been Workin' on You"	Johnston	Johnston	4:22
11.	"Double Dealin' Four Flusher"	Simmons	Simmons, Keith Knudsen, Johnston	3:30

Personnel

The Doobie Brothers

• Tom Johnston – guitars, lead and backing vocals
• Patrick Simmons – guitars, lead and backing vocals
• Jeff "Skunk" Baxter – guitars, pedal steel guitar
• Tiran Porter – bass guitar, backing vocals
• John Hartman – drums, percussion
• Keith Knudsen – drums, percussion, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Double Dealin' Four Flusher"

Additional musicians

• Bill Payne – piano on "Sweet Maxine", "Neal's Fandango", "Texas Lullaby", "Take Me in Your Arms", "I Cheat the Hangman" and "Double Dealin' Four Flusher", organ on "Music Man" and "I Been Workin' on You", electric piano on "Double Dealin' Four Flusher", other keyboards
• Ry Cooder – bottleneck guitar on "Rainy Day Crossroad Blues"
• Karl Himmel – drums and percussion on "I Been Workin' on You"
• Bobbye Hall Porter – congas on "Take Me in Your Arms"
• Victor Feldman – marimba, percussion
• Conte Candoli, Pete Candoli – trumpets on "I Cheat the Hangman"
• Harry Bluestone – concertmaster on "Rainy Day Crossroad Blues"
• Maria Muldaur – backing vocals on "I Cheat the Hangman"
• Sherlie Matthews, Venetta Fields and Jessica Smith – backing vocals on "Take Me in Your Arms" and "I Been Workin' on You"
• Nick DeCaro – string arrangements on "Texas Lullaby", "I Cheat the Hangman" and "Rainy Day Crossroad Blues"
• Paul Riser – string and horn arrangements on "Take Me in Your Arms", horn arrangements on "Sweet Maxine" and "Double Dealin' Four Flusher"
• Curtis Mayfield – string and horn arrangements on "Music Man"
• Richard Tufo – orchestration on "Music Man"

Production

• Ted Templeman – producer, additional percussion
• Donn Landee, Travis Turk – engineers
• Barbara Casado, John Casado – design
• Jill Maggid, Michael Maggid – photography
• Ed Thrasher – art direction

Charts

Chart performance for Stampede

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[10]	6
Canadian Albums (RPM)^[11]	5
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[12]	5
UK Albums (OCC)^[13]	14
US Billboard 200^[14]	4

Certifications

Certifications for Stampede

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)^[15]	Gold	50,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

1. On all CD reissues this track's length is about 3:09 due to the section before the final guitar solo being edited out.
2. This was originally listed incorrectly as "Slat Key Soquel Rag".

References

1. Bruce Eder. "Stampede - The Doobie Brothers". AllMusic. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
2. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
3. Strong, Martin Charles (2002). "The Doobie Brothers". The Great Rock Discography. The National Academies. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
4. Jim Miller (July 3, 1975). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 14, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
5. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 253. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
6. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. August 2, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
7. "Old Black Water Keep on Rollin': 30 Years of the Doobie Brothers". Long Train Runnin': The Doobie Brothers 1970 - 2000 (CD Booklet). Warner Bros. Records. 1999. p. 33. 75876.
8. "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 22, 1975. p. 34. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
9. "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. November 22, 1975. p. 10. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
10. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 92. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
11. "RPM Search Engine" (PHP). Library and Archives Canada. March 31, 2004.
12. "Charts.nz – The Doobie Brothers – Stampede". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
13. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
14. "The Doobie Brothers Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
15. "The Doobie Brothers Cover the Globe" (PDF). Cash Box. September 9, 1975. p. 26. Retrieved November 15, 2021 – via World Radio History.