Michael McDonald - A Gathering Of Friends (2003)

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!
Most of the artists checked their egos at the door, and offered up brilliant performances that highlighted McDonald's contributions to each song. You'll even notice Kim Carnes humbly taking the roll as one of the four backup singers during the entire event. Most of the 13 performances that did make the cut, were excellent. The highlight of the show was, of course, McDonald reuniting with The Doobie Brothers to perform "Minute By Minute" and " Takin' It To The Streets" - but why not have Kenny Loggins join him on their Grammy-winning "What a Fool Believes"?
Other highlights included a fantastic "Ya Mo Be There" with James Ingram, which will make you ask "where the hell has this guy been hiding?". He proves here that he is still one of the better male r&b singers in the business. Ahhh, but maybe the best highlight of all was seeing Mr. One-Album-Wonder himself, Christopher Cross, up there giving it his all on the fabulous "Ride Like The Wind". Brought me right back to my freshman year in high school when that song used to pump me right up every time it came on the radio - which was about once an hour, back then. He even cuts loose with this killer guitar solo at the end that would have made Joe Satriani say WTF?. Whoh, slow down there C.C. Just repeat after me, "Saaailing…..takes me awaaaaay…..".
The frustrating thing about this show, was that it seemed more like a tribute to McDonald's background vocals than anything else. During many of the performances McDonald was barely heard or seen in the background, such as during Edwin McCain's excellent "Holy City". You also get nothing from his solo albums such as his biggest hit "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)". There was a much bigger spotlight on the guests, than on the guest of honor.
Jeff Bridges (the actor) was the host of the show and even performed a song from his new album at the time. Although he is a fairly talented musician, and I loved his performance with his brother Beau in The Fabulous Baker Boys, he didn't exactly need to be up there singing in the presence of all those other great vocalists.
The production quality here was a mixed bag. The full-frame video presentation was very soft and slightly grainy, and the colors were often oversaturated. The superb DTS 5.1 surround audio track more than made up for the mediocre picture, as it provided an excellent enveloping listening experience which put you right there at the show. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo tracks were above average as well. The bass mix was a little on the weak side, but most of the performances didn't really demand an aggressive bass mix. Disappointingly, there were no extra features included on this disc, which is a shame considering how fascinating the backstage footage and artist interviews could have been at a show with this many stars.

Tracklist:
01. On My Own (with Patti LaBelle)
02. No Love to Be Found (with Wendy Moten)
03. Holy City (with Edwin McCain)
04. All I Need (with Tommy Sims)
05. Ride Like the Wind (with Christopher Cross)
06. She Lay Her Whip Down (with Jeff Bridges)
07. Yah Mo B There (with James Ingram)
08. Maria (with James Ingram & David Pack)
09. You Belong to Me (with Patti Austin)
10. Heart to Heart (with Kenny Loggins)
11. This Is It (with Kenny Loggins)
12. Minute By Minute (with The Doobie Brothers)
13. Takin' It to the Streets (with The Doobie Brothers)


Features:
- Interactive Menu
- Direct Scene Access