Stampede

Tom Johnston’s last ride with the Doobies (before getting replaced by future supermarket staple Michael McDonald) left things on a high note. With Steely Dan’s Jeff “Skunk” Baxter officially joining the band and help from Ry Cooder, Maria Muldaur, and Curtis Mayfield, it’s one of their most sonically diverse records — and one of their most satisfying. The big hit, “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” was standard stuff, but the deeper cuts really make this: Mayfield’s horns add some needed funk to “Music Man,” “Double Dealin’ Four Flusher”’s as nasty as Skynyrd’s innards, and ghost story “I Cheat the Hangman,” with its Spaghetti Western horns and melancholy harmonies, may be one of the most unfairly overlooked songs not only from their catalogue but the entire decade.