Michael McDonald

Doobie brother Michael McDonald's long-overdue debut solo album confirms his place as
the most compelling male pop singer of the past few years. Not since Linda Ronstadt's Heart
like a Wheel period has a single voice exerted such a profound influence on the pop
mainstream. Like Ronstadt, McDonald compresses several different strains into a style all his
own. And where Ronstadt's mixture of folk-pop sweetness, country torch and... More >

On his solo bid the El Lay soul man sounds like he should leave his therapist, not his group. He's feeling so hard the sense of strain is constant, as if ordinary romantic travails are driving him to the edge of existential patience. Yet despite it all not one of these common-sense homilies has the common wisdom of "This Is It" or "What a Fool Believes"--there's a smugness about his determination to go with the serially monogamous flow. And I sure hope the next single is "Love Lies" or "No Such Luck"--I'm sick of the rest already. (Grade: C+)