Jesus Is Just Alright

The Doobie Brothers Lite edition in 1977

In November of 1977, I attended a Doobie Brothers concert at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. It was during a successful run for a revamped version of the band that featured Michael McDonald on keys and lead vocals, and guitarist Jeff Baxter, late of Steely Dan. The fact that the opening band was Pablo Cruise should have been my first indicator that this incarnation was a musically skilled, but much lighter variety of The Doobies. It also remains the only Rock concert I've ever taken a nap in the middle of, which should tell you more about the evening than anything else.

Prior to the personnel change, The Doobie Brothers were already certified hit makers under the leadership of Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston, whose unique singing voices graced early successes like "Listen To The Music" and "Rockin' Down The Highway". The Doobie Brothers' recording of "Jesus Is Just Alright" was first released on their second Warner Brothers album, "Toulouse Street", in 1972. It was then released in November 1972 as the second single from the album (b/w "Rockin' Down The Highway") and became a hit, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the following year.

The 1972 single. Note the writers credit.

Although none of The Doobies' band members were particularly religious, the band first became aware of "Jesus Is Just Alright" after hearing it done by The Byrds, and before long, the song had been added to The Doobie Brothers' concert setlists. The song's arrangement is very similar to the one used by The Byrds, although The Doobie Brothers' version includes a bluesy middle section that they added themselves. Brownie points to them for not getting greedy about a co-writing credit.

"Jesus Is Just Alright" became one of a number of God-themed songs to reach the charts between 1969 and 1973, along with "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, "Put Your Hand In The Hand" by Ocean, "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens, "Jubilation" by Paul Anka, "Speak To The Sky" by Rick Springfield, the soundtrack album "Godspell", and the album most of my Catholic friends can still recall every lyric to, "Jesus Christ Superstar".

To this day, the song continues to be a staple on Classic Rock radio stations. Here's The Doobie Brothers with "Jesus Is Just Alright", in case your radio has been on for less than an hour.

So, as mentioned earlier, The Doobies adapted the song from The Byrds, whose recording was featured on their 1969 album, "The Ballad of Easy Rider". Although the album was a relatively hasty assemblage meant to capitalize on the success of the movie "Easy Rider", this version of The Byrds was up to the task; coming fresh off the unexpectedly difficult reception of their now-classic "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" album with more new-found focus than ever before, having been through yet another purge of the uncommitted from the Byrdhouse by band leader Roger McGuinn.

The song was introduced to The Byrds by their drummer, Gene Parsons, who had somehow been present in the studio when The Art Reynolds Singers recorded it for Capitol in 1966. The Byrds had added the song to their live concert repertoire some months prior to the start of the "Ballad of Easy Rider" recording sessions, and it had quickly become an audience favorite. The Byrds performed "Jesus Is Just Alright" regularly between 1969 and 1971, but the song appears to have been dropped and performed only rarely after that.

In this clip from a PBS documentary, Bill Graham introduces The Byrds at the legendary Fillmore East in September of 1970. I love finding archival stuff like this! I understand that the Telecaster played by Clarence White in this clip is now owned by Country singer and archivist Marty Stuart.

It was back in 1966 that Arthur Reynolds took the 5 best singers from his choir at the St. Vestal C.M.E. church and created the gospel singing group, The Art Reynolds Singers. As the first gospel group to record for Capitol Records, they soon became pioneers in the development of "Gospel Rock", although many traditionalists considered their music too secular for the time. Their first album "Tellin' It Like It Is", which featured "Jesus Is Just Alright", went on to become one of the biggest selling albums for a new gospel group, receiving local and national acclaim. One of the original members of The Art Reynolds Singers was a young lady named Thelma Houston, who went on to become a Grammy winner with her 1977 Disco anthem, "Don't Leave Me This Way".

While researching this article, I also discovered some questionable speculation that the main riff of the song may have been lifted from the 1957 Thurston Harris hit, "Little Bitty Pretty One". As there are but 12 notes in the scale, I can see where the earlier song may have suggested the riff, but it's certainly not a wholesale appropriation. I will say that I find it comforting that a song best known in its Classic Rock incarnation, came from a background of Gospel, R&B, and Country, and was finished off with a spot of Blues in the middle. I also see that there was an update of the song done in 2003 by DC Talk, adding some Hip-Hop to the mix. Now, if that ain't a textbook Rock 'n Roll pedigree, I don't know what is.

Here's the original recording of "Jesus Is Just Alright"! Raise yer hands in the air, y'all!

This video clip is the ONLY place I could find the original Art Reynolds song online. There's not even a listing at iTunes or Amazon, so you may have to scour the used vinyl bins if you're really jonesin' for a copy of this. Good luck.

You'll probably feel a whole lot better about finding music from The Byrds. Their entire Columbia catalog has been very nicely remastered and repackaged, with copious notes and a bargeload of bonus tracks and alternate takes. For those of you who just want a decent anthology, here's a very good one that neatly splits their career into 2 parts. But for those who are leaning toward the individual albums, I will heartily suggest the mammoth, 13 disc boxed set, which contains ALL of the spiffed up Columbia albums, with a book that details each track on every album. Yours for under $48, including shipping. That works out to less than $3.70 per disc. Such a deal.

And of course, music from The Doobie Brothers is easy to find at Amazon, or the budget bin of your local music emporium. If your Doobie needs are best served by a collection, here's your best bet. Personally, I feel their best work was early on, so I will also recommend this budget priced 5 disc box that has all the goods. There is a 2nd box set for you Doobie completists. The one caveat is that these box sets contain bare bones cd's with no liner notes or bonus material, but if you want the original albums as they were, this is a real good way to get 'em.

Soundalikes: The Fraternal Order Of The All

Andrew Gold

The what? Never heard of them? Well, this feature is actually about Andrew Gold. Remember him? The guy who gave us "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You For Being A Friend"? Well, as it turns out, Andrew Gold was more of a busy boy than just a lonely boy. Andrew played an active part in the L.A. studio crew that was responsible for the "California sound" that hung around like an unlocatable musty odor throughout most of the 1970's. He wrote & recorded with the Eagles, America & Linda Ronstadt, along with Brian Wilson, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel and John, Paul and Ringo as well.

Between all the songwriting for himself and recording demo tracks for others, he got a little creative on the side, producing some excellent recreations of groups who had influenced him and just about everyone else. His Beatles recreations are stellar acts of devotional mimicry. After his solo career took the inevitable downturn, Gold released several cd's worth of Beatles covers. Gotta do what you love, right?

But today's subject is an interesting little side trip. In 1998, Gold enlisted former 10cc member & Hollies songwriter Graham Gouldman, former Bread-maker Mike Botts, along with members of California Sixties cover band The Bellbottoms, to do an album that was not only a tribute to the era of Sixties psychedelia, but to the specific bands that were part of that era.

"I got the idea from listening to XTC performing as The Dukes of Stratosphear. I thought it would be fun to disguise yourself as a Sixties group," said Gold in an interview. "Since my influences are showing most of the time anyway, I thought I'd indulge myself to the nth degree and imagine I'd actually been in those bands."

The result was "Greetings From Planet Love" by The Fraternal Order Of The All, and it's an amazing package of music. There's so much great stuff on here. All songs are new, original tunes designed to emulate the bands of the psychedelic era as accurately as possible. Sitars, cheesy keyboards & backward vocals abound. Imagine if Bob Dylan had actually recorded a vocal with The Beatles on a John Lennon song entitled "Mr. Plastick Business Man". It's here and it sounds just like you'd imagine it would. There are Beach Boys, Monkees & Doors homages as well.

The Byrds

The one track that messes me up beyond repair is the astonishing Byrds soundalike "Somewhere in Space And Time". It manages to bring to mind at least 4 Byrds classics all in one mashed-up song, yet still sounds for all purposes like a high quality outtake from the original 1965-1967 Byrds recording sessions. They even got the harmonies right. Between the verses, the drop-D tuned rhythm guitar & the ride cymbal bounces sound exactly like David Crosby and Michael Clarke. Did I mention the backwards 12 string guitar solo? It's just plain freaky how cool this is! Turn it up & be psychedelicized!

Marni Nixon

The Fraternal Order Of The All cd is a little hard to find, although Amazon has it available sporadically for about $20. There is also an Mp3 download available for less. Andrew Gold's other music is much easier to find. 

On June 3, 2011, Andrew Gold died in his sleep, apparently from heart failure, at age 59 in Los Angeles after having been treated for renal cancer. As a footnote, Andrew had a family predilection for being in the entertainment business. His mother was singer Marni Nixon, who provided the singing voice for numerous actresses, notably Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. His father was Ernest Gold, the Austrian born, Academy Award winning composer of the score for the 1960 movie Exodus, along with many other films. Just thought you'd find that interesting.