‘One Step Closer’ by the Doobie Brothers

1980 marked the return of LaKind to the lineup as a full member and the Doobies released their ninth studio album, One Step Closer. The LP featured the hit title track and the Top 10 smash "Real Love" (not to be confused with the John Lennon composition) but did not dominate the charts and the radio as Minute by Minute had two years earlier, largely due to an oversaturation of the "McDonald sound" by many other artists (such as Robbie Dupree's hit "Steal Away", which copied the "McDonald sound" nearly note for note) heard on the radio at that time—not to mention McDonald's numerous guest vocal appearances on hits by other artists at that time, such as Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, and Nicolette Larson. The album itself was also noticeably weaker musically than the previous three with the band itself sounding tired and seemingly devolving to little more than McDonald's "backup band" by then (according to contemporary references at that time).One Step Closer would the final chart hit hitting #23 for this incarnation of the Doobie Brothers. How about today?