''What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American rock band

the Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five decades, with their greate ...

. The album was released on February 1, 1974, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

Recording and content

Tom Johnston's " Another Park, Another Sunday" was the album's first single. "It's about losing a girl," stated Johnston. "I wrote the chords and played it on acoustic, and then Ted emplemanhad some ideas for it, like running the acoustic guitar through a

Leslie Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...

." The song did moderately well on the charts, peaking at No. 32. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that it was "more melodic and easy-tempoed han previous Doobie Brothers' hits in tune with the pastoral weekend setting." The second single released was "Eyes of Silver", another Johnston-penned tune. According to him, "Wordwise, that one really isn't that spectacular. I wrote them at the last minute." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that it was "very similar to their smash ' Listen To The Music and "features every lick the Doobies have featured in their great patented sound". ''

'' said that the group was "back into their chuggin' folk-rock groove, fitting more easily into their 'Listen to the Music' bag". That song did not have much success on the charts either, peaking at only No. 52. Grasping for chart action, Warner Brothers re-released the band's first single, " Nobody", backed with Tiran Porter's instrumental "Flying Cloud". This release was soon overshadowed when radio stations discovered " Black Water". Other stations joined in and the song was officially released as a single that went on to sell over a million copies and became the Doobie Brothers' first No. 1 hit. "Black Water" had been featured as the B-side of "Another Park, Another Sunday" eight months earlier.

Artwork

The unusual lettering on the album cover was suggested by drummer John Hartman after visiting his high school alma mater, J.E.B. Stuart in

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church City is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is ...

. The school's newspaper, ''Raiders Digest'', had just changed its masthead to include those stylized fonts. The cover photo is by Dan Fong, their touring Media Coordinator. The cover photo was taken at a concert on December 4, 1973, at E.A. Diddle Arena,

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

, Bowling Green, Kentucky. He also did the cover photo for their album '' Takin' It to the Streets''.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Doobie Brothers * Tom Johnston – lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars * Patrick Simmons – lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars * Tiran Porter – backing vocals, bass * John Hartman – drums, percussion * Michael Hossack – drums * Keith Knudsen – drums , backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Jeff "Skunk" Baxter –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

on "Tell Me What You Want" *

Bill Payne William H. Payne (born March 12, 1949, in Waco, Texas) is an American pianist who, with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists, including Elton John, to be one of the finest A ...

– organ on "Song to See You Through" and "Eyes of Silver", piano on "Pursuit on 53rd St.",

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

on "You Just Can't Stop It" *

James Booker James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist and singer. Flamboyant in personality and style, and a pianist of extraordinary technical skill, he was dubbed "the Blac ...

– piano on "Down in the Track" *

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

–

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

on "Tell Me What You Want" *Eddie Guzman –

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s on "Road Angel", "You Just Can't Stop It" and "Daughters of the Sea",

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

on "Daughters of the Sea", and various other percussion instruments *

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian perc ...

–

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

on "Tell Me What You Want",

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

on "Black Water", "Tell Me What You Want" and "Another Park, Another Sunday",

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

and

pandeiro The pandeiro () is a type of hand frame drum popular in Brazil. The pandeiro is used in a number of Brazilian music forms, such as samba, choro, coco, and capoeira music. The drumhead is tunable, and the rim holds metal jingles (''platinelas' ...

on "Daughters of the Sea", and various other percussion instruments *

The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns was an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. An "offshoot of the Mar-Keys", they continued to work to ...

– horns on "Song to See You Through", "Eyes of Silver" and "You Just Can't Stop It" ** Wayne Jackson – trumpet ** Andrew Love – tenor saxophone **James Mitchell – baritone saxophone **Jack Hale – trombone * Novi Novog –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

on "Spirit" and "Black Water" *

Ted Templeman Edward John "Ted" Templeman (born October 24, 1942) is an American musician and record producer. Among the acts with whom he has had a long relationship are the rock bands Van Halen and Doobie Brothers and the singer Van Morrison; he produced ...

– additional percussion *''uncredited'' –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

on "Flying Cloud" ;Production *Producer:

*Production Coordination: Benita Brazier, The Doobie Brothers *Engineer:

Donn Landee Donn Landee is an American record producer and recording engineer. Much of his work as an engineer has been done with producer Ted Templeman at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. The pair worked with a wide variety of artists f ...

, Lee Herschberg *Mastering: Lee Herschberg *Horn Arrangements: Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson with the Memphis Horns *Cover Design and Art Direction: Chas Barbour *Photography: Dan Fong

Charts

Certifications

References

Notes

{{Authority control 1974 albums The Doobie Brothers albums Albums produced by Ted Templeman Warner Records albums Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios