Was Olana on Farewell Tour by the Doobie Brothers really a live recording or was it a Michael McDonald recoding overdubbed with applause?

Answer 1

I saw them play at Chicagofest on their Farewell Tour in the summer of '82 and don't recall hearing them play "Olana." They did play McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin'" and Simmons' "Out on the Streets."

The "live" cut on the "Farewell Tour" album at the very least has overdubs, as you can hear McDonald's voice on background vocals -- while he's singing lead. And the applause after the track (as on the entire album) fades in & out.

So ... I'd bet that it's a studio track thrown onto the album as a potential "new" single for a band that hadn't released any new music in two years.

Interestingly, "Olana" showed up again on the "Long Train Runnin'" box set (released in 1999), but with a different audio mix that included more guitar riffs throughout the tune and replaced Bumpus's sax solo with a guitar solo.