| The Doors | review #2 | review #3 | review #4 | review #5 | 1967 |
| Strange Days | review #2 | review #3 | review #4 | 1967 |
| Waiting For The Sun | review #2 | review #3 | 1968 |
| The Soft Parade | review #2 | review #3 | 1969 |
| Absolutely Live | 1970 |
| Morrison Hotel | review #2 | review #3 | 1970 |
| L.A. Woman | review #2 | review #3 | 1971 |
| Other Voices | 1971 |
| Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine (compilation) | 1972 |
| Full Circle | 1972 |
| Alive, She Cried (compilation) | 1983 |
| The Best Of the Doors (compilation) | 1985 |
| Live At The Hollywood Bowl | 1987 |
| In Concert (live) | 1991 |
| Greatest Hits (compilation) | 1996 |
| Essential Rarities | 1999 |
It's hard to find a better example of a band that defines the phrase 'unique' than The Doors. They never quite fit squarely in the pigenholes of psychedelic, hard rock or pop, instead relying on the flamboyant vocal, poetic theatrics and undeniable songwriting talents of Jim Morrison, who I'm guessing was hugely responsible for the numerous great melodies in their short but impressive catalog. The Lizard King (as he was so called) joined the '27 club' with his rather suspicious death at that age in 1971, is actually a hugely imitated personality - people make it a point to say how the band's sound was never imitated as a whole, but this is one aspect of it that surely was. Listen to modern rock singers like Eddie Vedder, Scott Weiland and Ian Astbury and tell me you can't hear a rather large Jim influence in their lyrical and vocal approach. That being said, I do think the guy was somewhat overrated as a poet and lyricist, but his frighteningly provocative ravings proved the perfect backdrop for the band's organ-based sound.
Undoubtedly most responsible for its' absolutely unique approach, Ray Manzarek had an almost carnival-esque, and even technically impressive, sound to his playing, and it very much took on an eerie sounding tone that added a majestic horror to several songs. His playing is distinctive enough to the point that much more often than not it's possible to instantly recognize a Doors song strictly from this style. I should probably also mention that since the band never employed a bass player (using session musicians on their albums instead), he often had to fill in that void with his 'keyboard bass' style in a live setting, which probably made the sound even more distinctive.
And as for the rest of the lineup, Robbie Krieger had a cool and inventive, often bluesy, style that was helped by his non-use of a guitar pick, and quite a few of his songwriting contributions are easily among the best songs the band ever did, and even though he had a couple of stinkers, I'm not exactly sure why his songs don't get more respect. Oh yeah, and John Densmore, though not a spectacular player, was a really efficient, excellent jazz-styled drummer who provides a really steady backbeat for the sound.
On account of Jim Morrison's premature death, the band's career wasn't very long, spanning six albums from 1967-1971 with Morrison as well as two out-of-print and forgotten studio efforts the surviving members recorded afterwards. The original 'classic six', though, are all essentials for any rock collection, even if the quality varies somewhat between them (though during this period they never actually released a bad album). The debut may have defined the sound as a whole (and as a result it's regarded among critics as the classic), but The Doors are one band where it's really interesting to hear them progress from album to album. How did they progress? Well, the reviews await...
--Nick Karn
HIGH POINTS: Light My Fire, Alabama Song, The Crystal Ship, Back Door Man, Break On Through, Take It As It Comes. LOW POINTS: I Looked At You.
Unquestionably the album that defined The Doors sound as everyone knows them (yeah, that's why the concept of self-titled records was invented), the strikingly original style of the band breaks through immediately throughout these 11 tracks, with the mysterious organ sound in full force that gives the album its' timeless atmosphere. Of course, the presence of Jim Morrison doesn't really hurt either - on his own technical ability, he isn't really a great singer, but his charisma and overall mystique really gives the songs something they would have lacked otherwise. And these songs certainly do hold up today, showcasing virtually everything that made the band special throughout them. From really catchy 'lightweight' pop tunes, entertaining organ-led rockers, atmospheric ballads, raving epics, and even blues and 20's style interpretations, it's all covered here.
Everything certainly begins explosively with the driving and intense "Break On Through" (the band's first single), which has incredible energy, a fantastically catchy melody, and a completely distinct main organ part. The following "Soul Kitchen" is a slower, more pop-oriented groove, but it definitely works quite well, and its' pace is among the more lighthearted moments of the album - a good tune that doesn't resort to a slick surface; rather an unsettling Doors one. That uncertainty is allowed to break through a bit for the first time in the majestic ballad "The Crystal Ship", whose opening line 'before you slip into unconsciousness...' sets the stage for a dreamy mini-epic that might sound peaceful and calm to the casual listener, but it certainly does have an edge to it. I certainly dig that piano break there.
Like I hinted at in the opening paragraph, though, the sound isn't just limited to renditions of the band's own material. There are also two cover versions performed here, and passing through the minds of musicians that had a real desire to achieve something different, they take on the Doors stamp, even when they're on completely different ends of the musical landscape. The 20's style musical number "Alabama Song" is entertaining as hell, with that cool organ groove leading a downright irresistible singalong that never sounds out of place at all on here, mostly because the sound is totally Manzarek, and Morrison certainly helps too. "Back Door Man", meanwhile, is actually a sinister old blues from the Willie Dixon archives, and Jim really plays that part well over the main organ riff and bluesy guitar, with the screams of 'I'm your back door man!!' and tone of his singing on 'the men don't know but the little girls understand...' really working.
The ultimate highlight, though, is the one number I've come to acknowledge as the group's single greatest song, and that's no small feat. In one of the few coincidences of this sort I can think of, it was also by their hugest hit single. One of two really lengthy showcases on here, it was the first song Robbie Krieger ever wrote for the band, and it begins on a simple, but extremely catchy, melody with trite lyrics that actually work in favor of it. The catchiness of the tune alone, however, isn't what really makes the song. What really makes it is the stunning middle jam, with solos by Ray Manzarek and Krieger respectively, and the effect of how they both seem to play off each other's parts and Densmore's rhythm with the effortlessly flowing, memorable structure of their showcases is exceptional, and the transition into the song's final verse is a perfect way of capping it off, with the vocal yell of 'TRY TO SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE!' just awesome.
The other extended track, in case you were wondering, is the notorious 11-1/2 minute closer "The End", which is, as you might expect, a total showcase of Jim Morrison's poetic dark side. The musical backing is quite eerie and hypnotizing, with the slow, trademark organ over haunting guitar lines, though the major problem with the song is that this backing is way too unvaried to fully justify the running time of it. Still, the whole thing might be somewhat overlong, but it's quite a revolutionary piece in its' lyrics (with frightening bits such as the 'father? yes son? I want to kill you...' portion and that rave about the 'snake') and the mood is powerful enough to justify a good amount of its' length - plus it gets a bit more thrilling when its' pace is faster. The way it crashes at the end is awesome, too.
Unfortunately, the remaining tracks (along with the length of "The End"), while not bad by any means, let the album down just enough to keep it out of classic status. "Take It As It Comes" is actually a minor pop classic on here, with breathtaking speedy organ and it's one of its' most infectious bits, but "I Looked At You" is way too simplistic, and musically and melodically it's not very interesting, even though it's fun while on. "Twentieth Century Fox" sounds a bit too close to "Soul Kitchen" for my liking, and although the chorus is mildly catchy, the whole tune feels somewhat like filler. The haunting "End Of The Night" isn't really all that fascinating either, though its' gloomy organ provides a minor pleasure. At least these 'filler' tunes are all short, though, so they don't bring down the overall quality too much. They may have hit their absolute peak with the next album, but this debut is definitely the place to start as your introductory journey to the thrilling sound of The Doors.
The Doors debut came out in January 1967, and is quite amazing because it immediately shows that they had a distinctive style. Ray's keyboards, Jim's poetic lyrics, the sparse arrangements, and the darkness of each song really makes this innovative and different in Rock music. "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" opens up the album to a great start; a cool keyboard riff with some nice growls by Morrison . The album never looks back after that.
"Light My Fire" is an obvious highlight, a seven minute song with that phenomenal middle section consisting of a mindnumbing keyboard solo, "Alabama Song" is a superb song with a boozy and eerie feel, "Take It As It Comes" is a fast song with a quick keyboard solo, and "Twentieth Century Fox" is dark pop. "Soul Kitchen", "The Crystal Ship", and "I Looked At You" are fine songs too, and still retain that dark and distant sound. The last song "The End" is an 11 minute song with some riveting poetry, but because of it's arrangement and length it just drags, though it's still somewhat interesting. The keyboards were at their most sparse here, the sound was at it's most dark, and in turn became a blueprint for their next album Strange Days.
The Doors' 1967 debut album was quite a smash, and it's true that nothing else sounded even remotely like it - Jim Morrison's deep vocals, Ray Manzarek's circus organ-y keyboard sound, and some odd, off-kilter songwriting made it stick out like a sore thumb. Nowadays it's still widely considered to be a classic. I can't quite go along with all the praise that typically gets sent along with this album, though, for a couple of reasons. First of all, a couple of the songs here are just plain boring. Most notably is the famous closer, the 11-and-a-half minute epic "The End". While I freely admit that it is QUITE unique and is effective as mood music, there simply isn't enough going on to merit that running time.
I mean, the whole thing is built in, like, ONE CHORD SEQUENCE! If you aren't in the mood for it, you will get bored, and quick. Plus, the lyrics, unique as they are, are pretty damned dumb. "Ride the snake/To the lake/The ancient lake/He's old/And his skin is cold/The snake is long/Seven miles"... and so on and so on. Goodbye to about a point and a half of the record rating. And a few of these songs, while not BAD in any way (and in fact are quite good!), don't really hook me in any major way (namely "Twentieth Century Fox" and the much louded cover of "Back Door Man", which never did a whole lot for me). There goes another half point.
Thankfully, though, most of the rest of this album lives up to its stellar reputation. Everybody knows the big hits here, "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" and "Light My Fire", and you've already formed an opinion on them, but I'll go ahead and say that they're great anyway. Especially the latter, with a KILLER organ and guitar solo filling up the middle in a totally fascinating way. You might also be familiar with the GORGEOUS ballad "The Crystal Ship", which is, as I've said, gorgeous. But honestly, even the songs on here you don't already know are bound to get you hopping (or nodding you head slowly while moping around in a depressed haze, as is typically a good mood to listen to the Doors in). "I Looked At You" and "Take It As It Comes" get a lot of heat, but I like 'em both a lot - very, very fun sixties pop with a bit of a sinister edge.
My favorite song on the album isn't any of these, though. It's the very often ignored "Soul Kitchen", which had its intro stolen for the inferior "When The Music's Over" on Strange Days. It's totally sixties pop, but it just RULES! The organ tone is great, the song builds to a fantastic chorus, and it just grooves and grooves and you'll shake your damn booty until it can't shake no more. So, in spite of all its flaws, this is still a very worthwhile purchase, and is essential if you're a sixties music buff in any way.
1967. What a revolutionary year for rock music. This was the year of acid rock and Sgt. Pepper, Jefferson Airplane and the Monterey Pop Festival. Love (and various illicit substances) were in the air. Then there came the Doors. Love, my foot. This was dark, violent, but beautiful. They were the musical equivalent of a minor key symphony---oh so dark, but oh so delightfully gorgeous. I consider their 1967 debut to be a glorious moment in music, a standout album in a year known for it's many standouts. The magic of the Doors was how the melded pop with poetry, bluesy guitar with jazzy keyboards and drumming, and topped all of it off with Jim Morrison's maniacal deliveries. This is most evident on the famous (and rightly so) Light My Fire. What an awesome song, y'all. The organ is mellifluous, Jim's voice is perfect, and Robby Krieger lets it rip with a flamenco-influenced solo right after Manzarek blows your mind with his keyboard mastery. Not a second too long, maybe even too short.
The silver medal definitely then goes to my personal favorite, The Crystal Ship. What an eerie ballad. Jim's ethereal voice on this one is absolutely haunting. Plus, that piano solo is a perfect moody touch. Meanwhile, the organ slowly burns it's way into your subconscious...too bad it's about drugs. Bronze medal---20th Century Fox. I'm sorry, but I really like this one, and I see no basis for all the bashing it gets. It has a decent melody, cool guitar lines, and a great delivery by Morrison. Plus, for a change the words are actually close-to-home. Not being a sexually active druggie with poor parental relations, I normally don't relate well with Jim Morrison. Cool poet and I respect that, but he doesn't resonate much with me.
Other winners include Back Door Man, which is a kickbutt blues song, Soul Kitchen which is a poppy tune about drugs, Break On Through which is a fantastic dark rocker, and The Alabama Song---who'd have thought the Doors would have covered a show tune? Oh well, they do a good job. Oh, and End Of The Night is pretty cool, too---really dark. That leaves the two poppiest---I Looked At You, which is way to banal for The Doors, and Take It As It Comes, which is good but not outstanding. Then, there's The End. It's got some cool poetry, but it really is too long. Maybe some extra guitar lines would have helped it out. Overall, this is a very steady and balanced recording with really only one major misstep, and since the rest is so good......I have to give it a 10. It's really something unique and special.
Dark dark dark dark dark music. You simply cannot listen to this music during the day and expect to get its full effect. I mean, it's still good, but at night, I don't know, it just doubles in potency or something! On the upside is "Break On Through", possibly the best opening track of all time, eh? Not long, simple, fast, galloping into the album with virility. "Light My Fire" cannot be seen as anything but a classic in my mind - the long solo section, especially the organ, is burned into my brain from a whole summer of listening to this album. And you know what? I can actually pull the song off singing karaoke! Heh, I'm sure I sent poor Jim spinning in his grave when I did that. I blame the booze, man. And we have "The End", aptly titled I guess. I know it gets boring - trust me, I think it is dull and I love the song! But the trance-like instrumental segues are worth getting through to get to the sung/spoken parts, which are...odd to say the least. Very soothing at some points, and orgasmically cathartic at others. "The Crystal Ship" is good mainly because of its blurring of major and minor throughout. Hell, the last chord of the song is played major in the organ, and minor on the piano. And it's exactly that quiet friction that draws me to this album, apparently! Another of my personal favorites on the album is "Alabama Song". Hell, you gotta love a song that has a tuba, that's my opinion.
At any rate, those are the tunes I reaaally like. The truth is, though, the rest of the album slides through me. I know the tunes, but they don't do too terribly much for me. And, as a rule, I like the "lesser" tunes on the first half of the album, but after "Light My Fire" the lesser tunes begin to lose their sparkle. Except for "I Looked at You". I like that tune. But I will say that even though I don't much care for boring tunes like "Take It As It Comes" (which sounds like a blatant "Break On Through" ripoff without balls, to me) or "Back Door Man" (is the subliminal perverted meaning intentional? Does anybody know?), I still listen to them. I do like this album as a whole, even though it just seems like some of the otherwise stellar instrumental parts are kind of improvised and, frankly, dull. But hey, minor gripes! Throughly enjoyable, this album is. And did I mention Jim Morrison's voice fucking rules?
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HIGH POINTS: When The Music's Over, Strange Days, My Eyes Have Seen You, Love Me Two Times, Moonlight Drive, People Are Strange. LOW POINTS: None.
On the surface, The Doors' sophomore effort could easily fit the typical cases associated with the 'second album syndrome' - the material on Strange Days basically consisted of songs that were leftovers from the debut, apparently some of which had been written as early as 1965. This would imply, of course, that the album has roughly the same general sound, and to an extent, it does. But there are a few major differences that ultimately make this psychedelic masterpiece a classic and the previous album merely a near classic. For one, the sound is consistently darker and more eerie than before, with fewer moments of upbeat pop and more of a sinister edge. They had also apparently been experimenting with effects like backwards masking and double-tracked vocals, and this further helps out the sound the band goes for. And finally, there's the melodies, which are simply fantastic throughout.
Which leads me to another point. Sure, there may not be any obvious standouts (like there certainly were on the debut), but here basically all the songs are small gems of their own, with not a single weak moment in sight. Even the short poetic interlude "Horse Latitudes" is simply creepy - it's subject matter which Jim screams about the entire time is of drowning horses, and this certainly works perfectly with the organ backing. It even has a perfect transition to the following "Moonlight Drive", which has simply brilliant guitar textures that really bring an effortlessly 'gliding' sound to the mix. Manzarek replacing his traditional organ with piano is the perfect touch, the melody is top-notch (as is usual with the songs here) and the lyrical premise - a couple going out for a 'moonlight drive' and then drowning themselves - is frighteningly beautiful, or beautifully frightening, depending on your perspective.
The other tracks here are certainly not any weaker than that, though. The opening title track is a really powerful introduction to the sound, with double-tracked vocals being a tremendous mood setter, the main melody is quite foreboding and really unforgettable, and the instrumental break provides a rather convincing twist. "You're Lost Little Girl" is actually one of the few Doors songs led by a bassline, and it provides a positively unsettling atmosphere - it's really not hard for me at all to imagine myself on a dangerous street at night while listening to it, even with that chorus that provides a contrasting beauty to it. "Love Me Two Times" takes rather simple lyrics and trascends them into something special, with that utterly awesome vocal melody and a classic Doors riff. It actually has a somewhat happier mood than the other songs.
Another minor gem on here, "Unhappy Girl", is strikingly led by a backwards rhythm that pushes forward a catchy two-minute pop number. Speaking of those kind of songs, though, there's also "People Are Strange", probably the most well-known composition on the entire album. It may or may not deserve that honor, but it's another absolute classic here anyway, another case of the fascinatingly simple and interesting lyrics ('when you're strange, faces come out of the rain...') being taken to great heights by a fabulous pop melody. A simply exceptional singalong tune, but the following song, "My Eyes Have Seen You", is an even better gem, featuring quiet and memorable verse melodies that burst in such an energizing and engaging fashion, with excellent fuzz guitar thrown in there and powerful vocal yells. The 'television skies' imagery is a really lasting picture, too. "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind", meanwhile, is the album's powerful mood piece. Driven by a marimba played by Manzarek in the chorus ('carnival dogs...'), it reaches a fabulous emotional height with its' dark refrain ('baby, don't you cry...') that features perfect use of sustained organ backing.
Finally, the ultimate Doors classic wouldn't be complete without an extended epic now, would it? This time it's in the form of "When The Music's Over", yet another ambitious piece that again lasts 11 minutes. But whatever mistakes "The End" made on the last album, though, this epic has apparently learned from. The musical backing this time around is much more interesting and varied, and the build is quite a bit more effective to the point where the length is completely justified. The only minor flaw here is that it's opening organ part is a ripoff of "Soul Kitchen", but that can be overlooked, since that minor gem from The Doors hardly contains as much thrills as this piece does. It's possibly the ultimate highpoint of the album, but only because it's much longer than the 2 to 3 minute pop songs that precede it.
As far as the interesting musical features go in this number, it's again driven by Jim's poetic raving style and the slow organ builds. Unlike "The End", though, it also has an actual structure, featuring two repeated verses ('when the music's over...') and a sort-of chorus ('music is your only friend...') that help the pace a bit more. Finally, the psychotic vision takes over in lines like 'ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her...' and the over-the-top sillyness of 'I want to hear, the scream of the butterfly'. The guitar playing from Krieger is quite majestic, and later on in the track, there's even booming Densmore drum improvisations during quite appropriate moments in the song. A very draining piece that actually leaves me wanting more, not unlike the whole album. I guess the only minor complaint I can make about this timeless classic is that it's a little short (35 minutes), but for the way it's set up, that probably only helps its' quality. Buy it now.
The Doors now had access to eight track recording, so they experimented a little more, and came up with this 'strange' dark album. Well, it's not a very weird album, but the songs sound like they were made at some circus sideshow full of midgets, and freaky people. The first song "Strange Days" starts the album off great, it has some echoey and double-tracked vocals, and bright thundering keyboards. A lot of these songs are sad-sounding and gloomy like the poetic ballads, "You're Lost Little Girl", "Unhappy Girl", and "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind", the last two having some studio experimentation in them.
"Horse Latitudes", which is a spoken poetry piece is the most experimental one on here, and has the right atmosphere going, although it's nothing really special. "Love Me Two Times" is the first happy sounding love song in the Doors canon, "People Are Strange" is a short ditty, and "My Eyes Have Seen You" starts off in the same mode as some of the other songs, except that it contains a more rockish feel, with some fuzzy guitar. "Moonlight Drive" is another good song, but there aren't really any amazing and outstanding song like The Doors first album had with "Light My Fire", rather it's just a good set of gloomy psychedelic tunes. One thing that's better though, is that this time the epic closer "When The Music's Over" works much better than "The End" did. The band is more tight and together on this one, the groove is better, and the arrangement isn't as sparse and wasteful.
The Doors followed their quirky debut album up FAST, releasing Strange Days in the same year as its predecessor. This album has a much more distinct identity than the eponymous debut. The sixties pop is almost completely gone, and it's replaced by dark, dark DARK slices of depressing grooves, similar to "The Crystal Ship" on the last album. The only really happy song here is "Love Me Two Times", which was a BIG hit. I like it, but not THAT much. It doesn't fit the mood very well, and sounds a bit generic to these ears.
The other two hits here are MUCH closer to the general mood of the album. They're the title track and "People Are Strange", both of which are among the VERY best Doors songs. The former takes a simple, dark melody and builds it and builds it until its just overpowering. The latter is just built along the most naggingly catchy vocal melody you'll ever hear. Jim sounds possessed when he chants "People are strange/When you're a stranger/Faces seem ugly/When you're alone". Has a cool organ solo, too. GREAT tune! Other highlights here include the dark, yet smoothly seductive "Moonlight Drive" and the REALLY dark, creepy "You're Lost Little Girl" (with an amazingly good chorus). The other normal length songs here aren't as good as those, but they're still good.
Two tracks here aren't standard tracks at all, though. One is "Horse Latitudes", a spoken word poetry piece about drowning horses. I'm not a HUGE fan of Jim's poetry, but this works VERY well. It's creepy as all get out, and works MUCH better than "The End" did on the previous record, even though it's short and, well, isn't even a song. And speaking of things that are better than "The End", this album ends with ANOTHER 11 minute poetry epic, this time called "When The Music's Over". It starts off as a rip-off of "Soul Kitchen" from the debut, but soon turns into darker, more epic territory. It's still too long, but I never get REALLY bored during it, so I don't mind. It still seems weird, though, that if you were to take this track away, the album would only be 25 or so minutes long, but no biggie. So, in conclusion, this album never quite hits the highs of the debut, but never quite hits the lows either, so call it a draw. A very consistent, worthwhile album.
OK, I'm gonna blow the big secret surprise of this review right now - Strange Days is overrated and not as good as its predecessor. This isn't to say that it's a BAD album---it is very good, in fact. However, the whole "trippy circus music" vibe does NOT do it for me. Sure, it's unique, but so is the sensation produced by slamming an axe handle into your crotch. Unqiue does not always mean pleasant. Shame on me. I shouldn't talk this one down like that. It's got some great songs on it, such as the very famous People Are Strange. For such a short song, it manages to paint a very fascinating picture of....heck, isolation, loneliness, being a druggie...beats me. Whatever it is, it's certainly compelling. And catchy too!
Meanwhile, Love Me Two Times is another worthwhile slice of musical offering from the Doors (aka The Paul Butterfield Blues Band). This one is bluesier, edgier, and sleeeeazier----and leaves me with a question. What if the Lizard King wore his woman out and she only wanted to love him one time? Would he be upset? Bizarre speculations aside, it's a good song. You're Lost Little Girl, which precedes the aforementioned ode to Jim's lizard and its voracious sexual appetite, is another good song---dark and dreary, but very pretty nonetheless. I also find Horse Latitudes to be quite evocative if nothing else.
But then there's When The Music's Over. Am I the only person who likes The End better??? When The Music's Over is a great epic, don't get me wrong. But it evokes JACK in me, whereas The End was a slippery, serpentine trip into the dark corners of the human mind. However, WTMO at least is more musically diverse. That's where my gripe with Strange Days is, I think. Instead of trying to go deep into the natural darkness of human psychology (which is what they did VERY well on the debut), they create a dark world that is dreary, but utterly fake. Oh well; at least it's catchy.
HIGH POINTS: Not To Touch The Earth, The Unknown Soldier, Five To One, Hello I Love You, Wintertime Love. LOW POINTS: My Wild Love, Yes The River Knows, Summer's Almost Gone.
On first listen, it can be very difficult to believe much of the music on Waiting For The Sun is a product of The Doors, as the unsettling and mystifying edge of the first two album's sound just isn't too prominent here. Of course, I have no problem with bands going for a major change in style if the results are for the better or at least more interesting, but even though there are still a few moments of Doors mystique here (and the Manzarek organ is as distinctive as ever), an alarming amount of the material just seems like a regression from what they were producing before. Several of the songs just seem deliberately poppy, and not even timeless kind of pop - in a lot of cases just generic late 60's sissyish kind of stuff most bands could have done at the time, and there is very much lack of strong melodies that were displayed so effortlessly before, especially on the last album.
That being said, though, the song material is on the whole still very good, even if a somewhat noticeable dip in quality from previously and half the time these numbers don't sound like they're really suited for the band's style (especially Jim Morrison's), much like that idiotic vocal chant "My Wild Love", which is a sure candidate for the worst song these guys put out in their prime, and should never have been released. Regardless of these flaws, though, there are enough captivating moments and creative ideas to make a good amount of it worthwhile. "Not To Touch The Earth" is certainly one of them - originally a portion of the much longer Morrison composed epic poem "Celebration Of The Lizard" that was meant to be recorded for the album, is built on a really creepy keyboard line that merges perfectly with the haunting guitar throughout the verses, and it builds up to a great furious ending.
The great anti-war number "The Unknown Soldier" again features the haunting organ in its' slow verses, and the way it flows from marching verses to the 'firing squad' portion (on stage Morrison actually gets shot by Krieger's guitar, which is a really neat and inventive concept) and the celebratory ending is highly noteworthy. The good tracks certainly don't end there, though. "Spanish Caravan" has quite a nice incorporation of flamenco guitar within it and a lot of drama in its very short length, and it's hard to imagine a better closer for this effort than the excellent bluesy aggresion of "Five To One" - Morrison's vocal hysteria and Krieger's guitar go really perfectly together (quite creative and powerful solo there too), although the really convincing melody would be rehashed in at least one song from each of the next three albums.
The remainder of the songs here, though, are much more poppy and conventional than the others. Two of them are actually perfectly solid - "Hello, I Love You" sounds so blatantly commercial and really not well thought out at first, but the organ part is so irresistible that it really helps the song open up as a first rate tune, while "Wintertime Love" may seem tossoff-ish, but that chorus melody is just so freaking beautiful that I'm always left wanting more of the song, since it lasts less than two minutes. The rest of them, however, are not - "We Could Be So Good Together" and "Love Street" are little more than bouncy lightweight filler, "Summer's Almost Gone" and "Yes, The River Knows" (the latter with a really pointless poetic tinge to it), are almost completely forgettable. So in all, I do like this album more often than not, and the most top-notch material here does rank along with their absolute best, but alas, there's just a little too much fluff, and again, the album's somewhat short at just 33 minutes.
This album shows that The Doors could be melodic and soft without losing their power in such songs as "Yes, The River Knows" and "Love Street". The darkness of their first two albums is much more subdued on this one, but Jim's lyrics are poetic as usual, with some of his strongest vocals ever. Their are a few poppy songs on here like the classic hit "Hello, I Love You", the short ditty "Wintertime Love", and "We Could Be So Good Together", which has some stacatto keyboard played in the verses.
The ambitious anti-war song "The Unknown Soldier" has a neat middle part complete with some army marching sounds and a shootout, before going into it's fine rocking ending, defintely a gem on this album. "Spanish Caravan", with its eerie middle part, and "Not Too Touch The Earth" (the only song that has the lyrics printed in the inner sleeve), which is a mysterious song that gets faster and faster as it goes along until it reaches a climax, are other top songs on here. Also their roughest bluesy song yet, "Five To One" is on here too, and is the closing pleaser. The vocal rant, "My Wild Love" is the only noticeable low point on this melodic and majestic set of songs.
On their first two albums, the Doors basically used songs from their stage show and an immense backlog of songs. By the time Waiting For The Sun came out, though, their back catalogue had basically run dry. So, they slapped together a couple more old songs that they hadn't yet recorded, wrote a handful of new ones, and composed another epic poem (called "The Celebration Of The Lizard", which eventually appeared on the Absolutely Live album and whose lyrics are proudly printed in the booklet of this CD) which they cut all but about 4 minutes out of (and retitled "Not To Touch The Earth") and stuck it on the album at the last second. Such an album should be a mess, and most people say it's a BIG letdown after the first two albums. I consider it to be an improvement, and will even go so far as to say that it's my FAVORITE Doors album, narrowly edging out L.A. Woman.
The sound here is generally melancholy - not the depressing morose-a-thon of Strange Days and generally lacking the brief upbeat moments of The Doors (though it DOES have a couple of them), and I feel that the band sounds GREAT in this guise. Groovy songs like "Love Street" and "Summer's Almost Gone" hardly sound like anything else ever recorded - Jim's weird lyrics and voice combine with the off-kilter melodies and the combination is, well, magical! "Hello, I Love You" was the biggest hit (and was one of the old tunes they had lying around), and even though it doesn't sound a whit like the rest of the record, it's a VERY catchy little tune.
"The Unknown Soldier" and "Spanish Caravan" were minor hits, and those are even better (and DO fit in with the general mood of this album). "Spanish Caravan" is especially noteworthy for growing from a strummed acoustic flamenco introduction into a massive, loud rocker. It REALLY rules! And hey, this album has "Five To One" on it, another really famous song, featuring the notorious "Five to one, baby/One in five/No one here gets/Out alive" lyrics, and it's also a winner. It sounds more like the material on Strange Days, although it's far more guitar oriented, and closes the album out perfectly.
But oddly enough, my two favorite songs here are the ones that come closest to the extremes - "Wintertime Love" and the aforementioned "Not To Touch The Earth". "Wintertime Love" is REALLY short and dorky, but it's just unspeakably gorgeous! Silly and fun, and featuring an irresistable hook in both the chorus AND the verses. The nearest comparison I can make is Paul McCartney's "Your Mother Should Know" - sure, it's dorky, but if you get over that, you'll find it to be an EXTREMELY satisfying song. And as for "Not To Touch The Earth"... wow. It's just SO creepy. If you play it loud enough late at night, you'll scare yourself out of your wits! And hey, Jim even got his name from the bizarre outro ("I am the Lizard King/I can do anything"). Fantastic!
You know, this album is ALMOST worth a 10, but it misses for two reasons - the first is the stupid tribal chant "My Wild Love", which just flat out sucks. It has, like, NO melody, it's boring, and the lyrics are stupid. The other is the hyper generic (though not bad) "We Could Be So Good Together", which has some really dumb lyrics (though the nagging melody almost makes up for them). This is still a highly recommended release, though.
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HIGH POINTS: Touch Me, The Soft Parade, Wishful Sinful, Tell All The People. LOW POINTS: Runnin' Blue, Do It, Easy Ride.
Without a doubt, The Doors' fourth effort is definitely the most atypical of their distinctive sound, as horns and even string sections begin to make their way into the mix and the way combine with the more carnivalesque, bluesy, and poetic raving moments make for a really oddball effort. Unfortunately, Jim Morrison's continuing drug abuse and wild behavior, along with the album's really difficult recording sessions, probably contributed to an effort that, in retrospect, is by far the band's most uneven in terms of both song quality, and their weakest of the 'classic six' studio releases overall. The best of this stuff, however, is really friggin' good, and surprisingly, three of these highpoints come from within Robbie Krieger contributions, which are more prominent than usual due to Morrison's troubles (the two opening tracks, and four out of the nine songs overall, plus a co-writing credit).
His first tune "Tell All The People" (the opener and first horn drenched number) may be somewhat simplistic, but that probably contributes to the sheer entertainment of the song - the lyrics are so over the top stupid simple ('tell all the people that you see, it's just me, follow me down...') that it's just hilarious hearing Morrison sing them, plus its' vocal melody and lively mood is certainly strong. The following "Touch Me", though, goes to somewhat greater heights - it has a typically entertaining Doors groove in the verses, with more lyrics that Morrison really didn't want to sing in terms of their utter simplicity, but the chorus ('I'm gonna love you...'), which features sweeping orchestration and really horns, is extraordinarily moving, and quite possibly the most gorgeous moment in the entire Doors catalog. Anyone who doubts Krieger's songwriting abilities should listen to this one - it's really an unbeatable classic.
Unfortunately, the album gets really inconsistent from this point onward. "Shaman's Blues" is fairly hypnotizing with its' organ groove, but it's kind of an uninteresting, although not too bad, blues, while "Do It" is far too repetitive to the point of severe irritation in its' 'please please listen to me children' refrain, and "Easy Ride" is too much of a hokey, clumsy tossoff for my liking. On a positive note, "Wild Child" does have a very strong riff, though the melody is awfully similar to "Five To One" (it would be rehashed again on the following album's "Maggie M'Gill") and the song really drifts off aimlessly. And unfortunately, after contributing two excellent numbers previously, Krieger spits out the album's most awful tune in "Runnin' Blue", which is rather engaging in the verse section, but turns into a horrible hoedown with that insipid fiddle in the chorus.
Krieger does redeem himself with "Wishful Sinful", a pleasantly orchestrated ballad in the vein of "The Crystal Ship" from the debut, a fine setup for the album's gripping finale, which inevitably comes in the epic 8-1/2 minute epic title track. With Morrison's alarming screams of, 'YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!!' the song seems headed for a dark territory a la "The End" in its' slow organ verses, but takes an incredibly surprising twist in its' upbeat and danceable nature (with quite amusingly 'fruity' lyrics to go along with its' rhythm) A groovy bassline provides the remainder of the song's backdrop for Morrison's poetic vision, which moves on to a slower portion that contains a teriffic melody, then speeds back up for the ending, featuring catharic vocal overdubs and echoes, with several Jim's yelling about whipping the horse's eyes and making them sleep. It's a great epic conclusion to an album that may be really uneven and lacking the fire of earlier, but due to its' stunning moments it's in no way an avoidable album like many will people tell you.
The Doors went for something a little different here, by bringing horns into their sound. About half of these songs are drenched in horns, the other half are mostly bluesy rockers stuck in the middle of this album. "Tell All The People" opens up the album in a big-band, cheery, and optimistic way, with the jazzy hit "Touch Me" following it, both lively songs. The next few are bluesy; "Shaman's Blues" is a slow groove, and the best of the lot, "Do It" contains an interesting middle part, "Easy Ride" is a fast tune, and "Wild Child" is a decent blues. Those tunes aren't bad, but things get better on the last few tracks: the short tune "Runnin' Blue", which contains some hoedown fiddle playing, brings the horns back. Then comes "Wishful Sinful", an orchestrated and sincere ballad on here, with some powerful and majestic singing, and after that is the eight minute ambitious title track (it goes through some quiet and jazzy parts before turning into a long and bluesy ending), which closes the album. The Doors would go towards a harder rock sound on their next release.
This album, often considered to be the worst that the Morrison-led Doors ever released, is also the STRANGEST album the band ever released. Trust me, you will NEVER find another album that sounds like this. Oddball blues numbers sit right alongside goofy novelty numbers (like "Easy Ride"), which sit right alongside horn driven lounge-ish music (like the opening "Tell All The People"). The album is loaded with gimmicks, ranging from the aforementioned horns to weird, distorted vocals, to, well, all kinds of different stuff. This ensures that the album is at least interesting. The real question, though, is this - Is it any good? The answer? Kinda.
First of all, there are some typically high quality numbers on this record, the most famous of which is the single "Touch Me", which synthesizes all of the elements that make up this album really well. It builds from a groovy organ intro into a hilariously overblown vocal delivery from Jim. It repeats, there's a sax solo, and Jim yells "Stronger than dirt!" at the end, as the band realized that the ending sounded a bit like a vacuum commercial they had seen. Great tune, of course, and one of the Doors' best numbers overall, if you ask me (and I believe you did, or else you wouldn't be reading this). On the opposite end of the spectrum is the utter, utter crap of "Easy Ride". I've listened to this song, like, 50 times, and I have no idea why for the life of me. It SUCKS! It's novelty blues. Enough said. It's the worst song the Doors ever did ("My Wild Love" from Waiting For The Sun is just as bad, but I hesitate to actually call that a song).
The rest of the material falls somewhere in the middle - every song has an annoying flaw, but they all have awesome attributes, too. Take the bluesy "Wild Child", for example. The song leads absolutely nowhere and really doesn't have much of a point. But DAMN does it have a cool guitar riff! Crunchy, crispy... it's downright delicious! Or "Runnin' Blue", which seems pieced together in a hurry and has some annoying parts (like when Jim sings "Runnin' scared/Runnin' Blue/Gone so fast/What'll I do?), but it features a really cool fiddle part, the verses are catchy, and Robbie Krieger does a HILARIOUS hoedown-imitating vocal in the chorus.
The title track here is somewhat famous, opening with the timelessly hilarious lyrics "When I was back there in seminary school there was a person there who put forth the proposition that you can petition the Lord with prayer... petition the Lord with prayer... petition the Lord with prayer... YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!!!!!!!" and moving through several sections, all of which have groovy lyrics, some of which work well, some of which don't. Which leads to the question of what to rate this album. Every song is such a mixed bag that it's hard to say. But since "Touch Me" rules so much, only one song really blows, and the album never fails to at least offer you something for your listening trouble, I'll give it a high 6. It truly is an enjoyable listen, though clearly not ranking with the better Doors material.
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HIGH POINTS: Five To One, Back Door Man, Soul Kitchen. LOW POINTS: The Celebration Of The Lizard, Build Me A Woman, Close To You.
This was the first glance at The Doors' live experience on record, and well, it's a rather representative example of why I don't care for concert albums too much. The band's shows were usually notoriously quiet, probably because the crowd was a little transfixed with Morrison's behavior on stage, so at various times during this record it almost seems like they're playing renditions of the songs in the studio. The sound quality is still rather decent, but it still doesn't really capture the feeling of an actual concert because of this. Then there's also the problem of the song selection, which in itself may not be bad, but it's not the greatest representative look of Doors music out there. There are quite a few blues covers (which admittedly do predict the direction they headed later on) and a couple unreleased songs, but there are no real 'hit' songs represented here. Maybe a couple classics like "Break On Through" and "Five To One", for sure, but no "Light My Fire".
On stage, the band doesn't really go for dramatic reinventions of the material. They do arrange "Alabama Song", "Back Door Man", "Five To One", and a decent non-album tune "Love Hides" in a medley, and "Break On Through" features an extended jam (though that doesn't particularly improve the song, because it was meant to be short), but by and large the album material pretty much stays the same as it was before, if a little bit more unenergetic. "Back Door Man" and "Five To One", however, are still fiery and hard-hitting, "Soul Kitchen" grooves just as well (and maybe even better than the original), the blues standard "Who Do You Love" is an acceptable show opener, and "Universal Mind" also goes off in a particularly solid fashion. "When The Music's Over", however, is a fairly by-the-book performance, and doesn't add anything to the Strange Days classic, despite Jim's interesting interaction with the audience.
The weakest points here, though, come in the form of more non-album tracks and cover tunes. The first of these, "The Celebration Of The Lizard", is a really long, boring, pretentious, and soul-sucking poetic 'epic' that was only released officially here, and I'm extremely grateful for that. It would hurt Waiting For The Sun's quality significantly, and would probably cause quite a bit of critical backlash as well. The Ray Manzarek-sung "Close To You", meanwhile, is corny enough that it doesn't exactly make me hopeful of the quality of post-Morrison albums, and then there's also the bluesy tune "Build Me A Woman", which is adequately performed, but man, those lyrics are so moronic it completely ruins the song in my mind. Overall, Absolutely Live has its moments, but it's a somewhat erratic album, and not the Doors at their best Plus, it's probably more wise to get it in the expanded two disc version (called In Concert, with the second disc having a better track selection) - the original is really for completists only.
HIGH POINTS: Peace Frog, Roadhouse Blues, Queen Of The Highway, Ship Of Fools, Waiting For The Sun. LOW POINTS: Maggie M'Gill, Indian Summer.
By this point in their career, The Doors had dropped more of their original distinctive sound than ever before, as the songs here rely quite a bit more on more standard bluesy hard rock, and Jim Morrison's voice was starting to become shot. Their approach to this kind of sound, however, is anything but standard - since the band never actually relied on any one type of musical approach before, and their bluesier moments (including cover material) never really quite felt totally traditional, it makes for a somewhat interesting album. Strangely enough, though, it's difficult to find that much special in at first, due to the fact that there aren't nearly as many interesting musical ideas and catchy melodies, while the fairly standard structures can make the songs pass by initially, but the musical approach is still exciting and addictive enough that you might be wanting to come back for more listens on which it reveals its' power.
The album opener "Roadhouse Blues" is one of the band's most famous songs, and deservedly so - with its' really powerful energetic vibe that's driven by its' simple, but exceptional riff, it's a great and highly memorable blues rocker that Jim Morrison really brings to life with an incredible vocal charisma. That song doesn't hint of Ray Manzarek's going away party, though, not by any means. The following "Waiting For The Sun" is quite dark and dramatic boasts a fantastic burst of intense organ riffs that contrast the quieter verses - it certainly has more of an edge than the material from the album of the same name, and would have greatly improved it. The more simplified piano-laden fast rocker "You Make Me Real" is a really good followup to it, though - despite not really having that memorable of a melody, it's quite energetic, and they pull off what is for them an uncharacteristic style very well.
The ultimate moment, however, comes in the incredible uptempo tune "Peace Frog", which builds itelf on a simply irresistible groove led by the organ (which adds an effective texture to the song), and Robbie Krieger builds off it by his wah-wah guitar parts that actually sound like a croaking frog. The lyrics (especially the 'blood on the streets...' lines) give a great edge to it, the vocal melody is definitely the best on the album, and the middle poetic section adds a powerful ambient contrast to the rest of it. It even has a great transition to the really pretty, short organ ballad "Blue Sunday" that provides somewhat of a pleasure. By the time the entertaining "Ship Of Fools" has passed, which has very catchy verses and an engaging organ fill after each line, the album starts to gain something of a momentum.
The second side, though, is somewhat noticeably weaker, which doesn't stop the album from being great, but it does cost it a rating point. "Land Ho!" is a rather fun sea-chantey in the style of the previous track, though not quite as good, and the most hardcore blues of the album "The Spy" is a slower, sinister tune that's definitely risen from something average to moderately special with thoat vocal performace. The often overlooked sleeper tune here "Queen Of The Highway" has an atmosphere that perfectly matches the song's title, with energetic and appropriate organ and guitar work, plus a really solid vocal melody.
Unfortunately, though, the album loses steam with its' last two tracks that sound most like rehashes of earlier work. The mood of the 'atmospheric' ballad "Indian Summer" is nearly a total clone of the intro to "The End" done as a love song, and "Maggie M'Gill" is another much less interesting and more aimless rewrite of "Five To One", and not even the vocals can save the song this time. Fortunately, since those two tracks come at the end, it doesn't hurt the consistency of Morrison Hotel too much, as it's in all a rather successful comeback of sorts from the patchy last two albums.
This album goes for a more harder rock sound in some parts, like the fun bluesy opener "Roadhouse Blues". Jim was getting in trouble and drinking a lot by around this time, so that can explain why his voice was becoming more rough and less gentle. You can hear this best in the straightforward rock n' roll blues of "You Make Me Real" and the grunting closer "Maggie M' Gill" (which has a good hard-edged beat). On the beautiful and dreamy "Blue Sunday" though, his singing is as kind as ever, and the same goes for the other ballad "Indian Summer".
Many of these songs show The Doors in top form, such as "Peace Frog", which starts off with some funky guitar/keyboard playing, and has an excellent guitar solo in the middle. Ray's keyboards are just as upfront and great on songs such as "Waiting For The Sun" (its' heavy use of keyboards gives it a robust sound), and "Queen Of The Highway" (a melodic and rocking tune, that contains some breathtaking organ and guitar breaks). "The Spy", "Land Ho!", and "Ship Of Fools" are other typical and noteworthy tunes on here, the latter two are well-crafted songs that both have similar, but great middle eights. Overall, this is a very consistent set of rock tunes (every one of their albums though is pretty consistent, except for The Soft Parade) from their late period.
The Doors go bluesy! Wow! The goofiest, darkest, most mysterious band out there finally cut a pretty damned normal sounding album. And MAN does it start out awesome, with the utter classic "Roadhouse Blues". If ALL blues stuff sounded like this, I'd like the blues a lot more. It has one of the best damn riffs I've ever heard, and Jim wails on it like nobody's business. Especially during the chorus, when Jim roars "Let it roll, baby roll/Let it roooooolllllllll/All! Night! Long!". A classic of classics. One of the (if not THE) best blues rockers of all time.
After that, though, this album fails to live up to its promising beginning. In fact, a whole lot of this album is pretty dull. "Ship Of Fools"? "Land Ho!"? "You Make Me Real"? "Queen Of The Highway"? Whatever. Boring, boring, BORING blues rock. I mean, NOTHING happens in those songs. Painfully generic, and coming from the freaking DOORS, who depended on their oddness to add to their charm, this is intolerable. The group would do this kind of stuff MUCH better on L.A. Woman the next year. Even when they branch out a little, it doesn't help - "Indian Summer" is a flat, dull ballad, a pale shadow of previously majestic ballads like "The Crystal Ship". Oh well.
There is some material that helps the album out some, though. "Waiting For The Sun" (an outtake from the album of the same name) sounds a lot like the stuff from that album, and that makes ME happy at least. The soft verses lead into an explosive chorus, and the bridge is just superb. And the one-two punch of "Peace Frog" and "Blue Sunday", while not quite the Doors' BEST material, is really good. "Peace Frog" has an AWESOME organ and bass groove going on, and even though it drifts a little in the middle, it's still a great song. And "Blue Sunday" is a pretty, calm antidote to the faster "Peace Frog", featuring a melody straight out of Waiting For The Sun (which is fine by me). Too bad "Ship Of Fools" has to come and blow the whole mood. Still, if you decide to get this album, you'll get some good material (and, of course, the AMAZING "Roadhouse Blues", which pulls this album's rating up at least a point). Just be ready to skip around a bit.
Oh, here's a fun thing to do with the Doors - imagine William Shatner singing any of their songs (from this album or, well, any of them for that matter). It works! Try to imagine ol' Captain Kirk doing "The End". "Father... Yes, son? I want to KILL YOU!". Give it a try - like I said, it's fun! Unlike this album, which is the worst released by the Doors until Jim Morrison died.
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HIGH POINTS: Riders On The Storm, The Changeling, Love Her Madly, Hyacinth House. LOW POINTS: Crawling King Snake, The Wasp (Texas Radio And The Big Beat).
The final album from the original Doors lineup recorded just before Jim Morrison's death, L.A. Woman is something of an expansion of the bluesier elements of the last album, a style which is certainly more beneficial for that vocal tone of his that had by this point acquired quite a rough-sounding tone. This time, however, the band's ventures into this sort of material border on completely generic on at least three occasions. "Been Down So Long" does have a memorable hook and an in-your-face feeling to it (the shouts of 'been down so goddamn long!' really benefit the song), but it mostly just kind of drags on at the same boring plodding pace, without doing anything much interesting. "Cars Hiss By My Window", meanwhile, does little to distinguish itself until the hilarious vocal imitation of a wah-wah guitar towards the end of the tune, and that at least makes it a little worthwhile. Certainly more so than the cover "Crawling King Snake", which completely passes me by every time I hear it.
Though, the bluesier tunes may be a bit too un-Doors like as a whole, but the remaining numbers definitely retain that spirit. "The Changeling" starts off the album on a really high note as a fantastically direct rocker with one of the best grooves of their entire career, led by an unforgettable organ part and extremely infectious melody, and I love those screams of 'I'm a chaaaaaaaaaaangeling, see my change', while "Hyacinth House" is a wonderfully warm ballad with a moving melody, well-written lyrics and down-to-earth approach (I also dig the amusing low vocal tone of the 'I need a brand new friend...' lines). The Robbie Krieger contribution on here "Love Her Madly" is one of the band's best tunes in the pop-oriented vein, with saloon piano and great guitar work over its' highly memorable and catchy structure - it definitely deserves the hit status it got.
As far as other hit singles, the title track is a 7 minute journey through the 'city of light', and to be honest I still can't really determine my feelings toward it. It certainly has a good groove and bassline to it and a somewhat catchy chorus, plus a really cool 'Mr. Mojo Risin' (an anagram of Jim Morrison's name) breakdown section, but there's something about the slightly overlong arrangement and Morrison's worn vocals that just bug me slightly. On the other hand, though, the most poetic 'song' here in "L' America" to open the second half of the album is a really cool example of how Morrison's often overly meaningless and too simplistic poetry works amazingly well with the creepy music of his extremely talented 'backing band', especially the organ again working wonders here. It certainly works better than the half-baked rhythmic attempt at this style later on in "The Wasp (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)", which is little more than uninteresting filler.
To close the album on an extraordinarily high note, though, is the most celebrated "Riders On The Storm", which is an epic and certainly chilling, but largely quiet, 7 minute number, from the sounds of 'rain' leading into the subtle, but extremely mood-fitting organ tones (which have a much more light and gentle tone to them than usual). The whole atmosphere created by not just the organ, but also the vocals, main melody, trance-like bassline and steady rhythm is just otherworldly, and if it's not the best song of the entire Doors catalog ("Light My Fire", as much as I'm forced to admit it, is probably my pick right now), it's certainly close, and a great definition of what this band had to offer us - certainly the song that contributed to raising the rating of this a point for me, since it's not that consistent of an effort due to its' best and worst being spread all over the album. The highlights themselves, though, make this a rather strong closing statement from the Morrison-led Doors.
By this album, which is their last, Jim's voice is shot. This rough-edged voice he now has is apparent in the classic opener "The Changeling", a rocking tune with trancelike keyboards and a funky beat. With its great arrangement and tight playing, this song is one of the most entertaining and original songs of their whole career. "Love Her Madly" is a great poppy Doors song; no dark keyboards in this one, instead some old-timey piano give this song a good vibe, and it's fine melody make this a standout tune on here.
The two lengthy epics "L.A. Woman" and "Riders On The Storm" are the major highlights though. "L.A. Woman" has an excellent arrangement, with several musical twists in its tight structure, and is the rocking centerpiece on here; "Riders On The Storm" is a mysterious and subtle song complete with a dark rainstorm and a classic organ solo. The other tunes, though less entertaining musically, are still very worthwhile. The hard and bitter "Been Down So Long" (some great guitar soloing on this one) and the slow groove of "Cars Hiss By My Window" are cold blues.
The rest come in between the two epic songs, "L'America" is a dark tune with creepy bass, "Hyacinth House" is a brighter and promising tune (listen to his very deep voice on this one), "Crawling King Snake" is a brooding midtempo tune, and "The Wasp (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)" has some more poetic musings from Morrison and a heavy beat. In all its glory and expansive sound, this is probably my favorite Doors album, and the reason I like late period Doors the best.
Hey! Whaddaya know? The Doors go bluesy again! And this time they're even BLUESIER! There are THREE completely generic blues tunes here (one is even a John Lee Hooker cover!), and almost every song has a bluesy flavor to it. The thing, though, is that this album completely blows Morrison Hotel out of the water on nearly every level. First of all, Jim's voice on this album has a much rougher tone than before, like he was about to lose his voice. That sounds like a bad thing, but in the context of this music, it works fantastically. And hey, when he really needs to pull out his old voice, he can do it (listen to the heartstopping "Riders On The Storm" or the gorgeous guitar balladry of "Hyancinth House" for proof). The group sounds much HARDER here, too - they play like their lives depended on it, and the results are some amazing guitar riffs (check out the simple-yet-devastating descending riff on "L'America" - it's evil-riffic!).
And finally, most importantly, the songwriting here is a HUGE step up from the previous effort. "Riders On The Storm"? DAMN what a song. It isn't that bluesy at all, actually - it's jazzy! And creepy, and, well, lots of good things. It's mood music with a great melody, which is rare, and it has lots of awesome organ solos throughout. Or how about the title track (which you've certainly heard five thousand times or so). It's a multipart epic, loaded with fantastic riffs and some very ragged, compelling vocals from our old friend the Lizard King (who didn't really sound very reptillian at this point, but never mind).
But even the non-hits are pretty awesome! "L'America" is just DARK, "Hyancinth House" is beautiful, "The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)" is a poetry jam over a bluesy backing and it works insanely well, and, well, I could go on. Even the 3 generic blues tunes here ("Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window", and the cover of "Crawling King Snake") are great. They just sound so, well, authenitc, unlike the stuff on the last album. You won't hear another album like this as long as you live, so get it. It almost gets a ten, but misses due to the generic blues tunes being, well, generic, and a few slightly slower moments. So I guess I'm gonna have to give it one of the highest nines I can give.
You know, some people wonder what direction the Doors would have pursued had ol' Jim survived. The answer lies in Other Voices, released the same year. I don't think Jim could've saved those tunes. Jim's death helped assure that the group would become immortal, as they went out on a very high note. And, unlike George Costanza's similar attempts, it didn't backfire at all. The Doors are still one of the more highly revered bands out there.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: None. LOW POINTS: None.
One of the unfortunate side effects of Jim Morrison having such a hypnotizing effect on the public was that the other three Doors members were looked at as Jim's backing band, which they obviously were not. But sadly, it took until his death for the guys to try to prove this themselves, as Other Voices (not surprisingly released the same year as L.A. Woman) does its' best to try and capture these members as strong songwriters in their own right. Needless to say, the album doesn't really succeed at doing so - it's definitely not as bad as many other negative reviews or its' currently out of print and unknown status would indicate (I just wanted to give it a try on MP3s out of curiousity and completist issues), but it's also not a very distinguished album either. No really outstanding melodies or intriguing atmosphere to be found, plus Manzarek and Krieger don't have very strong 'voices' to carry the material.
But still, I quite enjoy all eight of these songs to a point. Of course, I wouldn't call any of them highlights either (though "Ships w/ Sails" is probably the closest thing to a very good song here, with an addictive bassline and lengthy, but captivating, Santana-esque jamming going for it), but nothing here is bad either. As for the music, some of it sounds like past Doors triumphs (the opening "In The Eye Of The Sun", sung by Manzarek in a Morrison imitating roar, has the same funky vibe as "The Changeling", though a less interesting melody, and the closing atmospheric multi-part tune "Hang On To Your Life", whose most notable features are its' moody harmony chorus and fast bass-led ending), some of it doesn't (the total R&B flavored groove "Tightrope Ride", the countryish singalong "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned" - nice main riff in there), and other songs are awkward combinations (haunting atmospheric organ verses + annoyingly hokey chorus = "Down On The Farm").
See, there's not really much to analyzre about this album. All the songs are decent musically and melodically, but none really have all the personality that we've grown to know and love from Doors music. Such songs as the piano ballad "Wandering Musician" and the lyrically idiotic pop song "Variety Is The Spice Of Life" could really have been written by anybody, though that doesn't mean they aren't decent (particularly the very nice coda and introductory buildup of the former song). It's certainly understandable that a collection of songs like this could be dismissed as utter crap by the hardcore fans (especially the roots music hating crowd), but if you can accept this record as something else other than classic Doors, you might be able to enjoy it. From this perspective, it's certainly above 'crap', anyway.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: The Piano Bird. LOW POINTS: The Peking King And The New York Queen, Get Up And Dance.
The Doors' post-Morrison mediocrity continues here. With this album, I begin to understand even more why people like to think the band ended with L.A. Woman. At least Other Voices, unspectacular as it was, had a few songs that could have been potentially great if Morrison had been singing and the music actually had an edge. On this effort, though, a lot of the desire for the three remaining members to sound like classic Doors goes almost completely out the window, and instead they intend to go for something different. Unfortunately, 'different' in this case means writing a bunch of generic crap. Or at least styles that could be associated with countless hordes of bands. When it's quality we speak of, I guess the songs are more convincingly moody than before, and one of them can actually be called a highlight, but unlike before, there's also some extremely subpar filler material as well.
For instance, what good can be said about the opening barroom crap of "Get Up And Dance"? I seriously could picture this song being written by Poison in their 'mature' blues period, and that isn't a compliment. Astoundingly dumb straightforward melody and lyrics, and those backing vocalists make the song sound even more obnoxious than it already is. And interestingly enough, the closing track is worthless in a different way - "The Peking King And The New York Queen" is simply pretentious and stupid, with some pointless story being told over a boring "You Make Me Real" sort of groove, and an extremely dorky spoken middle section between Ray Manzarek and some other psychologist guy that has me rolling on the floor each time ('ya read a book from the left hand of the page to the right...' or some shit like that). And this goes on for 6 minutes! God, Ray was such a dork as a personality, even if a great keyboardist.
The rest of the material is better than those two songs, but not nearly enough to save the album from earning the titie of 'worst Doors studio album ever'. There's more generic rootsy stuff like "One Billion Souls", the CCR ripoff "Hardwood Floor" and the lightweight "It Slipped My Mind" (appropriate title) that aren't exactly bad songs, but they're totally unspectacular. So is the mandatory attempt at a dark epic in "Verdillac", which does develop into a nice funky groove, but damned if the melody doesn't remind me of a weak version of "L.A. Woman" (it does, by the way). Meanwhile, the only interesting part of Robbie Krieger's contribution "The Mosquito" is the funny flamenco guitar verses - too bad most of the rest chooses to aimlessly repeat exactly the same guitar and organ groove over and over for an endless amount of time. Not exactly the way to build something dynamic.
Like I said, though, there is actually one really good song on here, this time in the form of the jazzy ballad "The Piano Bird". Like almost everything associated with Manzarek on this album, the lyrical premise is dorky (the bird sits at the window and sings melodies for some guy - whatever), but I can't deny the strong, almost gorgeous vocal melody that flows effortlessly throughout. It may not measure up to other album high points for this band (even if it's not as far off as you'd think), but it most definitely makes the album look better in my mind. I'll just say this in closing - if you need proof that The Doors were not meant to sound like your average generic rock band, it's here. I'm not even sure Morrison could have pulled them out of the doldrums of something like "Good Rockin' Tonight". Good thing they had the sense to finally disband after this.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Orange County Suite, Queen Of The Highway, Roadhouse Blues, Who Scared You. LOW POINTS: The End.
A collection of unreleased studio songs, demos and live performances, Essential Rarities was originally part of a boxed set that also consisted of the 'classic six' Doors studio releases. Since it's a safe bet most fans who are interested in this sort of things already own those albums, it's a good thing that Elektra came to their senses and allowed this to be released separately. The majority of this material comes from 1969 and 1970, apart from a couple early demos that came in 1965, two years before the band's debut album. But the question here is whether or not this stuff is actually essential for the casual or hardcore fan. For the most part, the answer I would say is definitely 'sure', as the nature of the demos are almost stripped down to the point where it almost feels like a 'behind the scenes' experience with the band, the studio material is at worst enjoyable and at best impressive, and you certainly won't mind hearing most of this live stuff contained within.
As far as the unreleased studio songs go (which serious fans will probably want), two of them I can definitely say are very solid. The groovy "Who Scared You" sounds like an outtake from The Soft Parade (with its' cool bluesy, horn-laced feel) and probably would have fit in better than the crap on that album. The other, "Orange County Suite", is a really impressive haunting piece whose organ is reminiscent of the light "Riders Of The Storm"-type tone, with its' mood and build captivating throughout its' entire 5-1/2 minutes. The other ones aren't quite as good, but still acceptable - "Whiskey, Mystics And Men" is a decent chant that's certainly miles ahead of "My Wild Love" (with a solid melody and effective na na na's after each line), "Woman Is A Devil" is a fairly good-quality blues that's not really any less than the L.A. Woman songs in this department, and "I Will Never Be Untrue" is a bit of a generic 'swinging' ballad that's nevertheless pleasant and memorable.
The quality of the live stuff is about as good, with one major exception. Towards the close of the album is a nearly 18 minute version of "The End", already overlong in its' original version - the performance isn't actually bad (and Jim actually saying 'mother, I wanna fuck you' instead of masking that portion of it is quite a historical curiousity), but considering how unvaried the music remains here, along with that irritating 'bring out your dead' beginning, it's not a pleasant performance to sit through. Plus, with it following a 10 minute version of "The Soft Parade" epic (which loses a bit of impact in its' lack of ending vocal overdub and the extended jam doesn't improve upon it, but it's still a very strong rendition), it caps a chunk of the album that can be very tiring. But on the other hand, "Roadhouse Blues" is just as powerful and hard-hitting as ever, "Break On Through" is decent (even with that extended jam again) and the non-album "Someday Soon" (despite very poor sound quality on this one), is a fine, melodic softer song.
The outtakes of the album songs, however, actually provide the biggest surprises. From, the 1965 demos of "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You" you can hear virtually no indication of the direction the band would take later (there's not even any signs of organ either), but the approach here only adds to the charm of these versions - they sound very much like typical mid 60's pop songs in this setting, with Jim's vocals taking on a much more naive, unconfident feel. The version of "Hyacinth House" is another very friendly, acoustic-only rendition of that great L.A. Woman track recorded at Robbie Krieger's home studio, and this version of "Queen Of The Highway" provides a completely different perspective on that biker anthem, going for a really interesting slow lounge-jazz type feeling. In all, almost everything on here is very enjoyable to listen to, especially in the context of which the songs were recorded, so if you're looking for a Doors release beyond the 'classic six' that isn't post-Morrison, this might as well be your buy.
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COMMENTS
what is wrong with the live 'the end'? to me it is absolutely the best song on the album.lots of energy , a good progression in dynamics- and some verrrry awesome organ and guitar riffs towards the end.