BCB 130: The Doors
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BCB 130: The Doors
The Doors.
So much baggage comes with the name, doesn't it? No matter how we try to deny it, so many of us are tied to what we've read over the years. Certain rock critics have come out against the Doors and we've absorbed said theories no matter how we try to deny it. Lester Bangs was in favor, but Robert Christgau wasn't. Or Dave Marsh came out against them (after actually being friends with Jim) but gosh, wasn't Johnny Rotten a fan? Jim Morrison was crucified for being a pompous ass but other far more beloved "characters" have been given an eternal pass (James Brown, anyone?) who were far more guilty of douchebaggery than the relatively harmless Morrison ever was.
Anyway, I've drunk an entire bottle of La Fin Du Monde so I don't care if I don't make too much sense in this essay. I guess if I have to pick a favorite band then it probably will be the Doors. Were they better than the Beatles? Of course not, better musicians than, oh, I dunno... Cream? Hell no. Were they better songwriters than Bob Dylan? Go fucking home and lie down if you think that. So why are they my favorite? It's hard to say, really.
I was the first person I knew to be into the Doors in that late '70s/early '80s period when the No One Here Gets Out Alive book first published. When the albums were all marked down to $3.99 and Apocalypse Now used "The End" and radio began playing the band after virtually ignoring them for most of the '70s. I wrote their name on my junior high school locker and called my Dungeons and Dragons character "Morrison" when nobody my age knew who he was.
That would all change sooner rather than later. By 1981 everyone knew who Jim Morrison and The Doors were. Suddenly, I wasn't alone in my adoration of the band. Even modern groups were influenced by them. Who couldn't hear the ghost of Morrison in Echo and the Bunnymen, or appreciate the Stranglers Doorsy take on "Walk on By?" Rolling Stone put Jim on the cover and now they were considered 'classic rock' just like The Beatles, Dylan, or anyone else. Funny, five years earlier I couldn't recall the band being a staple of rock radio stations. What had happened?
Let's look at the albums to answer that question. That first LP is a stone cold classic. If you've read this far then you know I'm an uber fan, so I appreciate the debut record more than Are You Experienced or Velvet Underground and Nico or whatever else you think was fresher in 1967. There were not that many filler tracks for one thing and most everything else was stupendous. "Break On Through" is a stellar opener, a call to arms, if you will. This guy has a world view; he's proclaiming a philosophy which may not be your own, but he's sure not shy about articulating it, is he? And the music, where is that coming from? Totally LA: dark, noir, sexy, almost as if it has a New York vibe but then, nobody from the East Coast ever sounded like this. This ain't the Rascals, folks, nor the Lovin' Spoonful. The Doors were dark. Not the kind of darkness The Rolling Stones epitomized which was too in thrall of blues and the African American ethos to the point of artifice. No this was different. These guys were educated, literate. Knowledgeable about their influences - which weren't all musical either (not by a long shot). Listen to The Doors and you hear all kinds of stuff: odes to local LA eateries and speed, Weill - Brecht and Howlin' Wolf numbers, references to Oedipus and Celine, etc. I'm sorry, but this stuff is more advanced to my ears, anyway, than what Lou Reed was dishin' out on that first Velvets LP. It was more exotic anyway, than songs about scoring heroin and S & M. But let's not tear down one band in favor of another. The critical establishment has clearly gone one way while popular opinion regarding the two groups has gone another.
And Strange Days is almost as good. While nothing hit quite like "Light My Fire" and "When The Music's Over" hasn't the impact of "The End," the rest of the LP delivers quite nicely. It's almost like both of them could have been combined for a spectacular double LP.
1968 is when the trouble begins. Morrison was an alcoholic and never even contemplated any kind of recovery (how popular was AA then? Did it even exist?) The pressures of superstardom and attempting to give the people what they want began to exert a toll. Frequent drunken escapades and the idea of creating new songs (when most of the tunes on the first two LPs were written pre-stardom) became issues which weren't factors in 1967. Waiting for the Sun went to number one, as did the "Hello, I Love You" 45. To the outside world, things were better than ever in Doorsland. Morrison adapted easily to the growing anti-Vietnam, anti-authority ethos espoused by the counter culture. It was almost as if he was made for those times. His arrests both on and off stage only added to his allure to those inclined to worship black and white stereotypes, but also hinted towards the caricature which would characterize the rest of his career.
Things went further south in 1969. The Soft Parade was their weakest LP. Morrison's onstage antics got him arrested in Miami, Florida and the trial went on and on, taking a toll on both the band and their ability to tour as many cities canceled concert dates. The critical establishment all but abandoned the group, and teenyboppers turned to other interests. It's important to acknowledge that this was the band's lowest point, but even at this stage the music wasn't all that bad. I've often said that had another, unknown band done The Soft Parade and then quietly broke up - MOJO would hail it as a lost '60s classic, a gem worthy of reappraisal. Things would improve shortly.
Since this essay is turning out to be far longer than I had anticipated, I'll combine their last two years. Always interested in the blues, Morrison finally abandoned any pretense at being a teen idol (he always hated that image anyway), and let himself go (physically) and grew a beard. Their music had less emphasis on the organ-driven carnivalesque sound of '67 - '68 and took on a harder-rockin' bluesy vibe which suited them well. Morrison Hotel and LA Woman were excellent returns to form. They didn't sound too much like earlier LPs, yet were still easily identifiable as Doors albums. Tracks like "Roadhouse Blues," "Riders on the Storm," "LA Woman," and "Love Her Madly" were all over rock and pop stations in the early seventies (and still are today). Had Jim never passed, I'm thinking they would have kept on in this mode rather than return to the early Doors sound.
So what are we left with in the twenty first century? Subsequent generations of doom-obsessed teens and frat boys all go through their Doors phase, the radio has never forgotten their best songs (at least not since the late '70s/early '80s resurgence I spoke of earlier), their logo and the young Morrison visage adorn countless shirts/posters and the label continues to churn out compilations with diminishing returns (some of the unreleased live stuff is all right though). As has been said, dying was the best thing that could have happened to that band. The remaining three members have hardly had to work in the last forty or so years and John and Robbie will die rich and beloved for a mere four and a half years of work. It's hard to think of another band who were around for such a short time but who did so well financially.
So much baggage comes with the name, doesn't it? No matter how we try to deny it, so many of us are tied to what we've read over the years. Certain rock critics have come out against the Doors and we've absorbed said theories no matter how we try to deny it. Lester Bangs was in favor, but Robert Christgau wasn't. Or Dave Marsh came out against them (after actually being friends with Jim) but gosh, wasn't Johnny Rotten a fan? Jim Morrison was crucified for being a pompous ass but other far more beloved "characters" have been given an eternal pass (James Brown, anyone?) who were far more guilty of douchebaggery than the relatively harmless Morrison ever was.
Anyway, I've drunk an entire bottle of La Fin Du Monde so I don't care if I don't make too much sense in this essay. I guess if I have to pick a favorite band then it probably will be the Doors. Were they better than the Beatles? Of course not, better musicians than, oh, I dunno... Cream? Hell no. Were they better songwriters than Bob Dylan? Go fucking home and lie down if you think that. So why are they my favorite? It's hard to say, really.
I was the first person I knew to be into the Doors in that late '70s/early '80s period when the No One Here Gets Out Alive book first published. When the albums were all marked down to $3.99 and Apocalypse Now used "The End" and radio began playing the band after virtually ignoring them for most of the '70s. I wrote their name on my junior high school locker and called my Dungeons and Dragons character "Morrison" when nobody my age knew who he was.
That would all change sooner rather than later. By 1981 everyone knew who Jim Morrison and The Doors were. Suddenly, I wasn't alone in my adoration of the band. Even modern groups were influenced by them. Who couldn't hear the ghost of Morrison in Echo and the Bunnymen, or appreciate the Stranglers Doorsy take on "Walk on By?" Rolling Stone put Jim on the cover and now they were considered 'classic rock' just like The Beatles, Dylan, or anyone else. Funny, five years earlier I couldn't recall the band being a staple of rock radio stations. What had happened?
Let's look at the albums to answer that question. That first LP is a stone cold classic. If you've read this far then you know I'm an uber fan, so I appreciate the debut record more than Are You Experienced or Velvet Underground and Nico or whatever else you think was fresher in 1967. There were not that many filler tracks for one thing and most everything else was stupendous. "Break On Through" is a stellar opener, a call to arms, if you will. This guy has a world view; he's proclaiming a philosophy which may not be your own, but he's sure not shy about articulating it, is he? And the music, where is that coming from? Totally LA: dark, noir, sexy, almost as if it has a New York vibe but then, nobody from the East Coast ever sounded like this. This ain't the Rascals, folks, nor the Lovin' Spoonful. The Doors were dark. Not the kind of darkness The Rolling Stones epitomized which was too in thrall of blues and the African American ethos to the point of artifice. No this was different. These guys were educated, literate. Knowledgeable about their influences - which weren't all musical either (not by a long shot). Listen to The Doors and you hear all kinds of stuff: odes to local LA eateries and speed, Weill - Brecht and Howlin' Wolf numbers, references to Oedipus and Celine, etc. I'm sorry, but this stuff is more advanced to my ears, anyway, than what Lou Reed was dishin' out on that first Velvets LP. It was more exotic anyway, than songs about scoring heroin and S & M. But let's not tear down one band in favor of another. The critical establishment has clearly gone one way while popular opinion regarding the two groups has gone another.
And Strange Days is almost as good. While nothing hit quite like "Light My Fire" and "When The Music's Over" hasn't the impact of "The End," the rest of the LP delivers quite nicely. It's almost like both of them could have been combined for a spectacular double LP.
1968 is when the trouble begins. Morrison was an alcoholic and never even contemplated any kind of recovery (how popular was AA then? Did it even exist?) The pressures of superstardom and attempting to give the people what they want began to exert a toll. Frequent drunken escapades and the idea of creating new songs (when most of the tunes on the first two LPs were written pre-stardom) became issues which weren't factors in 1967. Waiting for the Sun went to number one, as did the "Hello, I Love You" 45. To the outside world, things were better than ever in Doorsland. Morrison adapted easily to the growing anti-Vietnam, anti-authority ethos espoused by the counter culture. It was almost as if he was made for those times. His arrests both on and off stage only added to his allure to those inclined to worship black and white stereotypes, but also hinted towards the caricature which would characterize the rest of his career.
Things went further south in 1969. The Soft Parade was their weakest LP. Morrison's onstage antics got him arrested in Miami, Florida and the trial went on and on, taking a toll on both the band and their ability to tour as many cities canceled concert dates. The critical establishment all but abandoned the group, and teenyboppers turned to other interests. It's important to acknowledge that this was the band's lowest point, but even at this stage the music wasn't all that bad. I've often said that had another, unknown band done The Soft Parade and then quietly broke up - MOJO would hail it as a lost '60s classic, a gem worthy of reappraisal. Things would improve shortly.
Since this essay is turning out to be far longer than I had anticipated, I'll combine their last two years. Always interested in the blues, Morrison finally abandoned any pretense at being a teen idol (he always hated that image anyway), and let himself go (physically) and grew a beard. Their music had less emphasis on the organ-driven carnivalesque sound of '67 - '68 and took on a harder-rockin' bluesy vibe which suited them well. Morrison Hotel and LA Woman were excellent returns to form. They didn't sound too much like earlier LPs, yet were still easily identifiable as Doors albums. Tracks like "Roadhouse Blues," "Riders on the Storm," "LA Woman," and "Love Her Madly" were all over rock and pop stations in the early seventies (and still are today). Had Jim never passed, I'm thinking they would have kept on in this mode rather than return to the early Doors sound.
So what are we left with in the twenty first century? Subsequent generations of doom-obsessed teens and frat boys all go through their Doors phase, the radio has never forgotten their best songs (at least not since the late '70s/early '80s resurgence I spoke of earlier), their logo and the young Morrison visage adorn countless shirts/posters and the label continues to churn out compilations with diminishing returns (some of the unreleased live stuff is all right though). As has been said, dying was the best thing that could have happened to that band. The remaining three members have hardly had to work in the last forty or so years and John and Robbie will die rich and beloved for a mere four and a half years of work. It's hard to think of another band who were around for such a short time but who did so well financially.
Last edited by Matt Wilson on 07 Aug 2014, 04:57, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Great write-up, Matt. No matter how often you wrote or thought about them before, you're still capable of making them sound as if they were a recent, exciting new discovery of yours.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Favorite album: Strange Days
Favorite song: LA Woman
Guilty pleasure: Touch Me
Favorite song: LA Woman
Guilty pleasure: Touch Me
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
I have been on a major Doors kick all week. in fact, I've been listening to copies of those DCC Gold CDs I received from one -
Matt Wilson.
I will be back.
Matt Wilson.
I will be back.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Posting from my hols because it makes me so happy to read such a post from someone who loves them. Despite the possible kinship of Jim Morrison to a Vogon, I find them as mesmerising now as I ever did.
Favourite album: The Doors
Favourite song: Soul Kitchen
Almost favourite song: Peace Frog
Guilty pleasure: Tell All The People
Favourite album: The Doors
Favourite song: Soul Kitchen
Almost favourite song: Peace Frog
Guilty pleasure: Tell All The People
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Oh, we're going to get 18 mentions of fucking 'Peace Frog' again, aren't we?
I love them to bits. Apart from 'Peace Frog'. They're almost as good as The Velvet Underground!
For me, their finest moment comes in the middle of 'Light My Fire' with the baton-passing solo-ing section. It's the sound of summer and it still sounds exotic and beautiful, and I never tire of it. They had a sound like no other (I suppose The Seeds, another LA band, had a similar sound. Just a little bit).
The Doors benefitted from being around in the late sixties, when the technical limitations were positive things. It actually meant they sounded fresh - spindly and trebly and Indian-influenced. And because they were essentially a commercial act, the musicianship was kept in check (altho' of course you got stuff like 'The Soft Parade', but that's mainly a vehicle for JM's lyrics).
I love 'Touch Me' too. Really love it. That clip of them with Jim singing live to a backing track, with the session fellas on horns, and Robbie with a black eye, is just wonderful.
I really love the first and last albums, but there's at least another album's worth of good stuff on the other four.
And of course the story of the Doors is an interesting as anyone's. It's sort of archetypal, they did a lot of things first before they became sort of cliched. The book is fantastic. I like the myths.
Nice write-up, Matt. And some great photos there, too!
I love them to bits. Apart from 'Peace Frog'. They're almost as good as The Velvet Underground!
For me, their finest moment comes in the middle of 'Light My Fire' with the baton-passing solo-ing section. It's the sound of summer and it still sounds exotic and beautiful, and I never tire of it. They had a sound like no other (I suppose The Seeds, another LA band, had a similar sound. Just a little bit).
The Doors benefitted from being around in the late sixties, when the technical limitations were positive things. It actually meant they sounded fresh - spindly and trebly and Indian-influenced. And because they were essentially a commercial act, the musicianship was kept in check (altho' of course you got stuff like 'The Soft Parade', but that's mainly a vehicle for JM's lyrics).
I love 'Touch Me' too. Really love it. That clip of them with Jim singing live to a backing track, with the session fellas on horns, and Robbie with a black eye, is just wonderful.
I really love the first and last albums, but there's at least another album's worth of good stuff on the other four.
And of course the story of the Doors is an interesting as anyone's. It's sort of archetypal, they did a lot of things first before they became sort of cliched. The book is fantastic. I like the myths.
Nice write-up, Matt. And some great photos there, too!
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
I have a couple of friends who occasionally post Doors tunes on Facebook and they’ll always start it with “yeah, I know, Jimbo was a dick” like they have to apologise for liking the Doors. It annoys me intensely but sadly it does colour the music for some people which is a real shame because I think they made lots of great music and they’re one of the great rock bands.
They are the archetypal L.A. band I think. It’s all there I guess: the L.A. fog, weird trips and the occult book shops of the earlier albums to the strip joints, freeways and deserts of L.A. Woman. It’s powerful stuff and for someone like me extremely evocative of a time and place. It really adds something quite wonderful to the music and it’s as tangible as the New York street vibe of the Velvets or the Englishness of the Beatles. Listening to the Doors growing up I wanted to live in their world. Few bands conjure a similar kind of magic.
Who the hell else sounded like them for starters? There’s such a strong Doors flavour and whether they’re the psych crooners of The Crystal Ship, the jazz cocktail band of Love Street, the orchestrated pop group of Touch Me or lost in the oedipal nightmare of The End it’s all so recognisably THE DOORS. Like a strong, spicy curry, it’s not everybody’s ideal flavour but for some of us it’s our kind of masala mix and underpinning it all is real pop magic because the Doors had great melodies. They were also intensely groovy motherfuckers.
The debut is truly one of the great rock albums. I’ve mentioned the Velvets already and others have too, for obvious reasons, but I’ll get this out of the way right now: the Doors debut is better than the Velvets one. It just fucking is. Strange Days is a couple of big hitters short of being an outright classic but it’s still a fantastic, weird pop record. The next three are slightly patchier with the Soft Parade being the weakest (no, it’s not an underrated gem) but Waiting For The Sun is mostly fucking excellent plus it has Not to Touch the Earth which is one of their weirdest little numbers and some of their sweetest moments (Summers Almost Gone, Wintertime Love, Yes The River Knows). Morrison Hotel finds them going back to the blues that Jimbo loved so much as The Doors come to the conclusion that they might just actually be a weird little blues band with some exotic sounds after all but it’s not quite the classic record some proclaim it to be. It fades quite badly towards the end but the run up to Blue Sunday is great and, yes, Peace Frog is the shit John Coan. Like I said earlier, the Doors were groovy motherfuckers. It would have been a shame if the limp ending of Morrison Hotel had been the final performance but thankfully the band regrouped and put out their second best album. L.A. Woman is full of great songs and in the title track they produced one of the great rock songs of all time. A freewheeling ode to L.A. that beautifully captures their unique chemistry. A wonderful, wonderful thing. There’s magic throughout L.A. Woman (Love Her Madly, Hyacinth House, fucking The WASP) as the band leaves the city behind and drives off into the sunset, whiskey bottle in hand, peyote in their pocket. It’s a fitting ending.
They are the archetypal L.A. band I think. It’s all there I guess: the L.A. fog, weird trips and the occult book shops of the earlier albums to the strip joints, freeways and deserts of L.A. Woman. It’s powerful stuff and for someone like me extremely evocative of a time and place. It really adds something quite wonderful to the music and it’s as tangible as the New York street vibe of the Velvets or the Englishness of the Beatles. Listening to the Doors growing up I wanted to live in their world. Few bands conjure a similar kind of magic.
Who the hell else sounded like them for starters? There’s such a strong Doors flavour and whether they’re the psych crooners of The Crystal Ship, the jazz cocktail band of Love Street, the orchestrated pop group of Touch Me or lost in the oedipal nightmare of The End it’s all so recognisably THE DOORS. Like a strong, spicy curry, it’s not everybody’s ideal flavour but for some of us it’s our kind of masala mix and underpinning it all is real pop magic because the Doors had great melodies. They were also intensely groovy motherfuckers.
The debut is truly one of the great rock albums. I’ve mentioned the Velvets already and others have too, for obvious reasons, but I’ll get this out of the way right now: the Doors debut is better than the Velvets one. It just fucking is. Strange Days is a couple of big hitters short of being an outright classic but it’s still a fantastic, weird pop record. The next three are slightly patchier with the Soft Parade being the weakest (no, it’s not an underrated gem) but Waiting For The Sun is mostly fucking excellent plus it has Not to Touch the Earth which is one of their weirdest little numbers and some of their sweetest moments (Summers Almost Gone, Wintertime Love, Yes The River Knows). Morrison Hotel finds them going back to the blues that Jimbo loved so much as The Doors come to the conclusion that they might just actually be a weird little blues band with some exotic sounds after all but it’s not quite the classic record some proclaim it to be. It fades quite badly towards the end but the run up to Blue Sunday is great and, yes, Peace Frog is the shit John Coan. Like I said earlier, the Doors were groovy motherfuckers. It would have been a shame if the limp ending of Morrison Hotel had been the final performance but thankfully the band regrouped and put out their second best album. L.A. Woman is full of great songs and in the title track they produced one of the great rock songs of all time. A freewheeling ode to L.A. that beautifully captures their unique chemistry. A wonderful, wonderful thing. There’s magic throughout L.A. Woman (Love Her Madly, Hyacinth House, fucking The WASP) as the band leaves the city behind and drives off into the sunset, whiskey bottle in hand, peyote in their pocket. It’s a fitting ending.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
I'll come back to this later but a little bit of BCB history here directly related to The Doors... ex BCB poster T-Berry Shuffle came across the earliest known moving image of Jim Morrison, whilst he was working at restoring old media at Florida University (I think). It was a campus super 8 (or suchlike) clip of Jim acting - shot somewhere around 1964, as I recall.
Carry on.
Carry on.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Diamond Dog wrote:I'll come back to this later but a little bit of BCB history here directly related to The Doors... ex BCB poster T-Berry Shuffle came across the earliest known moving image of Jim Morrison, whilst he was working at restoring old media at Florida University (I think). It was a campus super 8 (or suchlike) clip of Jim acting - shot somewhere around 1964, as I recall.
Carry on.
What did he do with it? I would have thought a clip like would have huge value given what an industry The Doors have become.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
The G Experience! wrote:Diamond Dog wrote:I'll come back to this later but a little bit of BCB history here directly related to The Doors... ex BCB poster T-Berry Shuffle came across the earliest known moving image of Jim Morrison, whilst he was working at restoring old media at Florida University (I think). It was a campus super 8 (or suchlike) clip of Jim acting - shot somewhere around 1964, as I recall.
Carry on.
What did he do with it? I would have thought a clip like would have huge value given what an industry The Doors have become.
Oh it's University owned - he was sifting through old material and came acroos the clip and (to give him credit) he recognised it immediately. Not sure what happened to it - but it was available on Youtube at one time. I'll FB him and see where it is/if it's available.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Anyway some great writing from GB above. I'll happily endorse all those points.
In many ways I prefer The Doors when they expanded their sound beyond the carnivalesque signature sound of the first two albums, conversely the quality of songs became patchier after the first two albums (although still threw up enough gems with regularity to make all they did hugely worthwhile).
On Morrison -as Matt states in his OP, Morrison's artiness was a crucial part of the mix, without that they may just have been another garage band, albeit one with a superior musicianship. This artiness may have lead to clumsy pretension on occasion, but it also led to extraordinary things like The End.
You could do a 25 song comp of this band and it would stand up to anyone. Great musicians and great songs.
Fave song: Either Hyacinth House or Riders In The Storm (though I do love 'Peace Frog' as well).
Fave album: In the light of the above, it won't surprise you that I'd go for LA Woman.
In many ways I prefer The Doors when they expanded their sound beyond the carnivalesque signature sound of the first two albums, conversely the quality of songs became patchier after the first two albums (although still threw up enough gems with regularity to make all they did hugely worthwhile).
On Morrison -as Matt states in his OP, Morrison's artiness was a crucial part of the mix, without that they may just have been another garage band, albeit one with a superior musicianship. This artiness may have lead to clumsy pretension on occasion, but it also led to extraordinary things like The End.
You could do a 25 song comp of this band and it would stand up to anyone. Great musicians and great songs.
Fave song: Either Hyacinth House or Riders In The Storm (though I do love 'Peace Frog' as well).
Fave album: In the light of the above, it won't surprise you that I'd go for LA Woman.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Goat Boy wrote:The debut is truly one of the great rock albums. I’ve mentioned the Velvets already and others have too, for obvious reasons, but I’ll get this out of the way right now: the Doors debut is better than the Velvets one. It just fucking is.
I'm not sure. It's worth thinking about.
Matt 'interesting' Wilson wrote:So I went from looking at the "I'm a Man" riff, to showing how the rave up was popular for awhile.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
I've thought about it and I'm right.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Goat Boy wrote:I've thought about it and I'm right.
You're right. VU & Nico is inventive and shockingly different. The Doors also ticks those boxes, but also manages to sound supremely confident. They aren't casting around for a sound.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Goat Boy wrote:I have a couple of friends who occasionally post Doors tunes on Facebook and they’ll always start it with “yeah, I know, Jimbo was a dick” like they have to apologise for liking the Doors. It annoys me intensely but sadly it does colour the music for some people which is a real shame because I think they made lots of great music and they’re one of the great rock bands.
They are the archetypal L.A. band I think. It’s all there I guess: the L.A. fog, weird trips and the occult book shops of the earlier albums to the strip joints, freeways and deserts of L.A. Woman. It’s powerful stuff and for someone like me extremely evocative of a time and place. It really adds something quite wonderful to the music and it’s as tangible as the New York street vibe of the Velvets or the Englishness of the Beatles. Listening to the Doors growing up I wanted to live in their world. Few bands conjure a similar kind of magic.
Who the hell else sounded like them for starters? There’s such a strong Doors flavour and whether they’re the psych crooners of The Crystal Ship, the jazz cocktail band of Love Street, the orchestrated pop group of Touch Me or lost in the oedipal nightmare of The End it’s all so recognisably THE DOORS. Like a strong, spicy curry, it’s not everybody’s ideal flavour but for some of us it’s our kind of masala mix and underpinning it all is real pop magic because the Doors had great melodies. They were also intensely groovy motherfuckers.
The debut is truly one of the great rock albums. I’ve mentioned the Velvets already and others have too, for obvious reasons, but I’ll get this out of the way right now: the Doors debut is better than the Velvets one. It just fucking is. Strange Days is a couple of big hitters short of being an outright classic but it’s still a fantastic, weird pop record. The next three are slightly patchier with the Soft Parade being the weakest (no, it’s not an underrated gem) but Waiting For The Sun is mostly fucking excellent plus it has Not to Touch the Earth which is one of their weirdest little numbers and some of their sweetest moments (Summers Almost Gone, Wintertime Love, Yes The River Knows). Morrison Hotel finds them going back to the blues that Jimbo loved so much as The Doors come to the conclusion that they might just actually be a weird little blues band with some exotic sounds after all but it’s not quite the classic record some proclaim it to be. It fades quite badly towards the end but the run up to Blue Sunday is great and, yes, Peace Frog is the shit John Coan. Like I said earlier, the Doors were groovy motherfuckers. It would have been a shame if the limp ending of Morrison Hotel had been the final performance but thankfully the band regrouped and put out their second best album. L.A. Woman is full of great songs and in the title track they produced one of the great rock songs of all time. A freewheeling ode to L.A. that beautifully captures their unique chemistry. A wonderful, wonderful thing. There’s magic throughout L.A. Woman (Love Her Madly, Hyacinth House, fucking The WASP) as the band leaves the city behind and drives off into the sunset, whiskey bottle in hand, peyote in their pocket. It’s a fitting ending.
Great post. I think I may have written about this at the time but when I was in LA last year it really struck me hard how much The Doors captured the feel of the city. The Doors would come on the radio, and it felt like I understood their music, which one can't help but be so familiar with even if you're not a fan, in a completely different way. It made me like both the band and the city just that little bit more - and i've always liked them. I'm fully aware that this kind of thing has been said often before - in a similar way to how Joy Division captured a particular sound of Salford/Manchester - but it's an incredible experience when it actually properly hits home. Skyscrapers don't belong in the sound of The Doors - it is all a flat expanse of different neighbourhoods, beaches and celebrity. Forever Changes also captures some of it - but I don't think it's in the same universal way.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
They were my favorite band for a while in 1967. But it’s strange how quickly their star seemed to fade after Strange Days. I bought the albums, but pretty much wrote them off by the time of Soft Parade. They’d become an AM radio pop band. I probably read about some of Morrison’s antics in Circus and Rolling Stone, but that didn’t play into my opinion; it was all about the records, which were becoming uncool.
Of course Morrison Hotel and LA Woman repaired their reputation and then he kicked the bucket in the Hendrix/Joplin/Morrison trifecta. When The Doors legend metastasized in the late-70’s and early-80’s I tuned them out for good and I haven’t listened to them much at all in the past 40-years.
But they're still great.
Of course Morrison Hotel and LA Woman repaired their reputation and then he kicked the bucket in the Hendrix/Joplin/Morrison trifecta. When The Doors legend metastasized in the late-70’s and early-80’s I tuned them out for good and I haven’t listened to them much at all in the past 40-years.
But they're still great.
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
As with London calling it is the breadth of ambition of their first album that is impressive
Always got a love a band with that much ambition who carry it off, ad they carried it off in spades.
I even like Jim Morrison a very interesting character despite his execrable poetry
The End
The Doors
Always got a love a band with that much ambition who carry it off, ad they carried it off in spades.
I even like Jim Morrison a very interesting character despite his execrable poetry
The End
The Doors
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Re: BCB 130: The Doors
Great OP. L.A. Woman is the album I return to most frequently, but reading this thread, I realise I've never actually owned Morrison Hotel, so there's another one for the list.