Last week, the self titled debut album from the Doors turned 45 years old. Their last album, "L.A. Woman", as an original quartet of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densemore is celebrating a 40th anniversary edition as Rhino is releasing bonus goodies and a new "unreleased" song from the band...40 odd years later called "She Smells So Nice" (I can picture Morrison from the grave right now cursing "Don't do it guys, don't do it"). Morrison's also probably cursing the arsonist who set blaze to his home in L.A. a few weeks ago, and how more jokes didn't make the rounds of "Gonna catch the house on...FIRE!" didn't formulate was a bit surprising...the punchline is right there. So with the Doors on my mind, I take a moment today to look at back at a fine debut album and how is it people (usually kids in their teens) come in contact with the Doors to make them their favorite band, if not forever, but for a short time.
With a cap of 100 for JHO Hall Of Fame albums, I figure we got to let ONE album from the Doors into my favorites (and albums that shaped me musically in some form or another) of all time. Why the debut? It's probably got the most grit and still the most fun of the original quartet's six studio albums. I did an Artist Spotlight on the Doors "The Doors: Speaking Secret Alphabets"some time last year running down each album's favorites, hidden gems, and such. It's weird because I'll go years without thinking about them. But when in the mood....slip on a little "Morrison Hotel", the debut, or if I'm feeling brassy, "The Soft Parade" and I'm fine.
The mystique of the band has all been covered before...Morrison's sexual imagery, the band's classic, jazz, and blues backgrounds lending the perfect backdrop for Morrison's poetry. I'm not even going to get into that. For me, as with many people my age, my first love came for The Doors when I was in my early teens...junior high school. There was Danny Sugarman's Book "No One Here Gets Out Alive" and a sort of resurrection of the band in the mid 80's with the book and a "Best Of" album widely available to the buying public. It was like a whole new generation of kids were getting into the band and mining their parents' albums for Doors' material. I was no different. My parents had "The Doors", "Strange Days", "13", "L.A. Woman", and "Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine" (a later compilation from 1972, I believe). These were the perfect stepping stones for young ones to wrap their heads around the Doors sound and lyrics. I've always been partial to the debut for two reasons. One it has the perfect combination of well known hits and really good album tracks. The second is it was a bit ahead of its time,with a January release before the "Summer Of Love"...a precursor to the explosion of music that would come out that year.
The hits are arguably some of the band's best. "Break On Through" is a self empowerment anthem in less than 2:30 minutes. "Light My Fire" hit number one for good reason...the verse and chorus are quintessential. "The End" is the magnum opus of Morrison imagery set to a haunting background. But the album tracks (with the exception of an outdated "I Looked At You") are just as thrilling. I've always loved the chorus for "Soul Kitchen" and Krieger's guitar work in that song. I've always been mystified by Manzarek's piano work on "The Crystal Ship". "20th Century Fox" with it's "She won't waste time on elementary talk.." bounce has always been a favorite. And their take on "Alabama Song" showed a touch of whimsical nature in the band. Put those four songs with "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire" and you may have the most complete Side One ever released....and remember, this is just their debut album.
Side Two is no slouch (a tad weaker, but still worth the price of admission) as it starts with Morrison's howl on their version of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man". As a kid, I'd guffaw at anyone comparing Morrison's vocal stylings to Sinatra, but songs like "Back Door Man" and the eerie "End Of The Night" showed he was totally indebted to blue eyes, and there is something kind of cool about that. "Take It As Comes" may be a bit standard, but it still has a rush that tops a lot of the band's later material. And of course anyone who has digested the Doors for a long time knows the beauty in "The End" where Morrison rips through 11 plus minutes of imagery and poetry with the perfect backdrop. Some of my favorite lines come from "The End"..."The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on" and "Come on baby take a chance with us..." are two of my favorites. And the ebb and flow of the song is at times breathtaking and at others head scratching. But it's worth it just to hear Morrison at the end of the song give a sinister "This is the eeennndddd" to finish off one of the best debut albums of all time.
Eliminating other albums form their six originals was easy, although I have a love for each one separately. "Strange Days" is a carbon copy of the debut but decisively weaker. "Waiting For The Sun" is spotty at best. "The Soft Parade" is a mess, a fun one at times though. "Morrison Hotel" is solid, but not an all time favorite. And "L.A.Woman" would be my second choice for original favorites...but probably missing my Top 100 by about 50-100 spots. That leaves the debut as the last one standing.
Chances are, in this day and age, someone the same age as me when I first dove into The Doors is Googling "The Doors" and might run across this. I say good choice, but the effect of discovering the band may wear off. You still take a lot of great music for your journey into adulthood, and I say listen to their debut over and over and over...it's worth it. Looking back, the next logical step in classic rock worship would be Rush and I believe that will hit around 15 (it was for me anyways). So to make my 12-13 year old self proud, I'm ushering in The Doors debut into the JHO Hall Of Fame, because that kid would be shaking his head in disgust if I kept that album out of the running of favorite albums of all time. I eat more chicken than any man ever seen are words to live by.....
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