Help me appreciate The Doors

[Barry]

Well I think that Strange Days is an excellent album, only matched by Morrison Hotel. In fact I love them all, save for Soft Parade, which IMO is by far their weakest album.

Agree with Martin, you really have to have got "into" the Doors at the time, as I did. When people would ask me what was my favourite group, I would answer "The Doors", knowing full well they expected me to say the Beatles, or the Kinks, or any other British group.

[alphaGT]

I've never been big on the Doors. In her late 20's, my daughter gave up rap and pop music in favor of Classic Rock. She is a huge Beatle fan. But she loves the Doors! Why? I couldn't say. I've got many friends who like them, they request I play their first album, (the only one I own) when they visit.

But I got into a discussion ( read argument) about the bass player years ago, so I checked it out on Wikipedia. Apparently they did not have a bass guitar player in the band. They never, ever appeared live with a bass player on stage, the bass synth of the keyboards was all that was ever on stage. However, they felt that vinyl recordings were not doing the bass synth justice, so, they always used a session bass player on their studio albums. A different one on each of them, except one guy appeared twice. It seems they appeared in California about the same time as LSD, so maybe that's why youngsters thought they were good? Morrison was a poet and some of his friends had a band in need of lyrics. So, he would write a poem, they would take it and set it to music in his absence, and then he would sing it as he saw fit. I've heard parallels of Red Hot Chili Peppers, doing the same thing. Except they might have some talent? I remember a girl at the pub that had a tattoo of a salamander with a crown on its head. No one could guess what it meant, until I said it was for Jim Morrison, the Lizard King. Go figure.


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[JimC]

....I guess you are aware that Ray Manzarek, the keyboarder, played ”bass“ on most of their records?

Just to clarify...........'' played ”bass“ ......'' on his keyboard.

I also agree with Macca, the two albums he mentions first in his initial post are the only ones I actually own and I love 'em.
And whenever I get to hear anything else of theirs I do enjoy them.

I have to disagree about their musicianship. I think their playing is superb.

Ah well, we can't all like the same things, it'd be a bit of a dull world !!

Jim.

[willbewill]

Well I think that Strange Days is an excellent album, only matched by Morrison Hotel. In fact I love them all, save for Soft Parade, which IMO is by far their weakest album.

Agree with Martin, you really have to have got "into" the Doors at the time, as I did. When people would ask me what was my favourite group, I would answer "The Doors", knowing full well they expected me to say the Beatles, or the Kinks, or any other British group.

+1

[Werner Berghofer]

Jim,

Just to clarify...........'' played ”bass“ ......'' on his keyboard.

I know. This was the reason I wrote the word in quotation marks.

[Spectral Morn]

Like the Beatles, The Stones and others I didn't get the Doors either and then one night I watched a documentary about them and I began to see it and then got it. I would agree regarding first and last album being the best, but I know some fans don't rate LA Woman but its a stunning album and Riders on the Storm is incredible.

[The Black Adder]

The Doors are great. They had some duffers but generally the albums gel quite well.

I think you need to understand a couple of things to really appreciate them. Mostly, Jim Morrison himself and the amount of crazed drugs he did together with the turmoil in society back then in the States.

Pretentious maybe, but Jim was quite heavy on politics and very passionate about how the world was. He was a creative and with that it brings me to the other thing to embrace which is that the whole band wanted to create something new.

Something that wasn't Beatlesque or anything completely mainstream.

Like Jefferson airplane, to some their albums were hit n miss too but they were in the same boat as the doors.

Crown of creation is to some not good, yet I like it and just as good as surrealistic pillow.

It was all before my time yet I can see what they were trying/wanting to do.

Not much help I suppose and all this is my own opinion but I think the more commercial tracks like light my fire etc. Like many other bands of the same ear, they can tend to distract from the real meaning behind the band.

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[Clive]

Waiting for the Sun.

[Macca]

Morrison's background is interesting. His father was an Admiral in the US Navy, so he was something of a rich kid but had been brought up in a very 'buttoned down' environment. So getting out to California at the time that it was all happening had a major effect on him. As usual, right time, right place, right people. He was shy singing at first and Manzerek often had to sing at the early gigs.

[The Black Adder]

Waiting for the Sun.

Superb!

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