POO!: The Doors

I would agree with this, except that I find Morrison at his best to be a very charismatic vocalist and though he was responsible for lots of overblown lyrical conceits and probably the worst excesses of the band, he also provided an imagery and sensibility which was central to the band's overall effect.

That said, "LA Woman" makes my top ten list of great driving songs- and when the tune follows the Mojo jam by kicking right back into the initial melody, it is an exhilarating moment.

the doors became good when they stopped all the musical shaman-psychedelica horseshit and morphed into doing greasy bar-blooz.

for covers, X, "Soul Kitchen"

i mean, i hear the "here comes the sun" sample no problem, but that's the beatles, obviously. and the "fellas what fells what get ready i'm ready i think i'm gonna" is from "mama said knock you out" by ll cool j, and the "OVERDOSE" bit is from "once you understand" by think, but i don't hear no doors.

roffle

How did I never answer this thread? Huh. Well, "Moonlight Drive" it is, with "L.A. Woman" a close second.

(Answer to trivia question above: xgau.)

Incidentally, for real Rockist evangelism, please see the ongoing Marquee Moon thread. Now, there's a Great Rock Classic in the worst way.

Can we do a POX of Doors 'blues' songs? I know all the hits (and a few non-hits) but gravitate toward the 'greasy bar blues' Tad refers to upthread, like "Roadhouse Blues." What are the 'sleepers' of this ilk and on which album(s) do they appear?

and Five to One. And Peace Frog.

So many greats but I'm with stirmonster

Or even 'The Celebration of the Lizard' (live, not studio)

(xxxpost)

La woman a close second

pretty random: decided to watch road house AGAIN and of course roadhouse blues is in there, played by jeff healey and his roadhouse band, so after the movie was over i put on the first doors album (that originally belonged to my mom, and which i “borrowed” years ago), then realised i wanted to hear l.a. woman, so i fired up spotify and there’s this thing, released today

https://open.spotify.com/album/16MdQbBQqegRmEkwshz2Ev?si=IET3bQ-jRy6tilem92Cznw

-a “remaster” of changeling (which i can’t really tell the difference on)
- a demo version of riders on the storm which isn’t as good because it lacks a lot of the drawn out electric piano riffing and a lot of the atmospherics, but which DOES include that absolutely tremendous bassline, even higher in the mix. does it remind anybody else of “billie jean”?
- an alternate take of l.a. woman which i think i might even prefer? it’s tighter, closer, jim’s lower in the mix

I can hear Billie Jean yeah and it’s a tremendous genius simple line that outlines the minor root and major IV really sneakily

I tried going further with the Doors, and not a single one of their albums held up from start-to-finish. I only kept this reference comp I made from audiophile reissues - few tracks are faultless, but I still enjoy listening to the whole thing quite a bit:

1 Break On Through (To The Other Side) 02:29
2 The Crystal Ship 02:35
3 Twentieth Century Fox 02:34
4 Light My Fire 07:08
5 Back Door Man 03:34
6 The End 11:42
7 Love Me Two Times 03:18
8 Moonlight Drive 03:01
9 People Are Strange 02:12
10 Hello, I Love You 02:15
11 Touch Me 03:18
12 Roadhouse Blues 04:02
13 Peace Frog 02:54
14 Land Ho! 04:08
15 Love Her Madly 03:22
16 L.A. Woman 07:52
17 The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) 04:16
18 Riders On The Storm 07:14

Most of it's already on the U.S. (i.e. single-CD) version of the 2001 compilation The Very Best of the Doors which Christgau graded as an A, the only Doors release to get that from him.

Actually maybe there's only one single-CD version? Hard to say, there's way too many Doors compilations (which makes burning my own kind of funny, but I wanted audiophile sources for mine).

anybody remember what that video was that stirmonster posted upthread?

nope. it might have been some version of "the crystal ship".

Growing your own comp might well be the best way to go---but then again, I did like several of their albums pretty much all the way through: the debut (personal revelation: "Alabama Song [Whiskey Bar], or vice versa, though I had heard tell of Brecht-Weill and Threepenny Opera, this led me to that and a lot more by those guys, sep and together---also, that marxophone, yow), Waiting For The Sun(Thee Eclectic Album which every aspiring and many a status-maintaining band had to make about then, and I played the HELL out of it man), also most of Morrison Hotel and LA Woman, which xgau did give an Aminus, o thank you Lord, and Absolutely Live, the only live Doors album I've heard, which is sensitive and caveman in just the right places.

And OK, sometimes sensitive caveman at the same time, long before early Vedder etc.

And a few years before most of us heard Kristofferson.

Of course he's more of a singer than either, but can come across as an asshole, unlike them)

xgau on Morrison Hotel...Morrison's gliding vocal presence--arty and self-absorbed though it may be--provides focus. He's not the genius he makes himself out to be, so maybe his genius is that he doesn't let his pretensions cancel out his talent. But will he blow it on this verse, or the next? Keeps me on my toes, not too laidback.

"Sensitive Cavemen Take The Blue Bus Into The Goldmine..."

"Chowin' Down..." sorry I just watched original Night of the Living Dead on TCM. He'd like to be visionary caveman, but that's more John Garner, singer-drummer ov Sir Lord Baltimore, even before (waaay before) they returned w xtian lyrics.