No. 407: Strange Days

Band: The Doors
Album: Strange Days
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Doors' second album is more eclectic and experimental than their debut. The results are fun, as the band gets funky on "Moonlight Drive" and bluesy on "Love Me Two Times." The signature darkness remains on the title track, as well.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: None of the songs are nearly as good as the band's best tracks. The experimentation makes for an uneven sound.
Best song: "Love Me Two Times" is probably the best track on the album.
Worst song: I find Jim Morrison's poetry to be putrid and "Horse Latitudes" is a spoken poem by Morrison as the band creates a cacophony in the background.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

I loved the Doors in my early teens and a lot of these songs are very familiar. My big task here is to determine the difference between familiar and good. I'm not sure I can do that well.

"Strange Day" isn't a great album, by any means. It's uneven and was something of a commercial bomb. The band experiments a little on the record as dark songs like the title track and even "People Are Strange." Both songs are nice little records, but not the pinnacle of alienation, as John Densmore later called "People Are Strange."

"When The Music's Over" is, in both time and theme, a crappier version of "The End." "Moonlight Drive" is a pleasant, pop-oriented song that sounds almost nothing like a Doors song. The blues guitar riff in "Love Me Two Times" is one of Robby Krieger's best, but nevertheless, not a great song.

Of course, Morrison's idiotic poetry also appears on the album, on "Horse Latitudes." That anyone gives a crap about the poetry is beyond me, but

It's a nice record and one of a band in transition, but it's hardly on the same level as the band's debut.

No. 362: L.A. Woman

Band: The Doors
Album: L.A. Woman
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Despite the three singles, the Doors' final album is more blues-oriented and raw. The album's nod towards Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon backs up Jim Morrison's voice well.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Much of the blues stuff is forgettable, as the band's real memorable moments are its most eclectic.
Best song: You know, "Love Her Madly" is simple, but great.
Worst song: "L'America" isn't terrible, but it's not good.
Is it awesome?: I'd say no.

I outlined my early teenage love for the Doors in an earlier piece but failed to mention that I had a big backlash against the band in high school, college and even until today.

What I said before still stands. Jim Morrison is a lyrical dope. "L.A. Woman" is an album full of strange political stuff ("L'America"), road songs ("Riders on the Storm" and the title track), blues cops ("Cars Hiss By My Window," "Been Sown So Long" and "Crawling King Snake") and even a requisite love song ("Love Her Madly").

Of course, the takeaway is Morrison's poem set to music that is "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)." The lyrics appear to be drug-induced nonsense ("Stoned Immaculate" comes from this song) while the title is a reference to old, high-powered Mexican stations whose signals carried into Texas during the dawn of rock and roll. The band rolls through a pretty nice rock and roll number (they'd hired a bassist by this point), but Morrison's lyrics are, well, stoner religion.

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My favorite song on the record is the least-Doors sounding one on the record. "Love Her Madly" works around an easy major-key guitar jangle and a piano riff that surrounds Morrison's strikingly low-key voice. Morrison's instrument sounds best when he isn't letting all loose, but rather when he is restrained, as he is in "Love Her Madly" (also, "Light My Fire").

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The Doors were hardly the world's greatest band. They had a famous singer and a good -- not great -- group of musicians. This album, the band's last, has its ups and its downs.

No. 42: The Doors

Band: The Doors
Album: The Doors
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Ask any 13-15 year old boy. As the early teenage male's favorite band (maybe second-favorite, after Zep), the Doors basically invented the stoner religion/hard rock thing. Jim Morrison did over dramatic lyrics better than anyone and his "Lizard King" shtick still holds a lot of attraction for young men everywhere. Moreover, the jazzy organ in lieu of a bass player is something that hasn't been topped since.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It is so overly dramatic, it's hard to listen to. Moreover, it's simply stoner religion; All "She gets high" and "girl we couldn't get much higher."
Best song: The cover of Kurt Weil's "Alabama Song" is a polka, which is very awesome. "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire" are both uber-popular, but both have excellent grooves.
Worst song: "Take It As it Comes" is pretty bad.
Is it awesome?: It's as close to awesome as the Doors get. I'm undecided as to the actual awesomeness of this record.

Before this week, I hadn't listened to this record in, honestly, five-seven years. I've been so anti-Doors for so long that I have mostly shunned their music.

Part of this is because I was way into the Doors during my early teenage years. I had "The Best of the Doors" and listened to it nearly daily. For the same reason Jim Morrison had scores of fans in the '60s. He sounds smarter than he is (his Oepidal "The End" isn't all that brilliant) and his brooding makes him seem more deep in thought.

So, it's easy to get hung up on Morrison's idiotic ramblings that mean -- basically -- nothing. Think of "The End." It's wonderful in "Apocalypse Now," and the slow build of Robby Krieger's guitar work is exquisite.

But, the lyrics just aren't anything fantastic. The love songs are the same. "Soul Kitchen," for example, is a ridiculous metaphor ("sleep all night in your soul kitchen?" Really?) built around a cool groove.

And, really, what the hell is "the other side?" Why are we breaking on through to it?

At least "Light My Fire" makes some sense as a love song.

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The key thing about the Doors records is that the organ/guitar combo is pretty great. The jazzy feel to it really moves more than a lot of music of the time. While the Beatles were doing "Sgt. Pepper" (yes, that's my point of reference of all things 1967), the Doors were doing this blues-based thing. "Back Door Man," a Willie Dixon cover, is the evidence of this. They took an old blues record and sharpened it up. The results are pretty incredible.

"Light My Fire" is a softer version of that. Built around an organ riff, the song goes verse-chorus-verse for seven minutes, with a minute and a half guitar/organ solo.

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Again, it's easy to dismiss the Doors because of Morrison's nonsense. As an instrument, his voice is pretty good. But, as a lyricist, nonsense. But, dismiss it if you will, the musicianship is pretty great. So, if you don't listen to the lyrics, you'll enjoy it.