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i’ve been thinking about this all week on my long drives.  which Doors song best represents how motherfucking awesome they are.  I’ve decided that it’s "When the Music's Over", for a number of reasons. 1.  The musicianship throughout is inventive and stellar.  Check out that mind-bending guitar solo – one of my favorites of all time – and Ray’s fluid organ runs when the song explodes again after the quiet interlude, which brings me to reason #2:  this band was better at loud/soft dynamics than anyone, ever.  they were incredibly theatrical, right down to the way the drums ‘punctuated’ jim’s vocals.  This was especially evident live.  a receptive crowd would become absolutely mesmerized by this song.  it’s all there on the “Live in Detroit” CD.  3.  Especially in their first two albums (L.A. Woman being a return to form), they ingeniously transmitted the noir underbelly vibe of LA.  The opening organ riffs set the stage, along with Jim’s almost whispered, “Yeah, c’mon,” and the snaky guitar passages throughout keep it going.   4.  Jim’s vocal performance!  Holy shit, man.  This is Jim at his best.  He had arrived.  He was confident.  He crooned, he screamed, he whispered.  He did it all right here.  People like to talk about the pretentiousness of the lyrics, but they probably don’t realize that this thing is full of in-jokes (“the scream of the butterfly” was the name of a porno flick Jim saw one day on a marquee).  Add to that this stunning fact:  Jim was ‘otherwise occupied’ when the other Doors laid down the instrumentals in the studio.  All that remained was that he come in and sing.  He came in the next day and NAILED it in one take!  considering the pauses, loud/soft dynamics, etc, that’s pretty incredible, and a testament to how cohesive this band was at its prime.  Anyway, thought I’d share that.  Listen to the song, and give me your thoughts. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfv9z23lu9E

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Robbie Krieger talks about the greatest Doors song here and the greatest guitarists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6OAnRtkpKc

cool!  thanks for that.

love LA Woman and Riders on the Storm but I don't know their catalog too well. 

those are excellent songs, from an excellent album.  the bass line in 'riders' pushes that song way into the sublime.  did you know that jim is double-tracked on that one.  on one track he sings, on the other he whispers.  perfect.

Well done Jim!!! To me The Doors are motherfucking awesome too. But it all comes down to one thing for me an I know 'em all. Apocalypse Now. "This is the end. The end my friend."  DAMMMMMNNNN!!!!!!!

for my money, that's the single best movie intro of all time.  it also led to the doors' resurgence and to the publication of 'no one here gets out alive,' which is where the story began for me.  i was obsessed with the doors in high school, then took a long break.  they came roaring back in middle age.  now i'm just as obsessed with them as i ever was, but on a let's say more 'experienced' level.  jim would have been extremely proud of coppolla using 'the end' to start AN (my favorite movie, by the way).  perfect choice.

 

JOSE F. doing Light My Fire

that's a nice rendition.  the first version i heard when i was a kid.  when i discovered the doors at sixteen (when jim's first bio came out), i was surprised that they had written it.  i'd thought it was a Jose F song.  i recently heard another guitarist's (sorry, forgot his name) instrumental version of 'riders on the storm,' complete with that cool bass line.  it was well-done and reminded me of Jose F's verison of LMF.

all fantastic candidates.  of these three, 'waiting for the sun' is my favorite.  i love its melody and the trippy organ effects, plus robbie's bottleneck.  i love the way 'peace frog' segues into 'blue sunday.'  'ship of fools' i've never been that crazy about.  you must really like 'morrison hotel.'  possibly their greatest album.

 

I love Morrison Hotel.  my favorite Doors albums change.  Sometimes it's Strange Days, sometimes L.A. Woman, and etc.  It is almost never either The Soft Parade or Waiting for the Sun.   If I were to advise someone checking out their albums for the first time, I think I'd say, "Start with the ends and work your way in."  That is, listen to The Doors and L.A. Woman, then Morrison Hotel and Strange Days.  Then, after you've been completely blown away by the sheer inventiveness and visceral beauty of the greatest American rock band of them all, you'll gladly overlook the lack of cohesion on the last two.  Don't get me wrong, there are AMAZING songs on both albums, and those albums would have been mighty respectable records from a lesser band.  It's simply the relative lack of cohesion.  When I listen to Morrison Hotel, I feel like I'm checking in to the Morrison Hotel.  I linger there.  It's such a brilliant statement about America.  When I'm road-tripping, there's no better album for me than L.A. Woman.   the first two albums capture L.A. noir so beautifully, in a Blake / Nietzsche kind of way.  if those had been their only two (remember, Jim wanted to quit in '68), they would have been compared more to Joy Division, I think - although much, much better.

 

THE END, no doubts for me...

have you heard the version of The End on the "Live in New York" CD of the box set?  that's my favorite version.  the audience was completely mesmerized.

 

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