93. The Doors - The Doors (1967)



















Track Listing

1. Break On Through
2. Soul Kitchen
3. Crystal Ship
4. Twentieth Century Fox
5. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
6. Light My Fire
7. Back Door Man
8. I Looked At You
9. End Of The Night
10. Take It As It Comes
11. End

Review

This is probaly one of the most impressive debut albums of any band, ever. The Doors come up with a sound that is at the same time complex, artful and visceral on a truly great album. There is really very little here that can be criticised negatively. In fact the only thing is the fact that many tracks should be longer if The End and Light My Fire are examples of The Doors long form in this period of their music.

Strangely enough it is the longer songs which stay mostly with you. The brilliance that The Doors allow themselves in the extended tracks is just astonishing. Jim Morrison has since become an iconic legend, but the other members are equally as talented, the proof of this is the instrumental section of Light My Fire where the organ and guitar show the genius or the performers and almost eclipse Morrison's contribuition to the track.

The Doors also provide us with a bit of culture with the Whisky Song, bringing Brecht and Kurt Weill to rock, just like it had been brough before to lounge music with Mack The Knife. So, this is really something which you must have, must listen to, and even if you find the idea of The Doors to be cliched undergraduate student splif-accompaniment, judge it by it's merits and not it's fans.

You can stream it from Napster or buy it at Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Light My Fire
2. The End
3. Whisky Song
4. Break On Through

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Doors is the debut album by the band The Doors, released in 1967. It features the breakthrough single "Light My Fire", extended with a substantial instrumental section omitted on the single release, and the lengthy song "The End" with its Oedipal spoken-word section. The Doors credit the sheer awesomeness of their first album to being able to work the songs out night after night at the Whiskey A Go Go or the London Fog. The album presents quality songs that are instantly attractive and easily remembered, a quality of work that is lacking in their following albums. "Alabama Song" was originally written and composed by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill for their opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City Mahagonny); "Back Door Man" was a Howlin' Wolf cover. The End's Oedipal climax was first performed live at the Whiskey A Go Go and The Doors were thrown out as a result of Jim screaming "kill the father and fuck the mother."

The album's dark tone and frontman Jim Morrison's sexual charisma and wild lifestyle influenced much of rock and roll to come.

The album is generally thought of as the band's best work, in addition to being one of the greatest debut albums by any band. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Doors the 93rd greatest album of all time; in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 60. In 2003, the album was ranked number 42 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.