The Doors - The Doors

This is an album that is so famous that you probably know every song, without realizing that you know the song, the album it came from, or the band performing it. This is the album that spawned ten songs that recieved regular play on Detroit Rock radio, and many still do to this day. The End can't be played without run time and content editing.

I will admit I did not start off as a very big fan of The Doors. Jim Morrison is a poet and his lyrics were a bit deep for me in my early years, also the thin (no bass) sound put me off. Then after being teased by some asshole in grade eight, just because he knew more songs from the band and by their actual names, I pretty much didn't listen to The Doors again for almost two years. I even gave away the cassette I had for this album.

I know it sounds foolish, but I spent so much time being made fun of for my choices in music over the years, that it was easier to just walk away from all of it, and just enjoy the movie from time to time. Then when i did get back into The Doors, this was the first album I picked up, but on CD insted of a hand-me-down cassette.

The lead track to the self titled album is Break On Through (To The Other Side). You should know it, and if you don't you should be ashamed of yourself and go listen to the song on Youtube right now. There's no excuse for not knowing this song. It's awesome, and totally rocks.

Soul Kitchen is one of those songs that I totally dig, it has a great pounding/driving groove. It sounds like sex feels, when you are taking your time and doing it right.

It really mellows out next with The Crystal Ship, but in a very sweet and warm way. It's short, delicate and very enjoyable. It's a lulling mystical harmony. A lullaby to mesmerize.

Twentieth Century Fox is a song inspired by a very sexy, black godess, strutting her stuff across Jim's view on Venice beach. The tone, feel and style all convey that exact image, although I always pictured your typical Blonde California Girl as a kid. I later found it even sexier when i found out I was wrong. Either way it's Jim's lyrical ode to the magnificence of the taken care of female form.

A Polka song on a rock album? Long before Green Day started doing that type of lame BS, The Doors took an actual polka song and made it a really good time, with only slight lyrical augmentation. Also what better way to have fun than finding whiskey bars and little girls (not children for any of you sick fucks thinking that).

Light My Fire, the most commercial Doors song ever? If you've seen the movie, you know the story about this song. After all, this song made The Doors a household name. Even if it was for the wrong reasons. Also, if it were not for the fact that the song has been so overplayed through out the years, I'd probably enjoy it more than I do.

Back Door Man, like Alabama Song, is not a Doors song. That's doesn't mean it's not a song from The Doors. I don't recall ever hearing the original, and as I write this I'm going to for the first time, but that doesn't matter here. What does matter is this song kicks ass, while double entendring about something else regarding bottoms. Then there's the more obvious gentelman caller coming and leaving discretely. It's all dirty, dirty fun.

To me one of the two weakest songs on the album is I looked At You. It's a fun song, playful, hopping, and rocking a solid beat with great stops and starts. But it's like a filler on this album, which for most albums would mean nothng special. On this album it still means that it's better than most filler songs.

End Of The Night would have made a great closing song for this album, except that this album has The End at the end of it. I'm sure many bars have used this song as their closing song and with good reason. The slowness and mellow feel, will cause anyone to become laid back enough to easily be directed out a door.

The other weak song on this album is Take It As It Comes. It's very simular to I Looked At You in style and execution, which is why I feel the same way about it.

As I've already mentioned, the album ends with The End. It's an experimental journey through the subconcience at epic length. If you've seen the movie, you've seen the desert imagery that goes with the song. If you listen to the song, you envision a lot more than that. You can easily feel yourself become the snake travelling through the land looking for it's prey for the 11:42 journey.

My only complaint about this album is the lack of low end. This is a problem with a lot of music that from the pre-stereo era. It doesn't help that there's no bass, and the organ stays in the higher range most of the time. This all lends to a bit of a tinny element to the album. Aside from that, this album comes very close to a perfect ten. Even the fillers are worth listening to, because they are good.

9/10 - content

9/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias