#86 The Doors, 'The Doors' (1967)
Previously #42
I was honestly beginning to think that The Doors had been scrubbed from this list. By this stage last time, we had already had two of their albums way down the list. I’m glad this one made it, because not only is it my favourite record by The Doors, it’s also one of my favourites in general. I clearly remember the day I heard this for the first time. I had just gotten on the school bus after a long day at school, probably 14, maybe 15 years old, and the guy next to me was listening to him Wallkman. He offered me one of his headphones and the song that was playing was ‘The Crystal Ship.’ We listened to most of the record on the way home and I was audibly excited by it. The next day he presented me with a copy of the cassette that he had dubbed especially for me the night before. I had already known ‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’ thanks to the ‘Forrest Gump’ soundtrack and ‘Light My Fire’ from a compilation CD of the best rock songs of all time that I had bought when I was 12. The rest I didn’t know, but would come to be very familiar with.
The Doors were discovered by Elektra Records founder at one of their residency shows at the Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. He was there at the behest of Love frontman, Arthur Lee. An unusual set up whereby bass was replaced by organ, the guitarist had only been playing a few months and the beats coming from the drummer were Jazz influenced. The lead singer, Jim Morrison, was enigmatic and profane. He signed them and hired producer, Paul A. Rothchild to record their debut. For me, this is a 5-star album. ‘Break On Through,’ with its Bossanova beats, is the perfect song to open the proceedings. ‘Soul Kitchen,’ a tribute to Soul Food restaurant, Olivia’s in Venice Beach, is perfectly lead on organ by Ray Manzarek. ‘Crystal Ship’ is an LSD trip in song version. ‘Twentieth Century Fox,’ begins with Robby Krieger’s simple yet effective riff, as well as the iconic lyrics “Well, she's fashionably lean/And she's fashionably late.” ‘Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)’ is The Doors’ interpretation of a Kurt Weill opera. ‘Light My Fire,’ undoubtedly one of the greatest songs of all time, beginning with a single crack of John Densmore’s snare, kicking open a door in your mind. A brilliant version of a Willie Dixon classic, ‘Back Door Man’ (Dixon has indirectly come up a lot in this list). ‘The Doors’ ends with ‘The End,’ an 11-minute Oedipal tale that would ultimately get Jim Morrison and The Doors into a lot of trouble. Besides for these provocative lyrics, “"Father?"/"Yes, son?"/"I want to kill you"/ "Mother? I want to...",” the song ends with a verse with varients of the following line “Fuck, yeah, come on baby/Fuck me baby, fuck fuck,” not as common to hear in 1967 as it is in 2021. Iconic and perfect collections of songs. Ride the snake to the lake.
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