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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 10, 2005 9:04:11 GMT
The Doors went through four distinct phases in thier career: Acid Indecision The Blues In The Shadows producing eight albums that could be construed as two examples of each. Most ignore the two albums made after Morrisons death even though they had some merits but which is the best album from each of the four periods in Doors history? IndecisionThe BluesIn The ShadowsI have modified things slightly to include the post Jim albums if anyone wants to express an opinion on them....  |
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Post by jym on Apr 10, 2005 14:54:15 GMT
LOVE, the three phases of The Doors espcially indecision! & as much as I like being contrary gotta go with Strange Days. The first album sounds like other albums of the time, a collection of songs stung together with no relationship to each other. Now, Strange Days has a coherence & pushes the boundaries & discovers what acid rock is all about  |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 10, 2005 15:10:53 GMT
LOVE, the three phases of The Doors espcially indecision! Its true though! After the first two albums and the heavy burden of superstardom took hold the band seemed to scrabble aound for some kinda direction. If they kept making Strange days they would have been accused of just cashing in on the niche they had made for themselves so like most of the bands of thier time they tried to progress but did not seem to know where best to progress to.... WFTS is a mixture of all different styles whilst TSP tries to emulate The Beatles which was daft as The Doors lost The Mop Tops when it came to smart incisive rock music and did not need to learn any lessons from a band that wrote ObLaDiobLadah... Luckily they realised they were a blues band after all and went on and made two outstanding albums.....  |
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Post by wtd on Apr 15, 2005 20:23:49 GMT
This's one a draw to me. They are both great albums. I think when the 1st album was created in 66 there was nothing else like it. That's one of the reason's it was so good because it was so new and different. So many great songs on both albums. Strange Days may have been more experimentation musically, but I don't think it makes it better than the first album. Also, the first and second albums were mostly made up of songs "The Doors" had all ready played in their sets at various clubs. So, to me it was just a matter of going into the recording studio and putting them down on to tape.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 16, 2005 9:15:13 GMT
Good point Chris......The Doors debut could easily have been a double album as the songs were already there..... |
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Post by jym on Apr 16, 2005 12:11:25 GMT
I think that would have been a mistake, I think the first album takes a somewhat convential or standard approach to recording the first album, & just pulled out all the artistic stops on the second. Although there wasn't that much elapsed time between the recordings or even the writing.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Apr 17, 2005 8:57:59 GMT
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Post by wtd on Apr 22, 2005 9:35:23 GMT
I have to agree Alex it would have been interesting to hear these songs. We know from the Matrix tapes how different WTMO was at this time. That's one of my favorite things about Jim Morrison is how he would just change lyrics on the fly to different songs or incorporate other songs into other songs. While the rest of "The Doors" would just follow along without missing a beat. So amazing how he could do this. This had to be one of the most exciting things to be at a Door's concert. The audience never new what creative musical performance they were going to get. This is what John talks about in the early days at the Fillmore of how the audience got treated to amazing performances that were musically incredible. Jim Morrison at his creative best.
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Post by ensenada on Apr 22, 2005 15:02:35 GMT
I adore both these albums. strange days is awesome for its unique sound. but fr me the doors is the best album and probably my all time fave album. i mean come on! they created whiskey bar for christs sake from that german thingy wotsit. and the first 3 powerful songs - break on through, lite me fire and the end. totally unforgettable tunes and totally unique songs that told the world that the doors had arrived and that this was their sound!!
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Post by othercircles on Jun 12, 2005 18:36:58 GMT
Strange Days.. mostly for the vastly superior recording techniques and equipment. Which also allowed for more elaborate songs.
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Post by ensenada on Jun 14, 2005 14:51:31 GMT
I like what JD said in his book about having Jefferson airplane pay a visit during the doors recording. when they came into the studio Jim was screamingthe lines from Horse Lattitudes. JD said it scared the shit out of the airplane  ;D the book also mentions that at this time the doors were gigging in the avalon and the filmore in SF, the home of acid rock, and they were a big hit...mesmerising the fans with the end and WTMO. |
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Post by silvermoon on Dec 26, 2005 21:43:44 GMT
I like what JD said in his book about having Jefferson airplane pay a visit during the doors recording. when they came into the studio Jim was screamingthe lines from Horse Lattitudes. JD said it scared the shit out of the airplane ;D Somehow I can imagine that... Like The Airplane btw About The Doors,... to me it's definitely the best album. That's what they sounded like. The vibes in that music! A natural, very unique sound with killer vocals. The end gives me goosebumbs... Break on through makes me go wild, The crystal ship makes me very emotional, Soul kitchen makes me want to dance although it's about a club closing ;-) That's why I love listening to music, it's the feeling that it gives me. Every single song on that album does it for me. It contains at least 5 favorites of my Doors top 10. A true masterpiece! |
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Post by ensenada on Dec 27, 2005 14:08:16 GMT
amazing to think that break on through only reached number 102 or 106 or something like that in the charts. but the public werer literally not ready for that hard rockin sound then....the doors were part of the cultural change and until they got recognition did they take off.
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Post by strangenightvstone on Jul 12, 2006 2:07:47 GMT
Basically we are comparing 4 track vs. 8 track, the albums were recorded the same year. Jim's voice got a little deeper.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jul 12, 2006 7:58:44 GMT
The debut was recorded in August 1966 when the Sunset Sound had a 4 track studio......Strange Days was also 4 track in early May 1967 when the band began recording that album ........the band then took a break from recording whilst the studio was upgraded to 8 track and started again on August 21st 1967.
The first tracks they do using the new technology are Strange Days and When The Musics Over.
Would be interesting to hear the stuff they did there in May 67 on 4 track.....
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jun 22, 2011 8:05:14 GMT
The Doors: The Doors (Elektra); Strange Days (Elektra); Waiting for the Sun (Elektra)
Jim Morrison (Vocal); Ray Manzarek (Organ, Piano, Bass); Robby Krieger (Guitar); John Densmore (Drums).
THE DOORS are one of the finest groups in the world! Shall I remind you? The words – all by the Doors – say more than a thousand underground papers.
The music – listen to their three albums. The first notes we ever heard from the Doors were the 'Tequila'-like chords opening 'Break On Through (To the other Side)' when at once their technique of building tension, bursting through and then climaxing again in a new way soon after, became apparent. Very natural, like breathing.
The openings usually reflect the Rock intros of the late 50's, but instead of simple 12-bar repetition they change the music at once: feeling, time, tempo, all in flux. Listen to the beautiful guitar solo on 'Break On Through' from Robby Krieger, just tinged with nostalgia. And the full backing like huge ripe full grapes bouncing into the cask, each note a complex chord, each with a subtle difference, the seemingly similar notes filled with the complexities of Tintoretto's deep shadows, strange patterns becoming more apparent. Highlights glisten and bounce off the ochre syllables of Jim Morrison.
The only song they didn't write on this side was 'The Whisky Song' by Weill/Brecht. Their range is enormous, their sound reaches through the beer-taverns of Germany with a thundering beat, whispering the deep-green pines and old stones of the valley's and encompasses this song with a familiarity and ease of genius.
The 6 1/2-minutes epic 'Light My Fire' – driving, whining, wailing guitar – asteroids speaking by laser in deep space – the 'Voice of the Spheres'. Ray Manzarek dances either side of the beat like a mountain deer at full speed towards the lone pine. A fugue perhaps? Very religious somehow – soaring into Gothic spires with a heavy heavy beat behind: explosions, rolls, stucato, bombs, cross-rhythms, simultaneous time-mix, John Densmore gives him everything, the church shakes and the Holy Ghost guitar beams in like a searchlight through Chartres-rose windows bathing the whole scene in magic white light. Like God, never ending, this number goes on – a ubiquitous presence in other, later, records and in other artists' music. THE rock and roll number of the new age of enlightenment!
'The End' with its Raga intro – delineating the armature, the structure to build on. In comes the drifting, trance-like guitar over an echoing, deeper and deeper backing, gaining ever ever in size – a hall, an amphitheatre, a giant granite structure, a country. In the middle the insistent prophet, speaking the words piercing home like darts into Saint Sebastian wobbling level of consciousness. It is obviously right, the figures in the vast black shadows sway in agreement. What is he saying? The words can't be THAT direct – about killing father and mother? The message of the Underground (Freudian/symbolic) spelt out in controlled-hysteric-controlled calls. Calls are TO somebody, from Jim Morrison. Clip-plonk driving music taking the kids away – leaving their draft-card ashes and underwear – never the same again, can't go back to the suburbs. It's amazing, the power of an 11 1/2 minute track!
Then came Strange Days with the best cover of 1967 and Jim Morrison's shout electronically repeated, carried electrically up and out, of hearing register – and the next one? Was that him or the remembered echo of the machine?
The gentle slow clear guitar intro to 'You're Lost Little Girl' with its unobtrusive arrangements. The clean solo from Robby is from a high Tibetan pass, the free mind swooping among crags and shortens. Krieger is a Yellow-Hat and on the next track he is rocking along in an R & B tempo on 'Love Me Two Times'. He backs Ray Manzarek's harpsichord-like solo in which a new time dimension jumps in and his pulsing inner-beat (Fundamental experience – personal brain/soul rhythm) dictates his fingers superimposed over the beat. The daring of his fondling with time turns Bartok over wet.
Remember Jim's vocal on 'Moonlight Drive'? Up-beat driving Presley phrasing with uh-huh's and ugh's. The electric music of the sixties, the last third of the 20th century and we are going out in style! Not parody like Zappa, more tribute, like Picasso to Velazquez or Manet to Giorgione.
'My Eyes Have Seen You' – built-up built-up repeat "move upstairs, move upstairs", the guitar bursts through: melodic, beautiful "gazing on a city under television skies". The meticulous structure built up for 'The Music's Over', the use of silence, no useless notes here, every word clear and true – they want you to hear them: "the scream of the butterfly".
Now another disc: Waiting For The Sun. They've been listening to "The USA" that scratching insistant buzzing! A drastic simplification in style. When a space occurs it is left empty but for thoughts.
Clear voices say what they have to say, no phasing or echoes. Fine-edged editing on 'Not To Touch The Earth' – they speed up, the buzz becomes a hard bop tenor sax, but only for three bars, huge shortlived 10 finger organ chords. The musical grid shifts, the electronic sound betrays a mid-European waltz on 'Wintertime Love' or even opera in Venice but... the grid shifts and moves on. Chain gang call and response (was it Cannonball Adderley who?) No. Here's what they are saying – the spoken thoughts of Jim Morrison over high-soloing Robby and a dirge-bass chanting. 'Five to One' – "They've Got The Guns But We've Got The Numbers, Come On Baby, We're Taking Over..... Goin' a Make It Baby, In Our Prime". Thus we have the Doors with us.
"The Music Is Your Special Friend,
Dance On Fire As It Intends,
Music Is Your Only Friend,
Until The End,
Until The End,
Until The END!"
Miles, International Times, 6 September 1968
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jul 20, 2011 9:20:36 GMT
amazing to think that break on through only reached number 102 or 106 or something like that in the charts. but the public werer literally not ready for that hard rockin sound then....the doors were part of the cultural change and until they got recognition did they take off. It shows that the music was something different as the West Coast Sound was mainly pretty easy going trippy diffy hippy stoner shit. The Doors were very dark in their early days and this obviosly made LA uncomfortable. They were described in the media as The Demon Doors. LMF was a pop hit that gave them a platform to introduce the audience to the darker material. I voted for Strange Days as for me it defined The Doors. the debut is brilliant but SD has something extra. It's similar to the discovery of the atom in Physics. We thought that was it then we discovered quarks and found quarks had properties that were described as 'strangeness' and 'charm' (great Hawkwind album by the way). The Doors mirror this elementary physical break down. We had West Coast which were happy with and then the Doors came along with their own 'strangeness' and shook up the whole rock world forever. Strange Days is The Doors version of quarks. An album unlike any other which was The Doors defining moment and triumph and also their biggest tragedy as after that it was all downhill. How could you emulate something so original and so perfect. They tried. But the third album killed the band. COTL would have been the perfect follow up but WFTS sent them into pop territory and it took until the end of the bands lifetime to get back to what they were in 1965/66 with LAW. The Doors story is one of triumph through adversity. It has all the elements of a good thriller. Heroes and villains. Betrayal, deceit, lies, a central character dies mysteriously. A fall from grace leading to an eventual ressurgance that ends up with the hero getting the girl and living happily ever after in Legend. It's all there and SD is the foundation for the whole story. And for me a more solid foundation for a Legend would be hard to find. So then! What's your take on the two albums? Which was the best and why?. Vote in the poll and tell us what you think. |
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 29, 2011 13:47:08 GMT
The Doors are one of the finest groups in the world! Shall I remind you? The words ¡ª all by the Doors ¡ª say more than a thousand underground papers.
The music ¨C listen to their three albums. The first notes we ever heard from the Doors were the ¡®Tequila¡¯-like chords opening ¡®Break on Through (To the other Side)¡¯ when at once their technique of building tension, bursting through and then climaxing again in a new way soon after, became apparent. Very natural, like breathing.
The openings usually reflect the Rock intros of the late 50¡äs, but instead of simple 12-bar repetition they change the music at once: feeling, time, tempo, all in flux. Listen to the beautiful guitar solo on ¡®Break on Through¡¯ from Robby Krieger, just tinged with nostalgia. And the full backing like huge ripe full grapes bouncing into the cask, each note a complex chord, each with a subtle difference, the seemingly similar notes filled with the complexities of Tintoretto¡¯s deep shadows, strange patterns becoming more apparent. Highlights glisten and bounce off the ochre syllables of Jim Morrison.
The only song they didn¡¯t write on this side was ¡®The Whisky Song¡¯ by Weill/Brecht. Their range is enormous, their sound reaches through the beer-taverns of Germany with a thundering beat, whispering the deep-green pines and old stones of the valley¡¯s and encompasses this song with a familiarity and ease of genius.
The 6 1/2-minutes epic ¡®Light My Fire¡¯ ¨C driving, whining, wailing guitar ¨C asteroids speaking by laser in deep space ¨C the ¡®Voice of the Spheres¡¯. Ray Manzarek dances either side of the beat like a mountain deer at full speed towards the lone pine. A fugue perhaps? Very religious somehow ¨C soaring into Gothic spires with a heavy heavy beat behind: explosions, rolls, stucato, bombs, cross-rhythms, simultaneous time-mix, John Densmore gives him everything, the church shakes and the Holy Ghost guitar beams in like a searchlight through Chartres-rose windows bathing the whole scene in magic white light. Like God, never ending, this number goes on ¨C a ubiquitous presence in other, later, records and in other artists¡¯ music. THE rock and roll number of the new age of enlightenment!
¡®The End¡¯ with its Raga intro ¨C delineating the armature, the structure to build on. In comes the drifting, trance-like guitar over an echoing, deeper and deeper backing, gaining ever ever in size ¨C a hall, an amphitheatre, a giant granite structure, a country. In the middle the insistent prophet, speaking the words piercing home like darts into Saint Sebastian wobbling level of consciousness. It is obviously right, the figures in the vast black shadows sway in agreement. What is he saying? The words can¡¯t be THAT direct ¨C about killing father and mother? The message of the Underground (Freudian/symbolic) spelt out in controlled-hysteric-controlled calls. Calls are TO somebody, from Jim Morrison. Clip-plonk driving music taking the kids away ¨C leaving their draft-card ashes and underwear ¨C never the same again, can¡¯t go back to the suburbs. It¡¯s amazing, the power of an 11 1/2 minute track!
Then came Strange Days with the best cover of 1967 and Jim Morrison¡¯s shout electronically repeated, carried electrically up and out, of hearing register ¨C and the next one? Was that him or the remembered echo of the machine?
The gentle slow clear guitar intro to ¡®You¡¯re Lost Little Girl¡¯ with its unobtrusive arrangements. The clean solo from Robby is from a high Tibetan pass, the free mind swooping among crags and shortens. Krieger is a Yellow-Hat and on the next track he is rocking along in an R & B tempo on ¡®Love Me Two Times¡¯. He backs Ray Manzarek¡¯s harpsichord-like solo in which a new time dimension jumps in and his pulsing inner-beat (Fundamental experience ¨C personal brain/soul rhythm) dictates his fingers superimposed over the beat. The daring of his fondling with time turns Bartok over wet.
Remember Jim¡¯s vocal on ¡®Moonlight Drive¡¯? Up-beat driving Presley phrasing with uh-huh¡¯s and ugh¡¯s. The electric music of the sixties, the last third of the 20th century and we are going out in style! Not parody like Zappa, more tribute, like Picasso to Velazquez or Manet to Giorgione.
¡®My Eyes Have Seen You¡¯ ¨C built-up built-up repeat ¡°move upstairs, move upstairs¡±, the guitar bursts through: melodic, beautiful ¡°gazing on a city under television skies¡±. The meticulous structure built up for ¡®The Music¡¯s Over¡¯, the use of silence, no useless notes here, every word clear and true ¨C they want you to hear them: ¡°the scream of the butterfly¡±.
Now another disc: Waiting for the Sun. They¡¯ve been listening to ¡°The USA¡± that scratching insistant buzzing! A drastic simplification in style. When a space occurs it is left empty but for thoughts.
Clear voices say what they have to say, no phasing or echoes. Fine-edged editing on ¡®Not to Touch the Earth¡¯ ¨C they speed up, the buzz becomes a hard bop tenor sax, but only for three bars, huge shortlived 10 finger organ chords. The musical grid shifts, the electronic sound betrays a mid-European waltz on ¡®Wintertime Love¡¯ or even opera in Venice but¡ the grid shifts and moves on. Chain gang call and response (was it Cannonball Adderley who?) No. Here¡¯s what they are saying ¨C the spoken thoughts of Jim Morrison over high-soloing Robby and a dirge-bass chanting. ¡®Five to One¡¯ ¨C ¡°They¡¯ve Got The Guns But We¡¯ve Got The Numbers, Come On Baby, We¡¯re Taking Over¡.. Goin¡¯ a Make It Baby, In Our Prime¡±. Thus we have the Doors with us.
¡°The Music Is Your Special Friend,
Dance On Fire As It Intends,
Music Is Your Only Friend,
Until The End,
Until The End,
Until The END!¡±
International Times
September 6th 1968
by Miles
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