Rewind: 1967 The Doors Debut Album

The Doors - The Doors

Elektra

Produced by Paul A. Rothchild

Released 4th January 1967

US Chart #2

UK Chart #43

Personnel
The Doors
    Jim Morrison – lead vocals
    Ray Manzarek – Vox Continental organ, piano, keyboard bass, marxophone
    Robby Krieger – guitar, bass overdubs (tracks Soul Kitchen and Back Door Man)
    John Densmore – drums

Additional musicians
    Larry Knechtel (uncredited) – bass guitar on "Light My Fire", "Soul Kitchen", "Twentieth Century Fox", "Back Door Man", "I Looked At You" and "Take It as It Comes"

Singles from the Album

Break On Through (To The Other Side) / End Of The Night

January 1967

US Chart #126

UK Chart #6

(Italian Picture Sleeve)

Light My Fire / The Crystal Ship

May 1967

US Chart #1

UK Chart #7.

The Debut album from The Doors is probably one of the finest ever. It contains 9 original songs and 2 covers (Willie Dixon's Back Door Man - originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf and Alabama Song which had originally been written and composed for an Opera entitled  Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1927!). The line "Some are born to sweet delight; some are born to endless night", from "End of the Night", is a quote from William Blake's poem "Auguries of Innocence".

The band had originally been signed to Columbia Records but as they were unable to find a producer they asked to be released from their contract. They were picked up by Elektra. The album was recorded over the course of a week in August 1966. Break On Through (To The Other Side) had the words "She gets high" removed as it was thought to be a reference to drugs and Elektra were fearing that the song would not get airplay. The End also had the repeated use of the F-word removed (though on remastered versions it has been restored). The 11 min plus album closer had been done in two takes and the best of each take spliced together.

The album was released in both Mono and Stereo versions.

The Doors is ranked number 42 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and also on "The Rolling Stone Hall of Fame". It is ranked number 75 on Q magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" and ranked number 226 in NME magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2007, Rolling Stone ranked it number 1 on their list of the 40 essential albums of 1967. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance.