Rewind: Waiting For The Sun - The Doors (1968)

Waiting For The Sun - The Doors

Elektra

Produced by Paul A. Rothchild

Released July 1968

US Chart #1

UK Chart #16

Singles From Waiting For The Sun

The Unknown Soldier / We Could Be Good Together

March 1968

US Chart #39

Hello I Love You / Love Street

June 1968

US Chart #1

UK Chart #15

Waiting For The Sun is the third Studio album release from The Doors. Having previously spotlighted their debut album, Strange Days and  L.A. Woman on the Rewind feature on this blog I kept on missing this one for one reason or another, so here it is today.

It's a wonder the album ever got made what with Morrison's excessive drinking and the perfectionism of Producer Paul A. Rothchild who insisted on constant retakes (The Unknown Soldier was said to have taken at least 130 takes before settling on the version that appears on the album!).

The album was considered by some critics as a disappointment in comparison to their first two albums. A lot of this probably has to do with the fact the band had all but drained Jim Morrison's note books and were struggling to come up with new material. But it's a testament to the band that they pulled through all the challenges and came up with a fairly decent album. Not To Earth was a small section of a much larger composition, Celebration of The Lizard (which was meant to be the centre piece of the album). Recording on this was abandoned when Rothchild got fed up with the lack of progress on the track. Celebration of The Lizard would see the light of day on Absolutely Live in 1970. It was also added to the 40th Anniversay Edition of the album bearing the title Celebration of The Lizard (An Experiment/Work In Progress).

Rewind: L.A. Woman - The Doors (1971)

L.A. Woman - The Doors

Elektra

Produced by The Doors and Bruce Botnick

Released 19th April 1971

US Chart #9

UK Chart #28

L.A. Woman  was the final hurrah for The Doors with Jim Morrison as the frontman, not that any of them knew that when they released it back in 1971. Three months after its release Morrison was dead at only 27 years old, a death that has been surrounded by mystery and conspiracy theories ever since!

It was the follow-up to Morrison Hotel which had seen the band return to a more rocky bluesy kind of style after the sometimes bizzare sounding album The Soft Parade. They had departed with long term producer Paul Rothchild due to issues with band's studio performance and their insistance on recording Love Her Madly! Studio Engineer Bruce Botnick stepped up and co-produced the album.

It's actually quite funny to think that all of Morrison's vocals for the album were recorded with him sitting or standing in the bathroom as their makeshift studio didn't have a designated vocal booth!

If you want to read more about the history of the album Click Here - Ultimate Classic Rock Website also has a feature on the songs from the album that's worth checking out - Click Here.

Alongside the 1967 Debut Album I rate L.A. Woman as one of their best albums.

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.

Rewind: 1967 Strange Days - The Doors

Strange Days - The Doors

Elektra

Produced by Paul A. Rothchild

Released 25th September 1967

US Chart #3

French Chart #10

Personnel
The Doors
    Jim Morrison – vocals, percussion, Moog synthesizer on track 1
    Ray Manzarek – Vox Continental organ, Fender Rhodes piano bass on tracks 4 and 10, harpsichord on track 3, backwards piano on track 4, marimba on track 9
    Robby Krieger – guitar
    John Densmore – drums

Additional musicians
    Douglas Lubahn – bass guitar on tracks 1–3, 6–9

Following on from their hit debut album that was released at the start of 1967, The Doors released their second on 25th September and it would peak at #3 in the charts and produced two further hit singles.

Strange Days consists of songs that were written in 1965–66 but which did not make it onto The Doors, such as "Moonlight Drive", which was one of the first songs written by lead singer Jim Morrison. A demo of the song was recorded in 1965 and a proper studio version was recorded for their debut album but was not used. In 1967, a final version was recorded and released on this album.

There's a number of tracks on the album that I really like but the final track on it - When The Music's Over - is my favourite track by The Doors.

 Side A   
1.     "Strange Days" (written by Jim Morrison)     3:11
2.     "You're Lost Little Girl" (written by Robby Krieger)     3:03
3.     "Love Me Two Times" (written by Krieger)     3:18
4.     "Unhappy Girl" (written by Morrison)     2:02
5.     "Horse Latitudes" (written by Morrison)     1:37
6.     "Moonlight Drive" (written by Morrison)     3:05
 

Side B    
7.     "People Are Strange" (written by Morrison and Krieger)     2:13
8.     "My Eyes Have Seen You" (written by Morrison)     2:32
9.     "I Can't See Your Face in My Mind" (written by Morrison)     3:26
10.     "When the Music's Over"       10:58

Singles From Strange Days
    "People Are Strange"/"Unhappy Girl"
    Released: September 1967 US #12
    "Love Me Two Times"/"Moonlight Drive"
    Released: November 1967 US #25

(Links are not necessarily the studio version released as the single but live versions from various shows between 1967-68)

Rewind: 1968 - The Doors Play At The Roundhouse, London

  The Doors played the first of two nights at The Roundhouse, London, playing 2 shows a night on their first UK visit. Granada TV filmed the sold out gigs (later shown as "The Doors Are Open"), which were attended by members of The Rolling Stones and Traffic.

Remembering Jim Morrison

Today is the anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison.

1943-1971

When I was a kid I can remember hearing songs like 'Hello, I Love You', 'People Are Strange', and 'Light My Fire' on the radio but not really grasping their significance in the grand scheme of all things rock and roll. I began to pay more careful attention when Status Quo recorded 'Roadhouse Blues' for their 1972 album 'Piledriver' which was released when I was 9 years old! But it wasn't until I was a teenager before I had my first ever album of The Doors - the 1967 debut, bought secondhand for about 75p! That album was almost like a Greatest Hits as it was loaded with fantastic tracks: 'Break On Through', 'The Crystal Ship', 'Light My Fire', 'Take It As It Comes' and of course the epic 'The End'.

I was trying to remember when I first saw live footage of them and I think it was a late night showing of the 1968 Film 'The Doors Are Open' which included footage of the band playing at The Roundhouse in Camden Town. There was something quite striking about them right from the start with that awesome version of 'When The Music's Over'. That line 'Music is your special friend' was already something that I was coming to notice.

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

The Doors Are Open (1968)

The Very Best of The Doors

More Live Performances
5th July 1968 Hollywood Bowl.
Copenhagen 1968.
PBS Critique 1969.
Break On Through - Isle of Wight Festival 1970.
The End - Isle of Wight Festival 1970.
Isle of Wight Festival 1970 Full Audio.

The Doors Covered
Love Me Two Times - Joan Jett.
The Crystal Ship - Patti Smith.
Soul Kitchen - Patti Smith.
Hello, I Love You - The Cure.
L.A. Woman - The Damned.
People Are Strange - Echo and the Bunnymen.
Waiting For The Sun - Rose of Avalanche.
Take It As It Come - The Ramones.
Light My Fire - Cibbo Matto and The Beastie Boys.
The End - Nico.
Riders on the Storm - Jaz Coleman and Nigel Kennedy.
When the Music's Over - Controlled Bleeding.
Roadhouse Blues - UK Subs.
Wild Child - The Cult.

Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek 

(Feb 12th 1939 - May 20th 2013)

When the Music's Over.