L.A. WOMAN

Possibly the second best Doors album after their debut. Many people would say Strange Days is better, which is a great album in its own right, but L.A. Woman gets my vote. After a short period where they were sort of struggling to write new material (The Soft Parade), the band went back to their roots and recorded more blues-oriented songs on Morrison Hotel. L.A. Woman is a continuation of that, but here Jim Morrison is even more into his "old blues man" persona.

Morrison's voice is at its best on this album. The shouts and yells he does on some of the tracks are primal. This is contrasted with softer singing on songs such as "Riders on the Storm". "Love Her Madly" was a hit single, and the title track is one of their best album cuts. Not to be forgotten is "The Changeling", a heavy rock tune that grooves. Other great tracks are "Been Down So Long", "Hyacinth House", "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)", and of course the classic "Riders on the Storm".

If you need a companion album to their magnificent debut, this would be a very good choice. One of their strongest LP's to have come out while lead singer, Jim Morrison, was alive. Not long after this album's release in 1971, he unfortunately passed away. L.A. Woman was a fitting end to his legacy. The Doors would continue for a few more albums without Jim, one even including previously unused spoken word passages by Morrison. Honestly they could have ended the group and called it a day after L.A. Woman, finishing with one of their strongest works.