L.A. WOMAN

Being a long-time fan of The Doors since my early teens, this album always had a special place in my heart. Not only that it contains one of my all time favourite songs, an amazing jazz-tinged ballad "Riders on the Strom", but it is overall extremely strong piece of work. And it happens to be the Jim's swan song artistic statement! The album is largely based in blues rock with early psychedelia almost non-existant (only "L'America" having a bit of it). It is perhaps best-produced and the most properly arranged album by The Doors. Instead of eerie organ and bass-less rhythm section, which was a signature sound on the previous albums, this one was recorded with strong support of several session musicians, making "L.A. Woman" the closest album sounding like "mainstream" classic rock. This means that it does not have enough elements to be recommended to avarage prog rock fans. However, because the album is excellent in its own right, I'll try to be moderate in evaluating it and I would like all the prog listeners to check it out. Personal rating: 5, PA rating: 4!