L.A. WOMAN

L.A. Woman is the 6th and final Jim Morrison led full-length studio album by The Doors. The album was recorded in December 1970 - January 1971 and released through Elektra Records in April 1971. After a short and disastrous tour in December 1970( only two dates) which was meant to promote L.A. Woman the group ( excluding Jim Morrison) agreed that it was no longer an option to perform live with Jim Morrison. Jim Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage on the second night of the tour and refused to perform. Somehow the group were able to record L.A. Woman during December 1970 and January 1971 but the band were on the verge of disbanding. Shortly after the release of L.A. Woman in April 1971 Jim Morrison left The Doors and moved to Paris. Jim Morrison was found dead on the 3rd of July 1971 in his Paris apartment bathtub by his girlfriend Pamela Courson. L.A. Woman went on to become the second best-selling album by The Doors and the album spawned two major hits in L.A. Woman and Love Her Madly.

L.A. Woman is The Doors most bluesy album and songs like Been Down So Long, Cars Hiss By My Window and Crawling King Snake are good examples of this. All songs are quality material but the title track is simply fantastic IMO and the same can be said about the slow, dark and atmospheric Riders On The Storm.

The production is warm, dark and organic.

L.A. Woman is probably the Jim Morrison led Doors album that has grown the most slow on me ( and indeed needed to). Sure there were a few tracks that stuck out but overall I initially found the album a bit too bluesy for my taste and maybe a bit boring too. Luckily taste changes over time and L.A. Woman is as dear to me today as any of the five other early Doors albums. A 4 star rating is deserved.