L.A. WOMAN

Changeling is probably the weakest album opener compared to all the previous efforts but it definitely paves an honest look on how the rest of the album will progress. Hopefully once Love Her Madly starts playing all is once again forgotten since the band delivers their first great performance since the album Strange Days! The music is still straightforward Blues-Rock but this time with a definite sense of direction and professionalism which I lacked even on classics like Roadhouse Blues. But just when I thought that the Doors have mastered the genre they deliver two back-to-back amateurish performances where Been Down So Long might be considered saved by the edge that Morrison gives the composition with his strong vocal delivery but I still lack the passion. Cars Hiss By My Window goes in the direction of traditional slow Blues territory which I kind of hoped that the band would have left behind at this stage of their career because it just doesn't sound like a genuine performance.

After the previous ordeal one might consider giving up listening to the rest of the album all together but it just so happens that it's that second act that finally delivers the goods and it all starts with L.A. Woman. What a massive performance by Jim Morrison which kind of brings the question why this type of material wasn't featured on any of the three previous releases. Still, I should probably be thankful for this one tour-de-force moment and leave it that.

The remainder of material serves well as great transition to the final number which we all know is going to be a blast! Among which WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) is probably the weakest composition except for prominent poetry delivery by Jim which the band will unsuccessfully try to recreate on a post-Morrison album An American Prayer.

The final track Riders On The Storm is the strongest composition that the Doors have ever recorded on an album and it serves as a perfect conclusion to the this short lived band's career. I'm sure that the performance needs no introduction since it's definitely one of the three more recognized the Doors songs.

L.A. Woman is a great last album of a band that probably never were all that progressive to begin with but atmospheric performances like The End and Riders On The Storm might have sparked a few ideas when the genre took off in the '70s.

***** star songs: Love Her Madly (3:38) L.A. Woman (7:58) Riders On The Storm (7:07)

**** star songs: Changeling (4:25) L'America (4:34) Hyacinth House (3:13) Crawling King Snake (5:01) WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) (4:14)

*** star songs: Been Down So Long (4:44) Cars Hiss By My Window (4:59)

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