L.A. WOMAN

A weak effort by the Doors...

When I was younger and less knowledgeable about the Doors people used to tell me LA Woman was one of the best records. Nowadays I own all records of the Doors with Jim Morrison except the Soft Parade and I must say this perhaps their weakest effort. Why weak? Because it sounds to dry, to realistic and not rockin' enough. Even the songs sound uninspired.

The first four songs are all blues-rock songs with an almost preacher-man-like voice of Morrison who seems to have aged tremendously. On a lot of moments Jim sings out of pitch, which bothers me quite a lot. The tempo's of the songs are different, but none of these songs have that inventive or touchy songwriting I used to like so much from this band. On the title track The Doors seem to recover. An inventive songs using the blues-rock background whilst making a nice paced and pleasant road trip through Doors-land. The middle section with the Motor rising (or something like that) sounds a bit unprofessional though.

On side two we get to hear some more highlights. L'America is a great psychedelic song with nice confused vocals by Morrison and pinchy key-works and guitars. This songs has the atmosphere of Not to Touch the Earth. Hyacinth House and Crawling King Snake are more like the fist four songs of the album but WASP is yet another great psychedelic song. The spoken words by Jim Morrison are timed so well it gives the songs a magical vibe. It creates a new atmosphere like all a great Doors tunes do. The last track 'Riders On The Storm' is the best track of the album. This is the gothic blues I'd like to hear when I listen to the Doors. Perfectly atmospheric, great pace and a relaxing yet interesting sound. Somehow this track reminds me of the debut.

Conclusion. Obviously this album isn't ruined by LA Woman, L'America, WASP and Riders on the Storm. It loses it's momentum in an early state by opening with not-so-inventive songwriting for four tracks in a row. Side two is stronger and might even make it to a good Doors side of a record in my books. The vocals of Jim Morrison aren't bad when compared with other psychedelic/blues bands, but lack the power and subtleness of the first five albums. Still this album has some classic Doors material and none of the tracks is bad, it's a mix of two-star and four-star songs and one five-star at the end. I'll rate it three stars. Recommended to Doors fans, for newcomers to the band I would recommend listening to the first three albums first.

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