L.A. WOMAN

Here is the last studio album by The Doors with Morrison at the helm and features some masterpiece tracks. Other tracks are either simple blues or ballads with a tinge of rock. After listening to all of The Doors earlier albums it really shows that the music was a product of its time. Morrison is undoubtedly a master poet and was able to pour his creativity into the studio. However these albums miss a lot of the passion and creative spirit that he injected so aptly into the live arena. Morrison was born for the live stage and the plethora of live albums demonstrate how important his stage persona was to the band. One must never forget the incredible keyboards of Ray Manzarek and he really shines on this album. The bass and drums of Densmore and Krieger are essential to the overall impact of the band.

On "LA Woman" the band are at the peak of their talents. There are so many magic moments here including the blues driven 'Love Her Madly' and one of my favourites lyrically 'Cars Hiss By My Window'. The poetry is fascinating; "The cars hiss by my window, Like the waves down on the beach, I got this girl beside me, But she's out of reach." There is an ominous atmosphere as is found on the best songs of The Doors, the mystique and power is contained in the music with dark poetry; "Windows started trembling, With a sonic boom, boom, A cold girl'll kill you, In a darkened room." Simply wonderful.

The title track is a classic with amazing ad libbed psychedelia, the bluesy groove locks in with unforgettable phrases that are known by every Doors addict; "Mr. Mojo Risin'" and "Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light". Other examples of original poetry to music is in the brooding 'Crawling King Snake' and the weird 'WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)'. As is often The Doors save their best for last and on this album is housed my favourite song from The Doors.

'Riders On The Storm' is a bonafide classic with incredibly powerful lyrics and atmospherics. The thunder rolls in with portentous anger, and the groove hooks in with drums and bass, Manzarek playing doomy melodies. The most potent moment of the album comes with "There's a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad." This one always manages to chill me with its dark atmosphere and gloominess. Some commentators believe it is about a serial killer and the lyrics kind of fit there too. However, the song is purportedly about the accident that Jim as a boy experienced when Indians were scattered on dawn's highway. It sounds like death is coming on the storm to take away the spirits like horse riders. It turned out that death was coming for Jim so the song has a chilling power and ends with thunder rolling in the distance.

The song is in any case indispensable for The Doors and this alone, with the aforementioned tracks, brings this album to 4 stars. After the release of "L A Woman", three months or so later, Jim was found dead by his girlfriend in the bathtub of his Paris apartment.

RIP Jim Morrison; visionary, poet, legend.

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