THE DOORS

The first three albums by THE DOORS are clearly my favorite American classic 60's psychedelic records, and it's difficult for me to pick up the best of these three. Their first album holds an intersting palette of songs blending different styles, which still make a solid and powerful end result without any clear filler tracks, which often infestate the longplayers of the 60's. This album also brings us some really dark psychedelia instead of the happy hippy trippy hippie power brought by majority of the other psychedelic groups of the same time. "The End" is maybe a culmination of this element, and it is also one of the first rock songs reaching over ten minutes. There is a wonderful performance of this song caputred on their "Soundstage Performances" DVD, which was shot at the Canadian TV studio. Other wonderful highlights of this classic are the mellow "Crystal Ship", really lingering at the edge of consciousness, and the fabulous Bertolt Brecht's "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)". This album was much played in my youth at the early 90's, as THE DOORS got popualr at Finland only after the release of the Oliver Stone movie. (!) Their first single in top10 here was their "Mosquito" single which was recorded after the band lader Jim Morrison was already deceased. So I also have some strong nostalghic feelings towards this record, which actually was a product of the previous generation! A real masterpiece!