THE DOORS

OK guys, when it comes to psychedelic rock, i am not exactly a professional nor a die-hard fan, but i still enjoy my fair amount of it now and then, specially because i listen to it since the tender age of childhood, more specifically, to my father's Os Mutantes and Pink Floyd vinyl collection. So it was inevitable that, sooner or later, i would come across this album, the so called The Doors Magnum Opus and supposedly one of the most important and one of the best psychedelic releases ever, and that is why, when i bought the 40th anniversary mixes release of this album, i was pretty excited. Not thrilled, but excited nevertheless.

The 40th anniversary mixes release is a fairly good release and it fixes a series of issues the other releases had (both the vinyl album and the CD album releases) concerning mixing and mastering, specially the tape issue (one of the tapes was running too slow or too fast, so the pitches of the original album releases are all wrong and this 40th anniversary release have the proper pitches) and the censorship issue (in this release, Jim properly sings she gets high, she gets high, she gets high), besides giving the old tapes a much brighter, clearer and better release than ever before (not my words, Bruce Botnick's words), besides the 3 bonus tracks: 2 versions of Moonlight Drive and a live version of Indian Summer (this last one i think is pretty rare, because live recordings were much difficult to be made 42 years ago!).

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

Well, in spite of all the technological improvements, this album have, in the end of the day, THE thing that really counts: the songs. Their music-wise quality, despite not having a crystal clear sound, i gotta say that, overall, the album is pretty good, besides some lame songs.

The album starts very well with the classic Break On Through (To The Other Side) and is followed by the also good Soul Kitchen and The Crystal Ship. However, they are followed by the horrible Twentieth Century Fox and the fairly good Alabama Song (Whisky Bar). After those, comes the amazing classic Light my Fire, which is followed by the not so good Back Door Man and the fairly good I Looked at You. The quite nice End of the Night and Take It as It Comes prepare the ground for the traditional album closing, the great song The End, which is the longest song and probably the best song of the whole album.

About the bonus tracks, The 1st version of Moonlight Drive is the best of both and the live song Indian Summer is also very nice.

The highlights go to: Break On Through (To The Other Side), The Crystal Ship, Light my Fire, End of the Night and The End.

The saddest parts are: Twentieth Century Fox (damn, this song sucks) and Back door man.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Right, so this is the second best album in the proto-prog genre (so far). . . What a disappointment. I mean, knowing most of The Beatles and The Who studio albums, as well as a fair amount of Deep Purple and I REALLY can't see how this album is better rated than far better and influential albums, like Tommy, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and In Rock.

Nevertheless, it would be unfair to rate this album low just because I disagree with its overall grade, so my rating is 100% about this album and its music, not about its position in a top 20 list made by PA. So, because I really liked some songs and really hated others, I think its fair enough to rate this psychedelic rock album with full 4 stars.

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