STRANGE DAYS

"Strange Days" is the second studio album of The Doors and was released in 1967. It was released in the same year of their previous debut studio album "The Doors". "Strange Days" consists basically of songs that were written in 1965-1966, but didn't make it onto their debut studio album. For that reason, the band's second effort isn't as consistently stunning as their debut, though overall it's a very successful continuation of the themes of their debut classic album.

"Strange Days" has ten tracks. All songs were written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore. The first track is the title track "Strange Days". It seems to be inspired on a visit to New York City by The Doors which made Jim Morrison write this song and other songs on this album. This is a dark song with a great musical atmosphere which includes the use of a synthesizer, one of the earliest examples of the use of a Moog synthesizer in rock. The second track "You're Lost Little Girl" is another very good song and it has also a very impressive musical atmosphere, which is especially provided by the guitar work of Robby Krieger. It's a very simple and nice rock ballad with beautiful lyrics that sounds fresh, even in our days. Jim Morrison sings so sad and so lost that his vocal work is fantastic. The third track "Love Me To Times" was released as the second single after "People Are Strange", the first single of the album. The song is about a sailor and his last day with his girlfriend before shipping out to the Vietnam War. It's the most normal and typical rock song on the album, with a slight touch of blues. This is, in my opinion, a less good song but, it still is a great song. The fourth track "Unhappy Girl" is a song very similar to "You're Lost Little Girl". Its lyrics are about a woman and have a bit of humour. Musically, it's a mellow psychedelic song and represents a naïve, innocent and beautiful musical moment. The fifth track "Horse Latitudes" is a song where the words are taken from one of the first poems that Jim Morrison wrote. It was inspired by a book cover he saw at a local bookstore when he was a child. The song is a spoken word by Jim Morrison with the band providing noises in the back. This is, without any doubt, a very strange track, the weirdest thing the band ever made. It's more an experimental track that a real song, but it blends perfectly well with the start of the next song. The sixth track "Moonlight Drive" was the B side of their second single "Love Me Two Times". The song is known by fans as being one of the first songs written by Jim Morrison and it's also the song that started it all. It's the song that Jim Morrison sung to Ray Manzarek in Venice Beach and thus, in many ways, this is the song that helped to form The Doors. This is another good song with a nice rhythm but, it isn't for sure one of my favourites. The seventh track "People Are Strange" was the first song chosen to be released as the first single of the album. The song is about the alienation and be an outsider and a very loner person. This is another good and enjoyable song, but it's also a sad song with a dark musical atmosphere. It's a song with simple lyrics, ironic and sarcastic. The eighth track "My Eyes Have Seen You" represents one of the most light and beautiful moments on the album. It's a short, simple and nice rock song with the same dark, evil and impetus vein of most of the songs of their early days. This is an incredible song which is, at the same time, a love song and a perverse song. I think only The Doors were able to do such thing. The ninth track "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind" is another psychedelic song with a blues touch, weird and with an exotic sound. This is an interesting and bizarre song with a creepy and atmospheric musical ambience. Despite it has some good musical moments, especially the use of marimba and backward cymbal effects, it doesn't represent one of the best musical moments on the album. The tenth track "When The Music's Over" is the third lengthist song recorded by the group with "The End" and "Celebration Of The Lizard", and represents the epic and the highlight musical moment on the album. This is a song in the same vein of "The End" and it's a song that grows in intensity, like "The End", finishing it with a great musical climax and probably it represents the only true progressive moment on the album. "When The Music's Over" appears at the end of the work print of the 1979 movie "Apocalypse Now", by Francis Ford Coppola, when Willard kills Kurtz. However, it was replaced by "The End" in the final version.

Conclusion: Although not as good as "The Doors", "Strange Days" still can be considered an excellent album. So, it still can be rated with 5 stars and be considered a masterpiece. In my humble opinion, the main reason to be not as good as their debut consists basically on the fact that many of these songs were skipped of their debut studio album. I don't want to say that we are in presence of a handful of less good songs. But, in a certain way, they didn't stop being a second choice. Concluding, "Strange Days" is a great album, very well balanced and with a great set of songs, especially "When The Music's Over", which perfectly followed the same musical formula of "The Doors". This is a fantastic album, if you enjoyed the first one, and it's also very special for people, like me, who love their earlier works.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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