THE DOORS

The Doors. Such an influential group, especially in the psychedelic scene of the time, with Jim's heavy, deep, but smooth voice taking the lead on this one. The art is nothing special, although it does include the fondly remembered Doors Logo - which surprisingly was only used on on other cover. Also, when going through the album, one musn't forget that it came before "Sgt. Pepper's...", but it was nearing it's release, coming slightly before the groundbreaking masterpiece.

The opening side of the album has quite a few obvious singles, "Break on through..." just about managing to be a hit in the UK charts, itself having quite a groovy melody, and being a great way to open up the album. "Soul Kitchen" has a really memorable and enjoyable opening, and continues of from the groovy basslines of the opening track, and is arguably more suited for a single than the opening track, but alas, that would never come from it, and the lyrics are catchy, and interesting (somewhat, it's one of the lyrically weaker songs). "Crystal Ship" is a rather odd song, not really fitting in with the rest of the first side, with a more somber sound, which is accompanied by more somber lyrics, and as much as I feel that it's not fitting at this part of the album, it does work as a b-side to the no.1 hit "Light my fire". The next two are forgettable, the second being a cover.

"Light my fire". The Doors most well recognised song (alongside the later "Riders of the Storm"), and one of the best songs they'd ever make, with some of Ray Manzarek's best work in the album, and a bassline that's not quite on par with the rest of the album, but the other music makes up for that. The keyboard solo is absoloutely magnificient, making the album version far superior over the hit single version, lasting for multiple minutes, and in the later parts moving towards a guitar solo.

The second side has a few semi-interesting songs. One of these is "Take it as it Comes", but it's nowhere near the quality of the first side.

The last song is Morrison's masterpiece. The End truly shows the poetic abilities of Jim Morrison, in his ability to tell so many differnt things with so little - although it's not without it's fair amount of nonsense lyrics, especially at the end of the song, which has a despicable amount of curses.

Overall, "The Doors" suffered from the fate that many albums of the time did - a weak side two. But that's not to say that it wasn't still a great, and influential album, having traces in bands such as Jefferson Airiplane and Deep Purple.

But I must only give it a four, and with what would happen in May that year, it doesn't hold up in comparison.