WAITING FOR THE SUN

This is where it all fell apart for The Doors. Before they stepped foot in a studio for the first time, the band had enough material for about three albums. The self titled album is a near masterpiece while the second, "Strange Days", is a masterpiece of sixties psychedelic rock. The third, which was to be called "Celebration of the Lizard", is based on a Jim Morrison tone poem which was intended to occupy the whole second side of the album. Listening to this track now, courtesy of the Rhino 40th anniversary 2006 remix (and also featured on the live Doors album, "Absolutely Live"), one can sense the progression of the music which began with the first long Morrison piece, "The End", from the self titled album through the more complex, "When the Music's Over", from "Strange Days", to the lengthier story telling of the "Celebration of the Lizard" suite of the third album. From what we're told, at some point someone got cold feet (the studio execs, album producer, musicians?) and the project was scrapped. The shortened middle fast section of the Celebration suite, "Not to Touch the Earth", was kept for the new album and the album was renamed, "Waiting for the Sun" (the song WFTS however is kept over for the following album, "Morrison Hotel", but that's another story). Due to the scrapping of the Celebration piece the band now needed extra material to complete the album, so they salvaged an early demo song, :Hello I Love You" to open the album. Its first section is a steel of the Kinks number, "All Day and All of the Night". The main melody line is carried by the Manzarek's synthesizer, while the keyboard flourish that finishes the song, adds a nice psychedelic touch to the song. The second song, "Love Street" is a beautiful Morrison invention which has a jazzy guitar buildup and a piano accompanying the main theme giving it a graceful lullaby feel to the song. "Spanish Caravan" is Robby Krieger's main contribution to the album. The Spanish flamenco style playing of the guitar sound is uncomplicated but wonderfully effective in the rather catchy melody line. However, the instrumental is let down by the hammy lyrics and one wishes that Morrison would write all the lyrics. "Unknown Soldier" is Morrison's lasting legacy as a poet and artist and not only a strong anti-war protest song against the Vietnam war, but a personal rejection of the family values of him having grown up in a military family, the son of a admiral. "Celebration of the Lizard", featured on the 40th anniversary Rhino remix, is a 17 minute demo not quite worked through here and better in the live version. It's still a worthy addition to the 2006 remix version.