THE DOORS

None of these are great songs; sometimes great pieces of lyrics with a non-descript melody thrown in; sometimes banal, sometimes pretentious, sometimes a great performance, the Doors could mix the mundane and sublime in one song, never mind one album. Yet it was a powerful mix at its best, suggesting all kind of things that are vaguely unattainable, a template for much that followed.

I like the atmosphere of this first album more than anything. Even though it's a much more amateurish performance than Strange Days, it has a kind of magic that you don't hear on the subsequent albums. I like The End and End of the Night, but if I have to pick one, it would be Light my Fire, with Morrison's clumsy inability to sing the corny melody line supplied originally by Kreiger, but implausibly and miraculously transforming it into a tough and bluesy vocal that grabs the song by the balls.