THE SOFT PARADE

I must confess I bought this album years ago purely because of the song "Touch Me" a song that pushes all the right buttons for me. Released in 1969 this was a record where THE DOORS decided to change things up a bit adding brass and string arrangments to their sound.

Things get started with "Tell All The People" and talk about brass galore, as in too much brass. The piano, vocals and drums are good though. "Touch Me" is a song that has an amazing contrast between the uptempo beat of the verses and the smooth and creamy chorus. Great song ! "Shaman's Blues" features some reserved organ and guitar play that I really like. The song ends with some good sax.

"Do It" and "Easy Ride" are mediocre songs at best. "Wild Child" opens with guitar and is really a bluesy sounding tune with some good guitar and drums. "Runnin' Blue" has a country sounding chorus with Robbie Krieger singing. There is some brass and the organ and sax are good. "Wishful Sinful" is a good song with strings and brass. "The Soft Parade" has a brutal intro but the percussion is great in this the longest song on the record.

I can only recommend this to die hard fans of THE DOORS as there just isn't enough here for prog fans to enjoy.