THE SOFT PARADE

The Doors has released a strong third album. Not as psychedelic as their fist ones but with lots of greats songs. The "soft Parade" will be rather different "thanks" to the addition of lots of guest musicians (trombone, sax and horn).

I do not know who decided to place "Tell All the People" as the opening track. It must be a joke ! I have a developped sense of humour, but frankly this song is really miserable.

One of the very few great song is obviously "Touch Me". Even it is not too invading during the first part, I wonder why such background orchestration was needed. The four of them would have been more than enough to preform this brilliant song. These arrangements are really useless and almost ruin this very good melody. The "finale" especially is rather wasted. What a pity !

"Shaman's Blues" is more a classic Doors song. Hypnotic rhythm and nice background guitar work from Krieger. A definite blues number, but one of the best song from this album (there won't be a lot, unfortunately). "Do It" is another one : a good rock number. Not a classic, but in this ocean of weak songs, it almost stands out as a great track.

"Easy Ride", although not flooded with the awful "orchestration" is rather weak. A country and western song. This is not at all my preferred music genre. Whether The Doors play it or not : it doesn't matter. Absolutely useless.

My fave so far is inevitably "Wild Child". Why inevitably ? It sounds more as a classic Doors song. Good slide guitar work, hypnotic keyboard riff, solid drumming and a great Morrison (not too tortured). Unfortunately, it is too short. This isolated good moment is followed by the crappiest song you can imagine : "Runnin' Blue". Absolutely awful. Country at times, jazzy for most of it, it really stinks. At this point of time, I wonder if this album was not a complete joke.

The "joke" goes on with "Wishful Sinful". Violin and horn are dominating. It is really hard to believe that the same band produced tracks like "The End", "Break on Through" or "Light My Fire" only two years before. Disgusting.

The intro of "The Soft Parade" will be a part of their live apperances ("You Cannot Petition The Lord With Prayer"). The whole song as such being almost forgotten from their concerts (although I do have one unofficial version it on an album called "Essential Rarities" which sounds a lot better). The part which Jim introduces as "this is the best part of the trip. I really like it" is effectively the best part of this track. This song is really a weird and complex one. "One Night In Paris" (10 CC) is maybe a good comparison for its grotesque side.

Like many Doors fan, I really do not like this album. They must have been either completely out of inspiration, fully loaded, or in a damned hurry to fulfil their contractual obligations to produce such a poor album. Probably all of this together. This album is a complete mess. Do not buy it. Never listen to it. Those are my best advices. Two stars for the four good tracks I have mentioned.