THE DOORS

If I were to think of one album that ''sounds like the 60's'', this album would probably be one of the first if not THE first to pop in my mind. Certainly groundbreaking for 1967 and on so many levels, it's such a shame that I really don't have much enthusiasm for THE DOORS even if this album is the first album I purchased that is PA worthy (as early as December 2004).

As far as a prog factor is concerned, I feel that there are two songs worthy of analysis, and they happen to be the two longest ones (predictalbe, no?). ''Light My Fire'' is one of the best known songs from the Doors and happens to feature long soloing from Hammond organ and guitar wrapped in a lush psychedelic atmosphere. Unfortunately, I feel that the soloing gets a tad too long for its own sake. I happen to think of it as a great three minute 60's piece with four minutes of extended solos.

''The End'' is, to me, the other really noteworthy track of the album. It starts with this eerie guitar figure and Jim's voice booming over it all in a rather spooky mystique. The song feels the need to gradually climb and recede over time until about the nine minute mark when all goes crazy. And it drops to the same level as it began at the end. In all my overanalysing, let me say this, ''The End'' is absolutely spine chilling.

Everything else seems too ''stuck in the 60's'' for me to really enjoy. I admit to liking ''Break on Through'', ''I Looked at You'' and ''Back Door Man'', but it's hard for me to get mileage out of this as I was born nearly twenty years after the album was released. It's good to see where some prog aspects came from, but there isn't a crying need to have it in your collection.