THE DOORS

The debut album from The Doors is without a doubt one of the most groundbreaking releases in rock history. The Doors is a unique band with a unique sound and for a debut album The Doors have a very mature quality yet maintaining the youthful experimentation of the time. The Doors mixed circus like organ themes with blues rock, jazz influenced drumming and the dark provocative lyrics from Jim Morrison. Their sound was highly original and even though they were pioneers in the organ led prog rock genre, no other band has ever sounded like them. Not then and certainly not now.

Break On Through (To the Other Side) starts the album. It´s a very energetic song with some dark lyrics which wasn´t something you heard everyday in 1967. Soul Kitchen is a good rock song while Crystal Ship is a more subtle song. It´s a real beauty. Twentieth Century Fox is a real rocker. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) is a favorite of mine. It´s a cover song of a german cabaret song by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht from 1927 done The Doors way.

Light My Fire is The Doors signature song and while I´m a bit tired of that particular song it´s still an evergreen that deserves praise. The long organ and guitar solos are of course a big treat in Light My Fire even though some people might find them a bit too long. Jim Morrison´s dark and sensual voice captured a whole generation with this song. Back Door Man is a blues cover song which was originaly played by Howlin Wolf. If you like Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman´s more bluesy sound Back Door Man is the song for you. I Looked at You, End Of The Night and Take It As It Comes are all good songs while not standing out very much. The End is one of the most famous The Doors songs of course immortalized in Apocalypse Now but also a great song in it´s own respect. It´s was a steady routine in The Doors early live shows and was played in many different jamming versions that always build on the eastern influenced main riff but always evolved into something new. It´s a very repetitive song but it never gets boring.

The musicianship on this debut album is outstanding. Everyone here has their own style that brings that special sound to The Doors. Jim Morrison´s deep and pleasant voice plus his dark lyrics, Ray Manzarek´s dominant organ and piano playing plus his keyboard bass. John Densmore jazzy influenced rock drumming and Robby Krieger´s distinct guitar notes. It´s the interplay between these four musicians that made them legends though. They play really tight and with great sense of dynamics.

The sound quality is very good for the time and even today it stands as one of the best productions of the sixties.

Of course a classic album like this deserves 5 stars, but I must confess that I like other The Doors albums a little more than this debut album and even though this is a very innovative album for the time, there are still a couple of songs that doesn´t stand out that much. This is a brilliant album though and I will rate it 4 stars. The Doors rule.