WAITING FOR THE SUN

First of all, I'll rate this record as a proto-prog record, not a a progrecord.

The Doors might just be the first '70 progband I listened to after seeing the movie about the Doors which I though was great back then. I recently got some vinyl copies of my Doors collection and decided it was time to write something about them here.

This record has so much to offer for everyone. Two happy easy listening moody rocksongs with great vocals of Jim, the psychedelic/proto Not To Touch The Earth, The politically important Unknown Soldier, the progressive masterpiece SPANISH CARAVAN, the native/drunk sounding My Wild Love (which I like very much), The easy going typical Doors- track We could be so Good Together, the progmasterpiece YES THE RIVER KNOWS and the tour-de-force-extreme Five to One (one of my favourite Doors). Some other songs are nog as important, but still they are nice moody Doors tracks. What is kind of desturbing is the missing song Waiting of the Sun, which would appear on the Morisson Hotel album.

For the time being this could be considered a masterpiece of proto-progressive rock. Only the Moody Blues and Pink Floyd made a more progressive record in 1968 as far as I know.

On side one the progressive/acid Not to Touch the Earth is one of the best tracks. The hypnotic rythm with the obsessed vocals of Jim make this a special Doors song with some little reference to the atmospheres of the stranger parts of The End. Wintertime love and Summers almost gone are acceptable Doors songs, but not as inspired as most of their work.

The main reason to buy this album is actually the crazy perfect second side. Spanish Caravan and Yes The River Knows are both excellent songs with much progressive songwriting. Spanish Caravan uses classical Spanish influences played with organ and acoustic guitar (in the second part with electric guitar) with Jim's vocals sounding very inspired. Yes the River Knows is a jazzy/mellow/melodic song. Personally this song is as special for me as The End. I just love it. The melodies are original, melancholic and they make me feel at home. The last song Five to One is one of my favoure powersongs of the Doors. Though the instrumentals are minimal here, Jim shows vocal capabilites of the highest rank. No one can ever do is as good again, this is THE recording.

Conclusion. A perfect protoprog record with some of my favourite songs of all time. Very inspiring record for other great bands to come. Four Stars without doubt.

Share this THE DOORS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to friso
• Report this review (#244778)
• Buy THE DOORS music online with PA partners
• Show all THE DOORS MP3/Stream
• Go to THE DOORS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Waiting for the Sun page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE DOORS related discussions