THE SOFT PARADE

After the disappointing Waiting For The Sun, The Doors tried to find new sources of inspiration. The result just makes me scratch my head, where was there mind? I appreciate the intention to breach expectations but the weak song material and the choice 50's pop evergreen stylings makes this easily into the weakest Doors album.

Right from the start, the irritating brass arrangements of Tell All The People exceeds the worst expectations I had about this album. Even a good song like Touch Me is damaged by the same dated orchestration. Shaman's Blues and Wild Child are adequate blues tunes and the only songs that rise above averge. The tracks in between, Do It and Easy Ride are faceless pop tunes. Runnin' Blue is filler and Wishful Sinful is a decent tune that is brought down again by the kitschy string section. The title track has a some decent moments but lacks coherence and truly convincing melodies.

Generally this album misses the power, emotion and inspiration of the best Doors albums. Luckily the band realized this as well and would continue their career with 2 raw and powerful albums that didn't need any of the frills and flourishes that were added here to cover up the weakness of the song material. 1.5 stars.