THE BEST OF THE DOORS

The Doors was an American band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The origins of The Doors emerged from a meeting between two UCLA film school students Morrison and Manzarek on the Venice Beach, California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and at a request of Manzarek, he sang "Moonlight Drive", a song that would appear on "Strange Days". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they could form a band.

"The Best Of The Doors (1973)" is a compilation of The Doors. It was released in 1973 and has eleven tracks. It features tracks from five of their six studio albums when Morrison was member of The Doors. It has three tracks from "The Doors" of 1967, three tracks from "Strange Days" also of 1967, one track from "Waiting For The Sun" of 1968, one track from "The Soft Parade" of 1969 and two tracks from "L.A. Woman" of 1971. Thus, it hasn't any tracks from their fifth studio album "Morrison Hotel". So, "Soul Kitchen", "Take It As It Comes" and "Light My Fire" are from "The Doors". "People Are Strange", "Love Me Two Times" and "Moonlight Drive" are from "Strange Days". "Hello, I Love You" is from "Waiting For The Sun". "Touch Me" is from "The Soft Parade". "Riders On The Storm" and "Love Her Madly" are from "L.A. Woman". But, it has also a track that never was released in any studio album of them, "Who Do You Love".

"Who Do You Love" appears for the first time on their live album "Absolutely Live", of 1970. It's a cover from an original song recorded in 1965 by Bo Diddley. This is a good song with a nice Krieger's slide guitar work. It sounds pretty, actually. "Soul Kitchen" is a tribute to the soul food restaurant "Olivia's" in the Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, where Morrison and Manzarek met for the first time and represents the place where all began. It's a nice rock song played with energy. "Hello, I Love You" was a big commercial success. Despite be considered one of the most pop songs by The Doors and be frequently criticized, it's a great and catchy song. I never understood the dislike of many fans of the band about it. "People Are Strange" is about the alienation and be an outsider and a very loner person. This is another good and enjoyable song, but it's also at the same time a sad song with a dark musical atmosphere. It's a song with simple lyrics, ironic and sarcastic. "Riders On The Storm" represents, one of the greatest highlights of the band. This is a legendary track, which seems to be the last song recorded by The Doors, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released. It seems that it have been played live only once, on The Doors last public performance with Morrison, on the "L.A.Woman" tour at The Warehouse, in New Orleans, USA in 1970. "Touch Me" is a notable song for the extensive use of the brass and string instruments and also because the use of a saxophone solo by Curtis Amy. The orchestral arrangements work perfectly well and they accent Jim Morrison's vocals, even more. "Love Her Madly" became as one of the highest charting hits of The Doors. It's an interesting rock song with good lyrics, very good performances by all band's members, especially the guitar performance of Krieger is really amazing. "Love Me Two Times" is about a sailor and his last day with his girlfriend before shipping out to the Vietnam War. It's one of the most normal and typical rock songs made by the band. It has a slight touch of blues, which is a very normal common thing with many songs of The Doors. "Take It As It Comes" is a beautiful pop rock song, well made, highly attractive and which still sounds fresh and young in our days. We can say this song is so well written that sounds much better than many of the songs on the pop scene today. "Moonlight Drive" is known by fans as being one of the first songs written by Morrison, the song that started all. It's the song that Morrison sung to Manzarek in the Venice Beach. In many ways, this is the song that helped to form The Doors. It's a good song with a nice rhythm. "Light My Fire" was the first great success of them. It has brought the world fame and recognition to the band in the summer of 1967, bringing The Doors to the top of the charts and a symbol of that generation of the late 60's. It's one of the songs that immortalized the band.

Conclusion: "The Best Of The Doors (1973)", is really one of the best compilations released by The Doors. Seven of the eleven songs chosen to be part of it were taken from their three best studio albums "The Doors", "Strange Days" and "L.A. Woman". Only one was taken From "Waiting For The Sun" and one other from "The Soft Parade". None was chosen from "Morrison Hotel" and, fortunately, none was chosen from "Other Voices" and "Full Circle", the two albums released without Jim Morrison. Sincerely, I never got used to of hearing The Doors, without Morrison. Still, if you don't know The Doors very well and you need to by a compilation of the band, I sincerely advise you to buy "The Best Of The Doors", released in 1985, or the double CD compilation "The Very Best Of The Doors", released in 2007, because they're better and more representative from the career of the band when Jim Morrison was a member of The Doors.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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