Easily the Doors' best album. Side one is as perfect as rock and roll gets. Opening with the hard rocking "Break On Through", Jim teaches the Righteous Brothers a thing about "Blue Eyed Soul" in "Soul Kitchen". "The Crystal Ship" is a nice mix of baroque music and acid-laced lyrics. The group's tribute to the New Sixties' Girl is a seductive "Twentieth Century Fox". And it was sheer genius to include Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Alabama Song". This song typifies the dark carnival rock that the Doors did best. "Light My Fire" is one of the great anthems of the sixties. I do find Manzarek's solo a bit meandering, but I'm nit-picking now.
And I love Howlin' Wolf. But I'd rather hear this white boys' rendering of his classic "Back Door Man" than the great blues man's version. So sue me. And tell me how white boys can't do blues. I'll laugh in your face.
The two weakest cuts of the album follow. "I Looked at You" and "Take It As It Comes" are forgettable tunes. "End of the Night" is certified Morrison spookiness, leading up to "The End"...which people either love or hate. I think it rambles on for far too long, containing some of Morrison's worst lyrics, along with some of his best. The "Oedipal" sequence is truly inspired.
Say what you want to about Morrison. He was a self-destructive alcoholic. Indulgent on stage and off, the man was on a mission. I think Morrison really wanted to change the world through his work. When he found out he was only a "pop star" he became depressed, got fat and died, as they say.
It was another time. Now we have the MTV generations, and we have uninspired "pop stars" who are weird just to be weird. Which makes me sadly miss groups like the Doors.
The Doors' went on to do some great albums. "Strange Days" is nearly as good. And Jim went out like a phoenix on "L.A. Woman". But this album is so good it was hard to replicate. One of the best lps of the late sixties, no doubt.