The Doors are opening. (The Doors - The Doors)

Member Name: kylecoare

Product:	The Doors - The Doors
Date:	08/01/04 (310 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jims vocals, great musicians, quality tunes

Disadvantages: a few fillers, Jims untimely death.

THE DOORS - THE DOORS
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The debut album by this amazing American rock band must go down as one of the best debut releases of all time.

In 1965 a group of students from the University College of Los Angeles(UCLA), started what was to be a turbulent ride through rock and roll.
These students took the name 'The Doors' after a poem/book entitled the doors of perception.

Led by Poet/singer Jim Morrison, the doors brought a new sound to the 60's, with a dark brooding version of rock, with intense poetic lyrics and music that was never scared to change from the normal poppy tunes that were highly popular at the time.

Lyrically the band was one of the forerunners of poetic verses in rock, instead of just using wishy-washy lyrics that gave a nice feel good feeling, this band instead took the route of writing poems that held your attention for more than a few minutes and made you actually think about what you were hearing.

In Jim Morrison the band had a frontman that could change the tone of a record with just a slight change of his voice, but they also had a person that would ultimately spell the end for the band.

Over the years Jim Morrison has received a lot of bad press, regarding his heavy drinking and drug binges and his sexual behaviour, but on the other side of the coin, this guy had a lot of insightful thoughts and was a very clever person, part of the mans main downfall was the success of his band, and more so him as the leader getting all the attention, when all he really wanted was for people to hear the words.

This album was released in 1967, and still sounds as fresh and as new as anything released today.

After this album the band released a further 6 albums, before Jim's untimely death aged 27, in 1971, only 4 years after this was released.

The band has also had countless bootlegs, live albums and best of collections released since they
formed.

The band has influenced many of todays rock acts including Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.

BAND MEMBERS
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Jim Morrison - Singer
Ray Manzarek - Keyboards
Robby Krieger - Guitar
John Densmore - Drums

THE ALBUM
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The album contains 11 songs and has a running time of 44 minutes.

---TRACK 1 - BREAK ON THROUGH---

The opening number on the album, and you've already got a classic.
The song starts with a brilliant almost tribal bass line, which soon drags you into its own little world.
Then just as the bass line gets you under its hypnotic spell, Jim's vocals come in with a very powerful performance.

About a third of the way through the song we get Krieger's rock and roll guitars flowing over the rest of the song, bringing a whole new feel to the tune and bringing it to an almost brilliant moment that could only be bettered if someone were to add some keyboards...
...Oh and that's just what comes in next, with Manzarek's interesting church organ type sound, which mixed together with the rest of the song forms what can only be described as a classic.

"You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side"

---TRACK 2 - SOUL KITCHEN---

The next song isn't quite as powerful and raw as the last, but its still a great moment in rock history.
With a simple repeating organ/keyboard tune running throughout the song, and a few nicely placed almost jazzy drumbeats.
The rest of the tune is left pretty bare for Jim to paint his images over it.

Jim's vocals are quite difficult to describe, on one hand they can sound fairly soft and thoughtful and then the next minute he is bursting out a throat shredding chorus, which shows so much power and emotion in his voice, whilst never sounding like
he is shouting.

Krieger again adds some nice guitar licks over the tune, which just add that nice finishing touch to the tune.

"Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen
Warm my mind near your gentle stove
Turn me out and I'll wander baby
Stumblin' in the neon groves"


---TRACK 3 - THE CRYSTAL SHIP---

One of my all time favourite tunes, this is a mournful slow ballad type song, which shows the bands talents weren't only as a rock band.

Musically this is a very sparse tune, with a nice piano tune playing in the background, and some low drumbeats which just keep the beat, whilst never outstaying their welcome.

This song really is all about Jim's vocals, which show a very good soft soulful feeling to them, and fit perfectly to the slow music track.

The only problem is that its only two and a half minutes long, when it really should go on a lot longer!

"The days are bright and filled with pain.
Enclose me in your gentle rain,
The time you ran was too insane,
We'll meet again, we'll meet again."

---TRACK 4 - TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX---

One of the few tracks that really doesn't stand out too much, not that its a poor song, it just doesn't have the gripping nature of some of the other songs.

Musically this is a fairly simple tune, with the organ playing the main tune, with the guitar and drums bringing the rest altogether.

The vocals are fairly nondescript on this song which is a shame, as Jim has already shown that he had a great voice but it didn't really work here.

"She's the queen of cool
And she's the lady who waits
Sent to manless school
It never hesitates
She won't waste time
On elementary talk"

---TRACK 5 - ALABAMA SONG(Whisky bar)---

This song was originally from a 1929 German opera, and it shows a complet
ely different sound for the band, with its bouncy guitar sound being the main focus point of the music, with the keyboards providing some interesting effects in the background.

This shows a really interesting side to Jim's vocals, with its intensely catchy chorus and jaunty verses, the vocals work surprisingly well, and the song fits perfectly on the album, although its style is so different.

The chorus sounds almost like a fairground tune, and is very catchy, which for a band that always gets called 'Dark and Brooding' sounds like a complete mismatch, but it works.


---TRACK 6 - LIGHT MY FIRE---

Hands up who doesn't know this song...
So that's no one then, oh wait I didn't mean the Will Young version!
Yep that's right the song that Will Young did on Pop Idol was in fact a song by this great band, but this version is completely different, in that its actually quite good!

Anyone that's in their twenties or older should know this song as it was re-released a few years ago, and was one of the main reasons I got into the band at the time, although I have to admit that it is probably one of my least favourite songs now.

The single version was only 3 minutes long, but here on the album you are treated to the full 6.30 minutes of music, which includes a nice section of instrumental music in the middle which kicks back into the main song after a few minutes.

The rest of the song is a fairly poppy tune for the band, which showed that Jim wasn't the only good lyric writer in the band, as this was actually written by Robby Krieger.
Musically its a great tune and shows a lot of talent, especially Ray's organ pieces.
Jim's vocals are quite restrained on this song, which is a shame as it could have used a bit more power but still a good song, although not my favourite.

"The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
T
ry now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire"


---TRACK 7 - BACK DOOR MAN---

Stop being disgusting... Backdoor man relates to a married woman's unlawful lover, and not to some sexual act!

This song was originally done by Blues guitarist/singer Willie Dixon, and again shows that Jim wasn't afraid of trying different styles and other peoples lyrics.

Musically this is a pure blues tune, with a simple bluesy riff running throughout the song.

The main focus is Jim's vocals, which show lots of passion and power.
You get the feeling that he really enjoyed doing this song, as he puts so much effort into it.


---TRACK 8 - I LOOKED AT YOU---

One of the few fillers on the album, this song suffers from being a bit too 60's, with the poppy tune which would have probably suited the Beatles or the Kinks more, it really didn't fit quite as well on this album.

The music is very poppy with some simple guitar chords being played over the ever present organ sound.

Jim's vocals seem a little drawn back into the mix on this song, and they don't have half of the feeling of other songs on the album.

---TRACK 9 - END OF THE NIGHT---

As the end of the album starts to draw closer the songs seem to loose a bit of the shine of earlier tunes, which is a shame as the opening was so promising.

This one just seems a little too drawn out, being more of a way for Jim to air a poem than being an actual song.

Still an interesting listen, but not something to sing along with, or to even put on before a night out.

"Take the highway to the end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
Take a journey to the bright midnight
End of the night, end of the night"

---TRACK 10 - TAKE IT AS IT COMES---

Not a bad tune, but again it seems a little light
compared with some of the great tunes on offer.

Musically this is a simple rock ands roll number, with some nice piano and guitar sections, the drums are quite pronounced on this song and give it a bit more depth to the sound.

Vocally this has some quite powerful sections, but in total it seems like a bit of a wasted tune.
Although i say that this isn't a top song, im looking at it from the year 2004 when lots of people have copied the style and sound, but when this was originally done this was quite a new sound, so maybe I would have thought differently about it then.


---TRACK 11 - THE END---

The best last song ever, this 'song' is one of those rare tunes, which draws you in and holds your attention for its full running time, a whole 11 minutes.
So if your in a hurry don't play this song, or you will be late, As you wont be able to press the stop button until it finishes.

Musically this is a very simple little slow tune, well infact its not even a tune, its like a landscape of sound, which gives an image of doom and destruction.

Again the main focus point is Jim, with the Epic sounding vocals, painting a slightly disturbing picture about his family and upbringing.

A great ending to a classic album.

"Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need
Of some stranger's hand
In a desperate land"


OVERALL
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This is a great purchase for anyone that claims to be into rock music, it gives a very clear view of where a lot of todays rock acts originated from.

Although some of the songs seem a little poor, they fit into the album quite well, and you find that if you play the entire album the songs fit a lot better than listening to single songs.

I would also recommend the second album 'Strange Days', which personally I prefer.

The rest of the band hav
e reformed and are now on tour as the 21st century doors, with former member of the Cult, Ian Astbury providing the vocals. They also plan to do a new studio album later in the year.

Thanks for reading.
Kyle

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