POO!: The Doors

I'll go for "Moonlight Drive" now as well. For now.

Saccharine Trust's version of 'Peace Frog' is v. good, tho'.

The Oliver Stone film is a joke, Danny Sugarman should have never written the book and Morrison's poetry isn't very good, that being said, I can still never understand why some will praise some complete minor 60s psych rock and then turn around and say The Doors were a horrible group. To each their own.

'peace frog'.

I like The Doors.

thats where i'm at! autosalvage are so better than the Doors ! & i've never even heard them!

I have NEVER remotely understood why anyone likes the Doors, and the fact that writers as talented as Meltzer and Tosches have failed to convince me (I think Bangs comes closest to my own view of them; see his article in that big Rolling Stone book from the late seventies) of their genius indicates that I'm probably never going to figure it out.

...but "The End" is still pretty good. Sigh.

I would agree with this, except that I find Morrison at his best to be a very charismatic vocalist and though he was responsible for lots of overblown lyrical conceits and probably the worst excesses of the band, he also provided an imagery and sensibility which was central to the band's overall effect.

That said, "LA Woman" makes my top ten list of great driving songs- and when the tune follows the Mojo jam by kicking right back into the initial melody, it is an exhilarating moment.

the doors became good when they stopped all the musical shaman-psychedelica horseshit and morphed into doing greasy bar-blooz.

for covers, X, "Soul Kitchen"

i mean, i hear the "here comes the sun" sample no problem, but that's the beatles, obviously. and the "fellas what fells what get ready i'm ready i think i'm gonna" is from "mama said knock you out" by ll cool j, and the "OVERDOSE" bit is from "once you understand" by think, but i don't hear no doors.

roffle

How did I never answer this thread? Huh. Well, "Moonlight Drive" it is, with "L.A. Woman" a close second.

(Answer to trivia question above: xgau.)

Incidentally, for real Rockist evangelism, please see the ongoing Marquee Moon thread. Now, there's a Great Rock Classic in the worst way.

Can we do a POX of Doors 'blues' songs? I know all the hits (and a few non-hits) but gravitate toward the 'greasy bar blues' Tad refers to upthread, like "Roadhouse Blues." What are the 'sleepers' of this ilk and on which album(s) do they appear?

..they sound like a drawn-out, dull Question Mark and the Mysterians with a second-rate Vegas lounge singer droning idiotic gibberish that only the most severely stoned of the pretentious, goth literature-reading teenage crowd would think was anything resembling 'poetry.'

this is sooo otm. and sooo the reason why The Doors are better than the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, & Floyd combined.

http://www.affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/perplexed_gorilla_small.jpg

zing.gif

can't say that i love them more than the beatles, stones, zep & pink floyd combined, but i will say the doors are massively underrated by dudes on the internet

into your blue, blue, blues

Every post on here needs to be changed to "Crystal Ship"

i'll second that...

I'd like to have another kiss.

(though I'm sad to see Peace Frog go)

not played a doors record for years, but crystal ship is the one

Yeah Crystal Ship is fantastic, great melody, sounds like no one else. I actually like a bunch of their songs, still can't stand Light My Fire though. Most of their albums are patchy aside from maybe Morrison Hotel.

POX:
Crystal Ship
You're Lost Little Girl
Peace Frog
Indian Summer
Strange Days
Soft Parade
Roadhouse Blues
LA Woman
Waiting for the Sun
Blue Sunday

There is a new oldies station in Atlanta that plays "Touch Me" more than any other Doors song, and I always kind of liked it partly in an ironic way partly not. The more they play it the more I like it though. The "I'm gonna love ya" part is too beautiful.

Jim could have been a rad twisted Las Vegas crooner in the 70s if he hadn't offed himself....

I kind of like "Unkown Soldier." It's got the Byrdsy thing going on.
POO Doors of all time has gotta be "Break on Through," though.

riders on the storm
most mature sounding doors. best balance of instruments and voice. doesn't sound like they're all competing with each other.

and to think 'you're lost little girl' was my vote 4 years ago. much has changed since then.

LA Woman or Break On Through

the Crystal Ship love earlier in the thread is well-deserved. One of the song where they manage to sound enchanting and mysterious in the way that I think they thought they were all along.

"Strange Days"

this song is incredible. it sounds like it could be a Cure b-side. only downside is the drumming deficiency becomes a bit obvious as it builds and builds.

i just listened to the album for the first time since discovering The Damned and a lot of other stuff. it really seems obvious the Doors were massively influential on 80s pop in particular. Morrison's mopey/ironic/gothic baritone is so ahead of its time. this band can be playing chintzy Hammond organ demo music and he elevates it to Dark Bubblegum. the cool goth lyrics certainly help ("Don't miss your chance/to swim in mystery/you are dying in a prison/of your own device.").

"Riders on the storm" is my jam

Doors are so great

My favorite Doors song is their cover of "Who Do You Love" on that live album.

Peace Frog

I also think they're a painfully overrated band by rockists and I'm of the opinion that Morrison (and the rest of the band too) didn't take themselves seriously and the whole poet thing was trolling on their part.

Rockists? They exist, do they?

it really seems obvious the Doors were massively influential on 80s pop in particular.

No Doors, no Echo & the Bunnymen for sure. Among many others!

I love the Doors and don't care who knows it! My pick is the performance of Roadhouse Blues from An American Prayer, one of the great performances by any band anytime anywhere.

i love the doors too.

LA Woman for me

it is like an immediate mood lifter for me

i was a huge doors fan as a teenager and eventually felt embarrassed by them but now i've come back around and i think they are a wonderful and fun band

^^ my experience exactly

David Crosby sneered on twitter the other day that Jim was a "poser"...said the scion of the Van Rennselaers, one of the oldest and fanciest of New York's Dutch-era families [eye roll]

lol yeah Crosby's one to talk

No Doors, no Echo & the Bunnymen for sure. Among many others!

many many others! imo "Don't You Forget About Me" also trafficking in the same territory as many "Strange Days" tracks.

Morrison not taking himself seriously but also ironically taking himself seriously feels very postmodern and is one of the elements that surprises me every time i come back to the band.

I hear Jim's phrasing in a lot of Ian Curtis lines

Feel like goth in general has roots in the Doors creepy haunted house organ vibez

Iggy Pop and Johnny Ramone (who in one of his last interviews said the Doors were the only good American band of the 60s) were both huge fans, and probably the 2 men most responsible for punk

Morrison not taking himself seriously but also ironically taking himself seriously feels very postmodern and is one of the elements that surprises me every time i come back to the band.

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, December 2, 2016 12:24 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Morrison could rock a terrible lyric with the best of them but I think when people talk bout him being humorless or pompous or whatever I believe they are mistakenly critiquing Val Kilmer's performance in the "True Detective" prequel "The Doors"

Jim's in on the joke a lot more than people give him credit for

I hear Jim's phrasing in a lot of Ian Curtis lines

Always thought Ian Curtis was doing Iggy doing Jimbo.

though my tolerance for the doors themselves is about as low as ever, i do find myself with increasing appreciation for bands that are obviously trying to sound like the doors. i like one st. stephen, for instance. and children of the mushroom - their archival rehearsal tape release is particularly on a heavy doors trip, and it sounds good.

but jim's poetry is just so profoundly awful. i can't imagine anybody writing poetry that bad and _not_ being serious about it. i mean obviously he wasn't serious about _everything_, nobody is, but the poetry? pretty sure he was serious about that.

structurally they are the most post-punk of all the name brand 60s bands....the chording and melodies are much more carried by the keyboards and bass and the guitar tends towards more textural or ornamental, clean tone single note picked lines

Also, echoing what several have said here is the correct Doors fandom trajectory

13-14 "OMG GOD THIS IS AMAZING"
15-16 "Fuck man the Doors really get me"
17-35 "This is so awful, this music is so corny! The lyrics is so dumb! No bass player? LAME"
36-37 "Eh this isn't so bad, the first record is pretty good"
38 and beyond "OMG GOD THIS IS AMAZING"

structurally they are the most post-punk of all the name brand 60s bands....the chording and melodies are much more carried by the keyboards and bass and the guitar tends towards more textural or ornamental, clean tone single note picked lines

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

if you don't consider the music machine "name brand", i guess. manzarek's playing gets a little too proggy to really fit in with post-punk imo

Also, echoing what several have said here is the correct Doors fandom trajectory

13-14 "OMG GOD THIS IS AMAZING"
15-16 "Fuck man the Doors really get me"
17-35 "This is so awful, this music is so corny! The lyrics is so dumb! No bass player? LAME"
36-37 "Eh this isn't so bad, the first record is pretty good"
38 and beyond "OMG GOD THIS IS AMAZING"

― chr1sb3singer

and this is why logan's run had it right

Also Jim poetry outside of the band is an entirely different kettle of fish and "An American Prayer" is this close to being the worst record made by anyone ever.

Ride the snake tho

structurally they are the most post-punk of all the name brand 60s bands....the chording and melodies are much more carried by the keyboards and bass and the guitar tends towards more textural or ornamental, clean tone single note picked lines

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

if you don't consider the music machine "name brand", i guess. manzarek's playing gets a little too proggy to really fit in with post-punk imo

― xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Friday, December 2, 2016 1:57 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dunno, what about the damned or magazine? and i'm not talking about playing styles i said "structurally"....you've got a case of doorsphobia man, you need to break on thru and accept how awesome they are

look i love "tequila" as much as anybody else but changing the lyrics to a superficial gloss on huxley does not improve the song.

Disagree

That's just like...your own mind man...you gotta...man...c'mon....hey be cool man.

look i love "tequila" as much as anybody else but changing the lyrics to a superficial gloss on huxley does not improve the song.

― xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Friday, December 2, 2016 2:08 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

see what you just described actually sounds like the best possible approach to rock music a.k.a. the doors

Wait if they have no bass player then is that line in peacefrog guitar? Synth?

If getting loaded on whiskey and loudly pontificating on topics you are at best only dimly familiar with isn't rock'n'roll then I've got some serious explaining to do to myself circa age 20 until right now

structurally they are the most post-punk of all the name brand 60s bands....the chording and melodies are much more carried by the keyboards and bass and the guitar tends towards more textural or ornamental, clean tone single note picked lines

Very like the Seeds in fact. (I love both bands btw)

xxp there's bass on a lot of the doors' studio recordings. think it was one of the LA wrecking crew dudes?

Wait if they have no bass player then is that line in peacefrog guitar? Synth?

They had bass players in the studio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Scheff

... and Lonnie Mack sometimes!

Hey man bass is all like...in your mind man...think about it...you think bass is just like...a sound man? C'mon

me, i think the best art comes from those who share their personal experience with the world. and i can't possibly think of a better example of that than the lyrics to the champs' "tequila".

Also w/r/t bass

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cnz_c31WAAQDLEK.jpg

it's like he knew man

i want to start a morrison quotes thread, there are really good ones that are paired w/ photos like that

lol

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/da/89/7c/da897c13fc2e316de22509c354b7174a.jpg

http://inktank.fi/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Jim-Morrison-quotes1.jpg

right on, jim

Hey man bass is all like...in your mind man...think about it...you think bass is just like...a sound man? C'mon

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, December 2, 2016 2:19 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bass is a concept not an instrument
- jim morrison, the white bob marley

RIP
https://img0.etsystatic.com/056/0/10451479/il_fullxfull.702847286_oss8.jpg

that bar has a lot of differnt types of beer glasses and mugs

winehouse is a waitress in rock n roll heaven

and zappa is just a picture on the wall

kurdt and lennon really getting put in the background for a couple of a-listers :/

or is the artist implying they are still misanthropes and wouldn't agree to pose w/everyone else?

also i'm dumb but why is gabriel byrne on the right?

oh lol it's supposed to be a last supper kinda thing

you can find in my painting Meir Ariel, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin , Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Kurt cobain, Elvis Presly (on the I phone), Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker (at the door), John Lennon, Bob Dylan (on the pin button), led zepplin symbols and more.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/216238475/the-last-supper-or-the-first-one-in

Meir Ariel, israeli songwriter, is the guy on the right, apparently

also i'm dumb but why is gabriel byrne on the right?

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, December 2, 2016 3:44 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea i also dont know who that is supposed to be

lol xp

Who's Meir Ariel? I thought that was Frankie Valli.

damn the King has to be on the iPhone! harsh toke...

frankie valli is still alive!

I know, that was the flaw in my thinking.

I also wondered why Dave Stewart of the Eurhythmics was lurking by the pool table.

Then I realized that was silly and it was obviously Roy Harper.

that bar has a lot of differnt types of beer glasses and mugs

In heaven there will be appropriate glassware for various styles of beer - thank God!

this is kinda cool, like the israeli serge gainsbourg or something?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orGAJiCzXTY

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/45/7c/33/457c33ccf9c72ebf86fc7386448fd085.jpg

wino's calf muscle is off the chain

for real
kind of like the uncertain look jim and lou (?) are giving each other here
http://s6.favim.com/orig/150908/amy-winehouse-bob-marley-cielo-freddie-mercury-Favim.com-3258186.jpg

anyway, i could do this all day haha. back to the DOORS. the only band.

Also, weird that these paintings are all of dead people include Jim cuz he isn't dead.

http://www.feelnumb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/jims_grave_2000.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RrrML9LKH8A/hqdefault.jpg
http://www.theparanormalguide.com/uploads/1/7/3/8/17382059/6730738.jpg

#believe

no doubt about it, that's Marley's Ghost

"Touch Me" over "Running Blue," "Peace Frog," and "Hyacinth House."

i agree that james dean and marilyn are cool enough to be considered honorary rock stars

vocals on "hyacinth house" sound like somebody doing a parody of jim morrison as an old man bitching across the table to his wife/bridge partner

"Strange Days"

so apocalyptic. so psychedelic and dark. almost has a Pornography-era Cure vibe to it. and Morrison's anguished "yeah!" sounds pretty cool.

"not to touch the earth"

genuine dread as the ray's keybs and robby's guitar speed up and snake around each other

^^ yeah I gotta go with that one, just barely beating out "Hello, I Love You"

still "the crystal ship".

I have liked them a lot during my teenage years but nowadays the only track I enjoy from them is "LA woman". and it's great !

I could prob do a PO5 for these guys, but if there's one I couldn't live without it's "Peace Frog," inexplicable Bridge included

The Crystal Ship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN6Ri5aw504

la woman

then prob five to one

man i love the doors

"Touch Me"

what I like about "LA woman" is its motoric influence + it's pure fun, no psychedelia/poetic bullshit.
actually, on the same album, the other track I still like is "riders on the storm".

Riders, always and forever

honorable mentions today: strange days, five to one

man i love the doors

^^^^

'Not To Touch The Earth'

can categorically say I do not actually love the Doors but I can vibe out to Riders on the Storm and LA Woman

and Five to One. And Peace Frog.

So many greats but I'm with stirmonster

Or even 'The Celebration of the Lizard' (live, not studio)

(xxxpost)

La woman a close second

pretty random: decided to watch road house AGAIN and of course roadhouse blues is in there, played by jeff healey and his roadhouse band, so after the movie was over i put on the first doors album (that originally belonged to my mom, and which i “borrowed” years ago), then realised i wanted to hear l.a. woman, so i fired up spotify and there’s this thing, released today

https://open.spotify.com/album/16MdQbBQqegRmEkwshz2Ev?si=IET3bQ-jRy6tilem92Cznw

-a “remaster” of changeling (which i can’t really tell the difference on)
- a demo version of riders on the storm which isn’t as good because it lacks a lot of the drawn out electric piano riffing and a lot of the atmospherics, but which DOES include that absolutely tremendous bassline, even higher in the mix. does it remind anybody else of “billie jean”?
- an alternate take of l.a. woman which i think i might even prefer? it’s tighter, closer, jim’s lower in the mix

I can hear Billie Jean yeah and it’s a tremendous genius simple line that outlines the minor root and major IV really sneakily

I tried going further with the Doors, and not a single one of their albums held up from start-to-finish. I only kept this reference comp I made from audiophile reissues - few tracks are faultless, but I still enjoy listening to the whole thing quite a bit:

1 Break On Through (To The Other Side) 02:29
2 The Crystal Ship 02:35
3 Twentieth Century Fox 02:34
4 Light My Fire 07:08
5 Back Door Man 03:34
6 The End 11:42
7 Love Me Two Times 03:18
8 Moonlight Drive 03:01
9 People Are Strange 02:12
10 Hello, I Love You 02:15
11 Touch Me 03:18
12 Roadhouse Blues 04:02
13 Peace Frog 02:54
14 Land Ho! 04:08
15 Love Her Madly 03:22
16 L.A. Woman 07:52
17 The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) 04:16
18 Riders On The Storm 07:14

Most of it's already on the U.S. (i.e. single-CD) version of the 2001 compilation The Very Best of the Doors which Christgau graded as an A, the only Doors release to get that from him.

Actually maybe there's only one single-CD version? Hard to say, there's way too many Doors compilations (which makes burning my own kind of funny, but I wanted audiophile sources for mine).

anybody remember what that video was that stirmonster posted upthread?

nope. it might have been some version of "the crystal ship".

Growing your own comp might well be the best way to go---but then again, I did like several of their albums pretty much all the way through: the debut (personal revelation: "Alabama Song [Whiskey Bar], or vice versa, though I had heard tell of Brecht-Weill and Threepenny Opera, this led me to that and a lot more by those guys, sep and together---also, that marxophone, yow), Waiting For The Sun(Thee Eclectic Album which every aspiring and many a status-maintaining band had to make about then, and I played the HELL out of it man), also most of Morrison Hotel and LA Woman, which xgau did give an Aminus, o thank you Lord, and Absolutely Live, the only live Doors album I've heard, which is sensitive and caveman in just the right places.

And OK, sometimes sensitive caveman at the same time, long before early Vedder etc.

And a few years before most of us heard Kristofferson.

Of course he's more of a singer than either, but can come across as an asshole, unlike them)

xgau on Morrison Hotel...Morrison's gliding vocal presence--arty and self-absorbed though it may be--provides focus. He's not the genius he makes himself out to be, so maybe his genius is that he doesn't let his pretensions cancel out his talent. But will he blow it on this verse, or the next? Keeps me on my toes, not too laidback.

"Sensitive Cavemen Take The Blue Bus Into The Goldmine..."

"Chowin' Down..." sorry I just watched original Night of the Living Dead on TCM. He'd like to be visionary caveman, but that's more John Garner, singer-drummer ov Sir Lord Baltimore, even before (waaay before) they returned w xtian lyrics.