Starting a thread with a s**t pun is probably not the way to go, but if you're reading this then you've clicked it anyway, so stay! Hopefully it gets better.

I'm just responding to Mr. O'Haras very entertaining but hugely one-sided review of the Doors recent Greatest Hits (link to full review is below). We don't need another Greatest Hits, I'd agree with that but I thought the band themselves might be worth a discussion.

For me, the Doors are a bit like Bob Marley. I like them both, but the baggage they carry is not worth the aggravation of admitting in public you're interested in either. It's like the music takes a back seat to Jim's mystique and Bob's monster spliffs and religious beliefs. If you like the music then neither of these are important really. It was probably that Oliver Stone 'pinch of salt' movie thats mostly to blame for this. It spawned a million Jim Morrison posters (or Val Kilmer if you didn't know/care which was which) on the bedroom walls of Ireland.

Anyway, I only came into the Doors in the past few years. With most of the 60's bands, it was the big album remaster project that got me interested and I picked up the debut album. This album is fantastic. It came out in 1966 (maybe 67) and it sounds nothing like the prevailing influences of the time. No Dylan, no Beatles, no recognisable psych-rock and especially impressive for an L.A band, there's no Byrds-ey flights of harmonic fancy.

Break on through (to the other side), love it or hate it, is one of the great album openers. Before Jim even utters a word the other three have already steaked their claim with an unconventional (for a rock & roll song) shuffle on the cymbals, and a killer organ part from Manzarek, doubled by Kreiger on guitar. No bass. Instantly recognisable and much parodied too (Im thinking Krusty Klassic Komedy). There's too many great songs on this album to go through each one, but songs like Soul Kitchen (that harpsichord intro! Love it), Twentieth Century Fox and Light My Fire shows a band effortlessly dabbling in pop songwriting without betraying their nastier side like on Break on Through... and The End. The only weaker points are Back Door Man (poors mans Beefheart) and I Looked At You ("we're on our way" just seems daft to me).

As for the 3rd form poetry. I don't know. I'm not really a word man. I like good lyrics that fit the song, but the meaning (if there's any) often doesn't really matter to me. There are some cringe-worthy moments, like "the west is the best" on The End, but generally I don't find his lyrics to be too off-putting. The unsettling mood they capture brilliantly on The End is worth the price of admission alone, I'll take a few dodgy ad-libs as a trade-off.

And that was just the first album. Plenty more great stuff followed on. Sadly once Morrison died, they insisted on mining those prime years for all they're worth. I haven't bothered with the "Tonight Mathew Im going to be Jim Morrison" Doors of recent years. I think its an embarrassment and a sad footnote for a great band. But during their brief existence they released some of the best music of the period. No mean feat.


Your thoughts are welcome.


Michaels reveiw (Doors fan or not, well worth a read):
http://www.cluas.com/indie-music/Default.aspx?tabid=87&EntryID=173