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Rating: These were the years when groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were emerging into the world of celebrity.
These were the years when the great protest was taking shape, and a movement based on peace and love started countering the growing violence in society. It was one of these days that on the beach of Venice in California, a boy named James Douglas Morrison (1943 - some say 1971) met his old friend named Raymond Daniel Manzarek: The Doors were born. An unusual group in the musical and social atmosphere of that period, outside the pop coordinates, but also outside those of the hippies.
William Blake, a dark poet of the late '700, wrote: "there is the known, and there is the unknown, in between are the doors". These were the doors of perception, which became for Jim Morrison an obstacle to his fulfillment: the obsessive attempt to overcome them and break into the unknown part changed his life.
"Break on through to the other side!"
Those doors were the Doors, a limit reached beyond which no one would return. "No one here gets out alive" sang Jim Morrison in his "Five To One". Ray Manzarek, an excellent keyboardist and composer of remarkable skill; Robbie Krieger, a guitarist capable of coagulating the various genres explored by the band; John Densmore, a drummer creator of dark atmospheres and convulsive rhythms; Jim Morrison, singer, hedonist bluesman, decadent poet, frontman with incredible media power, a shocking and compelling character, drawn to what is hidden in the unknown... shaman... LIZARD KING
"I'm the lizard king, I can do anything" Jim whispered softly in "Celebration Of The Lizard" and in "Not To Touch The Earth". Jim's poetry is carried to immortality by notes that are an explosion of contracted symphonies between rock, blues, jazz, psychedelia, and '60s pop that give life to real Operas made eternal by theatrical live performances.
THE RECORDS
The Doors, 1967
- BREAK ON THROUGH (TO THE OTHER SIDE)
- SOUL KITCHEN
- THE CRYSTAL SHIP
- TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
- ALABAMA SONG (cover K. Weill and B. Brecht)
- LIGHT MY FIRE
- BACKDOOR MAN (cover W. Dixon and C. Barnett)
- I LOOKED AT YOU
- END OF THE NIGHT
- TAKE IT AS IT COMES
- THE END
Debut album preceded by two singles (Break on through and Light my fire), it is undoubtedly the disk that highlights the described musical style the most.
It bursts into the ears to drag the soul without hesitation into the dreamlike atmosphere created to overcome the doors of the senses that separate from the unknown. The drums introduce the bass (played by Manzarek with a Fender keyboard), subsequently, the guitar emits a riff to join in, and Jim's voice, hoarse and with blues tones, launches into Break on through: the journey begins. Morrison's intentions are clearly expressed in the text that urges to let go and overcome the doors of perception by shouting to "break through to the other side." The driving bluesy rhythm of the keyboard does not allow time to recover from the epileptic conclusion of the first track: Soul kitchen swims slowly in the sinuous guitar slides. The prayer of the chorus interrupts the almost static rhythm of the verse and after a Morrison yell, Krieger forges a daring solo. In the immaculate "Chrystal ship" the full voice from the low tones touched by Morrison is accompanied by a sumptuous piano that reaches its peak with an enchanting and moving solo: the poetry veiled with prayers and hopes of love dissolves in the inevitable hedonistic philosophy. "Twentieth Century Fox" proposes a vigorous and exuberant rhythm behind which lies a critique of Hollywood Los Angeles compared by Jim to a plastic woman.
Jim Morrison's deeply decadent expression fully realizes itself in Alabama Song, a track written by Brecht and Weill for the theatrical work "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny": a denunciation of the degenerate capitalist society. The forced pessimism of Alabama Song is driven by the sudden explosion of the organ, a dragging instrument that leads Light My Fire into the listener's head and then makes it unforgettable: this is the reason for the success of the song written by Krieger that opened the Doors' music to a mass audience. Indeed, the Doors' music provides a good example of its content, which manages to excellently mix long solos without ever being boring. The lyrics of "Light My Fire" do not explore Morrison's philosophical universe, as Krieger approaches existentialism with less emphasis and more carefreeness.
The second non-original Doors' song is the following "Back Door Man", musically and expressively powerful, in which Jim can feel free to shout his primitive and provocative cries. I Looked At You is the least significant song of the album characterized by a pop soul and a text without any pretense (an unusual thing for Morrison). Arcane atmosphere, the lights dim, and the mysterious nightmare of the end of the night (End Of The Night) unfolds like a hopeless lullaby where the guitar and keyboard languidly urge to give up the illusion, Jim's voice seems to contain a thousand whispering voices encouraging the listener to take the highway to not remain overwhelmed by the endless night. The fatalism of "Take It As It Comes" is justified by the deeply rooted Zen culture that influences Manzarek, Densmore, and Krieger, in fact, the three were attendees of acid-based Yoga courses very popular in the '60s: "take it (time) lightly, take it as it comes. Don’t move too, too fast if you want your love to last." This low-key track separates the listener from The End… The End.
Forget every sound, rustle, or symphony that your ears have ever heard: the agony begins. Eleven minutes separate from the end of love or life itself, eleven minutes to say what was between whispers and screams, eleven minutes to express the madness that accompanies the end, eleven minutes before the curtain closes and everything becomes an unforgettable song. James Douglas Morrison's personal dialogue with his only friend is the portrait of loneliness in front of the End of everything (you can call it death… you can call it whatever you want). The pain of finding oneself in a deserted place and suffering alone culminates in the delirium hidden in the subconscious that frees itself without the possibility of holding it back. The madness reaches its peak touching on the Oedipal theme (he who killed his father and married his mother) and going to die in a long moment of convulsive instrumental confusion in which Jim manages to integrate like a leading character making it almost harmonic. The madness of trying to resist the End is appeased, as if suffering leaves room for resignation and the End mercilessly fulfills its task.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Break On Through (02:29)
You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Chased our pleasure here
Dug our treasure there
Still recall
Time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, yeah!
Wow!
Wow!
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
She get high
She get high. She get high.
She get high. She get high.
The woman get high. The woman get high.
She get high. Baby, get high.
She get high. She get high.
The woman get high. She get high.
She get high. Baby, so high.
She get high. She get high.
The woman get high. She get high.
Wow!
She get high. She get high.
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, yeah!
All right!
Yeah, made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
02 Soul Kitchen (03:34)
Well the clock says it's time to close now
I guess I'd better go now
I'd really like to stay here all night
The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes
Street lights share their hollow glow
Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise
Still one place to go
Still one place to go
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
Well your fingers weave quick minuets
Speak in secret alphabets
I light another cigarette
Learn to forget
Learn to forget
Learn to forget
Learn to forget
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
Well the clock says it's time to close now
I know I'll have to go now
I really wanna stay here all night
All night
All night
03 The Crystal Ship (02:34)
Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss
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
Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly
The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I'll drop a line
04 Twentieth Century Fox (02:32)
Well she's fashionably lean
And she's fashionably late
She'll never wreck a scene
She'll never break a date
But she's no drag, just watch the way she walks
She's a twentieth century fox
She's a twentieth century fox
No tears, no fears
No ruined years, no clocks
She's a twentieth century fox, oh yeah
She's the queen of cool
And she's the lady who waits
Since her mind left school
It never hesitates
She won't waste time on elementary talk
'Cause she's a twentieth century fox
She's a twentieth century fox
Got the world locked up
Inside a plastic box
She's a twentieth century fox, oh yeah
Twentieth century fox, oh yeah
Twentieth century fox
She's a twentieth century fox
06 Light My Fire (07:07)
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah
The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
07 Back Door Man (03:33)
Oh yeah babe
Yeah I'm a back door man
I'm a back door man
The men don't know
But the little girls understand
Hey, all you people that tryin' to sleep
I'm out to make it with my midnight dream, yeah
'Cause I'm a back door man
The men don't know
But the little girls understand
All right, yeah
You men eat your dinner, eat your pork and beans
I eat more chicken any man ever seen, yeah yeah
I'm a back door man
The men don't know
But the little girls understand
Well, I'm a back door man
I'm a back door man
Whoa, baby
I'm a back door man
The men don't know
But the little girls understand
08 I Looked at You (02:21)
I looked at you
You looked at me
I smiled at you
You smiled at me
And we're on our way
No, we can't turn back
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back
'Cause it's too late, too late, too late, too late, too late
And we're on our way
No, we can't turn back
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back, yeah yeah
I walked with you
You walked with me
I talked to you
You talked to me
And we're on our way
No, we can't turn back
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back, yeah
'Cause it's too late, too late, too late, too late, too late
And we're on our way
No, we can't turn back
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back
'Cause it's too late, too late, too late, too late, too late
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Other reviews
By Grasshopper
"Jim Morrison’s voice, predominantly dark and cavernous, yet capable of shifting to hysterical, neurotic screams."
"‘The End’ closes the album with one of the most apocalyptic tones in the history of rock."
By joe strummer
The Doors is one of the cornerstones of Rock, if not the cornerstone of all rock-blues.
'The End' is not merely a song. It is theater, a monologue between Jim and his psyche, a slow catharsis of man against his inability to overcome death.
By francis
Morrison, a failed model, is nothing more than the prototype of the 'cursed' star like many throughout the history of music, mythologized beyond his actual artistic merits.
They haven’t influenced a damn thing, and certainly not because their style was inimitable.
By MojoRisin
With the first song, a lively rock piece... the Doors immediately give voice to a generation that must express itself freely, breaking down those stone walls.
'Light My Fire'... is probably their most famous piece.
By Nottetempo88
"The album is an explosive cocktail of blues, psychedelic rock, beat, and decadent poetry."
"'The End' enshrines The Doors in the rock Olympus."
