The Doors – The Doors

As for the sound quality, this one is a winner. As the mono promo is also a Pitman perhaps these were pressed right afterward as they are fairly and acceptably clear (not as good as a Monarch stereo 1st but that is in another league), but the rhythm section sound is outstanding particularly on Break On Through and Light My Fire. Great contrast with the previously noted 1st stereo Monarch. Nice to have one of each of if you can find a fairly clean one of each and reasonably priced. This is the best mono I have. The newer monos aren’t even close and maybe that is a tape deterioration issue.

Perhaps one of the most incredible compositions in human history, I consider every song within The Doors ‘67 debut as a milestone marker for music. This pressing is the earliest, and best sounding of their vinyl as far as I am aware. 10/10 album. Honestly, no review for this is necessary. Listen. Enjoy. Try to find a vinyl copy afterwards just like me. You won’t regret it.

The Doors were a proto-punk band in the sense that they were ostensibly a do-it-yourself unit as well as a platform for Jim Morrison's poetic, cinematic inclinations; serious-minded artists lacking commercial ambition, there was an air of aggression in addition to their intellectual nonconformity. Aside from their pretentiousness and pomp as a band, their more mellifluous music seemed unique and oddly radio-friendly. "The Doors" arrived in 1967 as well-sequenced and accomplished as a veteran act's tenth outing; destined for classic status, it immediately strikes the listener as being an extraordinary feat of musical alchemy.

Iconic, shamanistic and conflicted frontman though he was, Jim Morrison's ability to captivate audiences with his boundless sensuality as well as stimulate their minds with his prose has not been matched since; even he lost such magnetic powers towards the end of his life. Morrison is at his most seductive on this album, as are the band, seamlessly blending elements of blues, psychedelic, classical, and jazz into a confluence of hard rock and pop. "Light My Fire" was the single the band released to showcase the unbridled dynamic tension that would define the eventual album, and in retrospect, its chart-topping potential was never in any doubt; the track remains the album's standout in an album of standouts. In of progression, the album's smooth musical and tonal transition, from Ray Manzarek's vox organ riffs, John Densmore's tight drumming and Robbie Krieger's sinewy guitars, they execute stomping rock to enchanting mystery so effortlessly that it is almost incomprehensible. A sonic delight if ever there was one, the album's counterculture ethos, acid rock hedonism and waves of jazzy instrumentation combined with Morrison's ethereal, commanding presence exudes menace in the most thrilling way. As surreal, soporific and ominous as the deeper cuts are in their presentation, many still have hit potential, and although the single versions ("Light My Fire", "Break on Through") are a welcome variance in their standalone form, the full-length configurations are superior since they are positioned definitively the context of the album. Morrison's incredibly brooding, elegiac yet transcendent lyrics are primal and reflective in their approach, loaded with dramatic, trippy magic, and integrally, the instrumentalists immaculately attune with his raw, fiery vocal delivery as much as his epicurean theatricality and bohemian philosophizing.

Literate, eerie and cryptic, "The Doors" established Jim Morrison as a bona fide rock star, albeit with an elaborate, subversive dimension that saw him marketable to any and all music consumers. It is a remarkably timeless, artful rock classic that remains stirring and startling in its effectiveness and sweeping virtuosity, especially when one s that the astonishing fact that this was their first record. It should be ragged and unfocused, but it is quite the opposite. An extremely fluent, cohesive and strangely melodic album that not only instituted the band's identity and creative interactivity, but also functioned as a framework from which they would develop their unique, diverse sound even further. Despite yielding a propulsive set compositions arranged, performed and delivered impeccably, the album's most haunting moment arrives in the form of a lurid, lucid epilogue, "The End", a fitting, aptly named coda to a work of genius.

Rating: 5/5

My gold label US copy appears to be a "mono" copy, with the not uncommon stereo jacket with mono sticker on front and mono labels, but on closer inspection is actually a mono/stereo hybrid where side 1 plays mono (stamped EKL 4007A NEW AB 9-67) and side 2 plays stereo (stamped EKS-74007B AB). Has anyone else come across this white elephant? surely it must be uncommon.

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.