Artist: Doors, The
Label: Atlantic Records
Release: 1971
Rating: 4.5/5
L.A. Woman came out in 1971 and captures the band’s musical depth and lyrical power like no other album before it. Apart from their debut, it was their biggest success and their most popular record. It features two Morrison classics, “Riders on the Storm” and “L.A. Woman”. It’s far from perfect, since most of the tracks were recorded in their rehearsal studio, self-produced and with the help of their engineer Bruce Botnick. Morrison’s raspy, deep voice and Krieger’s guitar give the album a bold blues backbone, while all ten songs blend beautifully into one cohesive whole.
The album kicks off with “The Changeling”, with its punchy bass and Morrison’s commanding voice, so powerful it’s hard to believe he’s a singer at the end of his career and not the start of it. “Love Her Madly” is a Krieger masterpiece written for his girlfriend, who kept threatening to leave him. Morrison’s melancholy vocals, Densmore’s rhythmic drumming, Robbie’s strumming and Manzarek’s keys create an atmosphere in the song that absolutely anyone could recognize. The title of “Been Down So Long” comes from the novel of the same name by Richard Fariña. It’s a slow blues marked by Morrison’s trademark howls and Robbie’s slide guitar. Praise is definitely due to the notorious “L.A. Woman”. The song paints a portrait of a city that’s dark, dangerous and worrying, yet in certain ways so dazzling and beautiful that it’s impossible to leave. Here you can hear Morrison’s mixed feelings about the “City of Light”, Los Angeles. Musically, with Krieger’s excellent guitar riff and Manzarek’s electric keyboards, the track proves the guys were still capable of creating long, sprawling songs that can stand up to masterpieces like “The End” and “The Music’s Over”, as it stretches almost eight minutes. Also worth a mention is the “Mr Mojo Rising” part, which is of course an anagram of Jim Morrison himself. An ominous guitar line opens “L’America”, where Morrison’s voice conveys menace and chills. It’s followed by the sad love song “Hyacinth House” and a cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake”, which is clearly Jim Morrison’s pick and reflects his fantasy that he was the Lizard King made flesh. Also special is “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)”, where Morrison’s recitation works like a compelling spell over jazz-blues-based music, with Densmore’s drumming standing out most. For the finale they picked “Riders On The Storm”, which is also the last song, the only one they recorded as a quartet, and the last on which we can hear Jim Morrison’s mystical voice. This dramatic, epic track begins with the quiet sound of rain, hidden thunder and lightning, followed by the first notes of Manzarek’s piano. It captures exactly what made them so great. It’s so different from everything they’d done before, and maybe that’s precisely why it puts the listener in a trance and leaves them breathless. Did Jim Morrison somehow feel that this was his last song with The Doors, or is it just a coincidence? I’ll leave that for you to judge.
Lineup
Jim Morrison: vocals
Robbie Krieger: guitar
Rai Manzarek: keyboards
John Densmore: drums
Jerry Scheff: bass guitar
Marc Benno: rhythm guitar
Production
Bruce Botnick and The Doors
Track List
1. The Changeling
2. Love Her Madely
3. Been Down So Long
4. Cars Hiss By My Window
5. L.A. Woman
6. L’America
7. Hyacinth House
8. Crowling King Snake
9. The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)
10. Riders On The Storm
Album Length: 48.25
