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The Doors: The Doors

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: The Doors
Title: The Doors
Released: 1967.01.14
Label: Elektra Entertainment
Time: 43:05
Producer(s): Paul A. Rothchild
Appears with: Manzarek_Ray
Category: Pop/Rock
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2002.09.17
Price in €: 7,99
Web address: www.thedoors.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Break on Through [To the Other Side] (Doors) - 2:25
[2] Soul Kitchen (Doors) - 3:30
[3] The Crystal Ship (Doors) - 2:30
[4] Twentieth Century Fox (Doors) - 2:30
[5] Alabama Song [Whiskey Bar] (Brecht/Weill) - 3:15
[6] Light My Fire (Doors) - 6:30
[7] Back Door Man (Burnett/Dixon) - 3:30
[8] I Looked at You (Doors) - 2:18
[9] End of the Night (Doors) - 2:49
[10] Take It as It Comes (Densmore/Krieger/Manzarek/Morrison) - 2:13
[11] The End (Doors) - 11:35

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


JIM MORRISON - Vocals, Remastering
RAY MANZAREK - Organ, Piano, Keyboards, Remastering
ROBBIE KRIEGER - Guitar
JOHN DENSMORE - Drums

JAC HOLZMAN - Production Supervisor
BRUCE BOTNICK - Engineer, Mastering, Remastering
PAUL ROTHCHILD - Mastering, Remastering
GUY WEBSTER - Photography
JOEL BRODSKY - Photography
WILLIAM S. HARVEY - Art Direction, Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1967 LP Elektra 74007
1980 LP Mobile Fidelity MSF-1-051
1990 CD Elektra 74007
1990 CS Elektra TC5-74007
1990 CD Dunhill GZS 1023
1992 CD DCC 1023
2000 CD Wea International 62549
2001 CD Wea International 6151



A tremendous debut album, and indeed one of the best first-time outings in rock history, introducing the band's fusion of rock, blues, classical, jazz, and poetry with a knockout punch. The lean, spidery guitar and organ riffs interwove with a hypnotic menace, providing a seductive backdrop for Jim Morrison's captivating vocals and probing prose. "Light My Fire" was the cut that would top the charts and establish the group as stars, but most of the rest of the album is just as impressive, including some of their best songs: the propulsive "Break On Through" (their first single), the beguiling Oriental mystery of "The Crystal Ship," the mysterious "End of the Night," "Take It As It Comes" (one of several tunes besides "Light My Fire" that also had hit potential), and the stomping rock of "Soul Kitchen" and "Twentieth Century Fox." The eleven-minute Oedipal drama "The End" was the group at their most daring and, some would contend, overambitious. It was nonetheless a haunting cap to an album whose nonstop melodicism and dynamic tension would never be equaled by the group again, let alone bettered.

Richie Unterberger - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2002 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



On their 1967 debut album, the Doors more than fulfilled the promise of their infamously challenging gigs around Los Angeles throughout the previous year. Whether belting out a standard like "Back Door Man" or talk-singing such originals as "The Crystal Ship" and "I Looked at You," leather-clad vocalist Jim Morrison exuded both sensuality and menace. The mixture, on the outsize album finale, "The End," helped rewrite the rules on rock song composition. None of this would have worked, though, were it not for the highly visual instrumental work of keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robbie Krieger, and drummer John Densmore, whose work on tracks such as "Take It As It Comes" and the lengthy hit "Light My Fire" virtually defined the rock-blues-jazz-classical amalgam that was acid-rock.

Billy Altman - Amazon.com



Zum Jahreswechsel 1966/67 blühen die Träume der Teens in den USA in psychedelisch bunten, sanft zerfließenden Farben: Martin Luther King kämpft für die Bürgerrechte, Professor Timothy Leary rät seinen Studenten zum Gebrauch von LSD und wer nach San Francisco geht, trägt ohnehin Blumen in den langen Haaren. Doch in Los Angeles naht ein ganz anderes Zeitalter als das des Aquarius. Ein Filmstudent namens Jim Morrison hat seinem Kommilitonen, dem Keyboarder Ray Manzarek, am Strand ein paar Songs vorgesungen, worauf dieser vorschlägt, eine Band zu gründen, Millionen zu verdienen und die Welt zu verändern.
Mit Drummer John Densmore und Gitarrist Robby Krieger gründen sie die Doors, tingeln durch die Clubszene von L.A. und veröffentlichen im Januar 1967 ihr Debüt-Album, das binnen Jahresfrist ihre Wünsche Wirklichkeit werden läßt. Die Doors sind keine niedliche Flowerpower-Band. Ihr Sound ist hart, energisch, fordernd, sexy und düster. Sie bedienen sich bei Blues, Rock, Chanson, Europäischem Kunstlied und Beatnik-Poesie. So wie die Literaten der Beat-Generation ihre Texte mit Jazz fusionierten, vereinigen die Doors die Psychedelic Poetry von Jim Morrison mit hartem Rock. "Break On Through", der Opener des Albums, formuliert Morrisons künstlerisches Credo und die tiefere Bedeutung des Bandnamens: Durchbruch zu neuen, verborgenen Bewußtseinsebenen. Die Doors covern mit dem "Alabama Song" sogar Brecht und Weill, sie dringen mit "End Of The Night" in Sphären, die noch keine Band erkundet hat. Das Album wird beendet von dem episch-epochalen "The End": Elf Minuten voller meditativ-erotischer Spannung lassen den Tod als größtes Abenteuer des Lebens erscheinen. Elf Minuten, in denen die Ewigkeit hörbar wird. Elf Minuten, in denen Morrison seinen eigenen ödipalen Komplex aufarbeitet: "Father, I want to kill you. Mother, I want to..." -- das "...fuck you, baby, all night long!", das Morrison bei den Aufnahmen schreit, muß Produzent Paul Rothchild auf Weisung der Plattenfirma herausschneiden. Dennoch: Diese elf Minuten reichen aus, um Jim Morrison als jenen vorzustellen, der den Blumenkindern die Gänseblümchen vom Kopf reißt, um sie auf dem Friedhof der amerikanischen Gesellschaft zu zertrampeln. Die Doors sind die Antithese des Establishments.

Björn Döring - Amazon.de



The Doors are so ingrained in pop culture that it's easy to forget just how strange their sound was. Never mind the unique presence of Jim Morrison and his shaman-like flurries of free-form poetry. Even the group's instrumentation was bizarre. A lone guitarist, whose forte was bottleneck leads rather than chords? An organist forced to supply the harmonic content, whose style owes more to Bach than rock and roll? And he also simulates the bass lines? If the Doors appeared today, A&R scouts would beg them to add a permanent bassist, and maybe a rhythm guitarist, too. Such issues probably didn't occur to Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek when they first conceived the band in the Venice Beach encounter that has since passed into legend. Of course, any misgivings were instantly wiped out when the Doors' debut arrived in January, 1967 and shot to No. 1. Heard today, the album is as seductively dramatic as ever, its intensity slipping only with "I Looked at You" (a bubble-gum ditty that might better suit the Monkees) and the Neanderthal blues of "Back Door Man." Otherwise, the tracks are ace. "Light My Fire" remains the definitive Doors tune with its rollicking organ introduction, catchy chorus, and dueling instrumental break. "Break on Through (to the Other Side)" blends an unlikely Latin beat with an explosive catchphrase and shows what a superlative howler Morrison could be. "Twentieth Century Fox" leers at a femme fatale via a cute pun (and a killer hook), while the lurching "Alabama Song" brilliantly updates Kurt Weill. Elsewhere, "The Crystal Ship" (widely viewed as an eloquent metaphor for drug use) and "End of the Night" drift into vaporous contemplation. Of course, the album's most notorious piece is the 11-minute "The End," in which Morrison's poetic invocations unfold into druggy extravagance. Between book-ended verses of a simple farewell song, he lets his surreal wit fly. Some rhymes are painfully threadbare ("ride the snake to the lake," "the West is the best," "the blue bus is calling us"), but the track's underrated strength is the dynamic ensemble playing of Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. The music is essentially a one-chord drone, but the exotic beauty of Krieger's trickling lines, matched with delirious crescendos, adds up to a near-religious sense of ritual. Morrison's hedonism quickly got the best of him, and later Doors albums reflected his damaged powers. As a result, The Doors (along with Strange Days, released just nine months later) stand as the group's peak achievements before Morrison settled into a tragic decline.

Eric Broome - April 24, 2001
CDNOW Contributing Writer
Copyright © 1994-2002 CDnow Online, Inc. All rights reserved.



Sixteen years after Jim Morrison's death, the Doors' immense popularity continues unabated, and all the reasons for that are embodied in their inspired debut album, "The Doors." Along with "Sgt. Pepper," "The Doors" provided the soundtrack to the Summer of Love.
It was an album of startling breadth -particularly for a debut. "Light My Fire" and "Break On Through (on the Other Side)" were calls to Dionysian ecstasy. A bold coupling of covers --~Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" and Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf's "Back Door Man" -- indicated the Doors' willingness to take on both avantgarde theater and deep blues. And "The End" was a staggering, eleven-minute Oedipal drama that broadened the thematic scope that rock music could encompass. Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, John Cale, Billy Idol, Jim Carrol, Echo and the Bunnymen and the Cult are just a handful of the artists who were profoundly influenced by the wildly poetic persona Jim Morrison defined on "The Doors."

The Doors' legendary live shows - powered by Morrison's charismatic stage presence and the musical versatility of keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore - had already made them a major force on the L.A. club scene when they began recording their first album in late 1966. The trick was capturing on record what producer Paul Rothchild calls "the very powerful drama, the psychology of the song that the Doors are so famous for now." According to Rothchild, he and the band set one goal. "Every song had to be perfect in that it took you on an aural, visual and psychological journey."

Keyboardist Ray Manzarek compares the spiritual atmosphere of the sessions to a "seance in which we tried to communicate with the basic power of the act of creating music. That was what we attempted to capture and communicate to the individual listener."

Recording was completed in about a week, and the songs were done live, typically in about two or three takes. Candles were lit and incense burned to set the mood, but according to Manzarek, the Doors required little external assistance to get where they wanted to go.

"This was the culmination of everything we had worked for," he says. "There were very few drugs; nobody needed to get high on anything. One of Morrison's lines of poetry is 'In that year we had an intense visitation of energy.' Well, in that two-week period we had an intense visitation of energy. The muse descended upon us."

The most intense visitation came during "The End," which was done in two takes. Rothchild, who has produced nearly 150 records, describes it as "one of the perfect moments of rock recording." When it came time to do 'The End,' a very different mood took Jim over," Manzarek says. "Jim became shamanistic and led the small group on a shamanistic voyage. He put himself into a trance and, through that, put us all into a trance." As the Doors were performing "The End," Manzarek says, Rothchild turned to engineer Bruce Botnick and said, "I don't know if you know what's happening here, but magic is being made. We are recording magic."

When he heard a complete playback of the album, Manzarek had a basic but suitably Oedipal response: "This is a motherfucker." Despite the band's hopes for success, the record didn't take off for some months; the first single released from it, "Break On Through (to the Other Side)," quickly disappeared. "I think it went to 106," Manzarek says. "We thought, 'Oh, shit, man. Ooh, God, that's scary.' We were hoping for Top Forty, at least." But when Rothchild shortened the seven-minute "Light My Fire" (which was written by Krieger) so it could be released as an AM-radio single, it shot to the top of the charts, and the Doors were on their way.

"Jim Morrison is now referred to as a poet, a rock immortal," says Manzarek proudly. "He's become a god." Those descriptions correspond perfectly to what he feels the Doors' visionary music was all about -- and may explain why it has lasted. "That's what we tried to convey: a spiritual force in the music, and poetry on top of that," says Manzarek. "People today are just as attuned to that as people in the sixties were."

RS 507
© Copyright 2002 RollingStone.com
  

 L y r i c s


BREAK ON THROUGH

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, yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah!
C'mon, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
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, oww!
Oh, 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 X4
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah


SOUL KITCHEN

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 minarets
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 have to go now
I really want to stay here
All night, all night, all night


THE CRYSTAL SHIP

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


TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

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
Sent to manless 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


ALABAMA SONG

Well, show me the way, To the next whiskey bar
Oh, don't ask why, Oh, don't ask why
Show me the way, To the next whiskey bar
Oh, don't ask why, Oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find, The next whiskey bar
I tell you we must die, I tell you we must die
I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die
Oh, moon of Alabama, We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you now why
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you now why
Well, show me the way, To the next little girl
Oh, don't ask why, Oh, don't ask why
Show me the way, To the next little girl
Oh, don't ask why, Oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find, The next little girl
I tell you we must die, I tell you we must die
I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die
Oh, moon of Alabama, We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you now why


LIGHT MY FIRE

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 X2
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 X2
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 X2
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 X2
Try to set the night on fire X4


BACK DOOR MAN

Wha, yeah!, C'mon, yeah, Yeah, c'mon, yeah
Yeah, c'mon, Oh, yeah, ma
Yeah, I'm a back door man, I'm a back door man
The men don't know, But the little girl 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, Than any man ever seen, yeah, yeah
I'm a back door man, wha, The men don't know
But the little girl 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


I LOOKED AT YOU

I looked at you, You looked me
I smiled at you, You smiled at me
And we're on our way, No we can't turn back, babe
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, babe
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back, yeah
C'mon, 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
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


END OF THE NIGHT

Take the highway to the end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
Take a journey to the bright midnight
End of the night, end of the night
Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night X2


TAKE IT AS IT COMES

Time to live
Time to lie
Time to laugh
Time to die
Takes it easy, baby
Take it as it comes
Don't move too fast
If  you want your love to last
Oh, you've been movin' much too fast
Time to walk
Time to run
Time to aim your arrows
At the sun
Takes it easy, baby
Take it as it comes
Don't move too fast
If you want your love to last
Oh, you've been movin' much too fast
Go real slow
You like it more and more
Take it as it comes
Specialize in havin' fun
Takes it easy, baby
Take it as it comes
Don't move too fast
If you want your love to last
Oh, you've been movin' much too fast
Movin' much too fast
Movin' much too fast


THE END

This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be, So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane, All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best, The west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is callin' us, The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken' us
The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...I want to...fuck you
C'mon baby, take a chance with us X3
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, On a blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, C'mon, yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end
 

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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