1967 was a golden year for rock. That year produced the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced?, and The Doors. To put it simple The Doors is simply some of the best (possibly the best) psychadelic rock out there. The highlights are the haunting lyrics and singing of Jim Morrison and the equally haunting organ work of Ray Manzarek. The Doors is different from anything else in rock and roll. Few acts have such prominent organ play as the Doors. (Most would replace the organ with a guitar) Then again most music fans love to hear something fresh and new and different. Welcome to the Doors. Ray Manzarek's organ would be very important in the opus Light My Fire. This 7 minute masterpiece is what is great about this group. However the best song would be the first song Break On Through, which is some of the closest this album gets to straight up rock (and back door man). The album also stretches into slight polka with Alabama Song. The psychadelica continues with Twentieth Century Fox, The End of the Night, and Take as it Comes.... In short The Doors is some of the best of the psychadelic movement of the late 60s and it is the best the Doors ever did.

Okay, your making a rock 'n' roll time-capsule to be opened in ten-thousand years by an alien civilization after man is extinct, so that the aliens will have a template to work from so as to carry on rock music. Question: What albums go in the time-capsule? Well, something by the Beatles probably (Sgt.Pepper?). Led Zeppelin IV, no doubt. Dark Side of the Moon maybe? Born to Run? And absolutely the Doors' debut album. This record is like fine wine - it gets better with age. Unlike the Beatles, whose albums tend to have been shrunken by decades, the Doors have a timeless quality, particularly this first album, which sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday - it's that fresh. There are, of course, hits a'plenty here ("Light My Fire", "Break on Through", etc.), but the real crux is in the lesser know tracks. "Soul Kitchen", "Take It As It Comes", "Back Door Man", even the whimsical "Alabama Song" - all instantly recognizeable. And, of course, Jim Morrison's darkly poetic visions make it all quite unforgettable.

The Doors never got better than their first album. All the right elements are here. Jim's got the usual poetry going, Ray's Vox organ sounds best, Robbie's blowin' off some hot licks and exotic stylings, and John keeps the jazz fill comin'! Now THIS is rock & roll, man.

Break On Through: High energy rocker: just what you need. Live version have better guitar parts, but the simple charm of the original makes it...well...original!

Soul Kitchen: Cool organ, great lyrics, and one of the coolest pickin' solos ever.

The Crystal Ship: Beautiful and eerie. Sounds like funeral music. Of course, it's about drugs

Twentieth Century Fox: Love the title. This one a classic swingin' sixties tune. The guitar is a bit recycled from Sou Kitchen, but why complain? It's a great song!

Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar): You'd think German opera and acid rock wouldn't mix, but they do. If you're lookin; for a fun Doors song, this is it.

Light My Fire: Not only their best song, but one of the best rocks songs ever. It's got the best organ solo of all time, hot guitar solo also, a drum beat that never slows, and a repeating bass line that's hypnotic. And Jim's voice is great.

Backdoor Man: Howlin' Wolf should be proud. They would do this live a lot, but the original is the best. Blues magic all the way.

I Looked At You: Classic happy sixties song with a hot little organ break. Of course, the Doors had to give it a minor key part!

End of The Night: The weakest song, but it's not terrible. Teh organ is creepy and the part where it gets goin' finally is good.

Take It As It Comes: Two fine organ breaks fill this little minor key classic. That's all you need to know.

The End: I won't even begin to describe this 11-minute epic. You'll have to listen yourself. All I'll say is it that it blows everything away. There's some force to it that makes unbelievable, but you have to believe it. You have to.

The music is dark, but with a seriousness and talent that lifts it above the Gothy adolescent, and Morisson's voice is just exceptional; very emotive and creepy. I actually think 'Light My Fire' isn't even the best song on here. Easily in its league are the energetic little rocker 'I Looked At You,' with its trick ending; the brief, shivery 'Crystal Ship;' and of course the The End, which is plenty disturbing without calling up images of nameless atrocities in the jungles of Vietnam. And who could forget the Whisky Bar song? The best thing of all, in my opinion, is that The Doors knew how to make a song short and to the point; there aren't any ambiguous four-minute droners with just one chorus after another.

First of all, however, I'd like to start out by saying that anyone who numbers Linkin Park and Hilary Duff among the best performers of all time and who is a Barney fan is also a know-nothing hypocritical moron and has no idea what he's saying. You know who you are. Thank you. (And by the way, it was in very poor taste to call John Lennon "talentless" on the anniversary of his death. Watch it.)
Regardless, the Doors have had an amazing impact on culture in general. They earned all the respect they got and deserved more. Their talent is still widely acknowledged today, and not only by the middle-aged. They maintain a devoted fan base including members of the younger generation who know where to find a good time. The world lost a veritable musical and poetic genius when Jim Morrison died. --This text refers to the LP Record edition

All the right elements are here. Jim's got the usual poetry going, Ray's Vox organ sounds best, Robbie's blowin' off some hot licks and exotic stylings, and John keeps the jazz fill comin'! Now THIS is rock & roll, man.

I remember it as if it were yesterday. I saw him at Merriweather Post, we thought he was great, but few others did. We thought this one and Strange Days were the best albums ever done. Surprisingly enough, The Doors were NOT popular in their time. They had a few hits, Light my Fire, but they did not really achieve the status of Rock Gods until a decade or more after Morrison's death. Most kids thought they were too dark. Too negative.

"What could we but perceived if the doors of perception were cleansed?" In the sixties a Rock song writer was not afraid to be literate. He had read Aldous Huxleys book on lysergic acid. He had also read William Blake's description of children in London at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution "Some are born to sweet delight, and some are born to the endless night". He listened to Kurt Weill/Bertold Brecht "Alabama Song" which, among other songs, got them kicked out of Nazi/Weimar Germany for being writing "degenerate" music in the 1930's. Jim Morrison, a product of Alexandria (Virginia's) George Washington High School, was nothing if not literate. (He wrote the lyrics for "Horse Latitudes", about the Spanish conquestadors ship captains tossing out horses to lighten the load when becalmed, as a junior in that High school, or so the story goes. His teacher was not impressed.)

Yeah it's dark. It's visionary, like Baudelair, I guess that's why the French like him so much they allowed him to be buried in Pere-Lechaise in Paris not that far from Oscar Wilde.

Morrison was a poet, a visionary, a showman. He drank. He had many bad habits, but satanism was not one of them, he would be quite amused to hear that one! He loved the blues and has probably the best version of Willie Dixon's Back Door Man ever done, certainly the most sinister. But that was Morrison , he loved theater, he did things for effect. I think the Crystal Ship was probably closest to his heart. Music full of nineteenth century, Romantic, Wagnerian Love-Death.

Program out his theatrical over-the-top, acting-out, version of Oedipus Rex at The End, and you have some of the finest Rock music of all time.

~""The End". This was one that broke all the chains of morality in music underscored in Satanism, and the Odepus Complex. Not even the Fugs, the Beatles, the MC5, or the Velvet Underground would touch this one. It was rumored that Morrison had all the lights in the recording studio turned off, and lit a bunch of candles, and when they finished recording this song he poured blood all over the console."~ -D.R. Hayes

Well, first of all, if there were such things as 'chains of morality in music', the song "The End" wouldn't have 'broke them all'. The End is NOT Satanic.

The Oedepus complex was rooted in ancient Greek mythology of the gods. There was NO Satan involved in this mythology, nor in the song 'The End'. Sure there are dark overtones in the way Jim sings the song, the lyrics, and the nature of the music, but Jim was neither Satanic or Pagan (ie "Morrison had all the lights in the recording studio turned off, and lit a bunch of candles, and when they finished recording this song he poured blood all over the console")

That was made up by ignoramus' who romanticised over Jim's (non existent) 'Satanism' and cult appeal. Come on now, let's get our facts straight before we write an erroneous review.

The Doors are definetely one of rock's all-time greatest bands. The Doors were 4 main elements: John Densmore's thrashing drums, Robby Krieger's bluesy lead guitar, Ray Manzarek's hypnotzing keyboards, and the best for last- Jim Morrsion. One of the top 5 rock fronmans in history. And his poetic songwriting were pure genius. When it came to mucical genius, not many people could top Jim Morrison (The only 2 that compete are John Lennon and Pete Townshend). Read on to find about the album.

the poppy "Soul Kitchen". This doesn't show what the Doors are completey capable of, but Krieger's stigning solo is great. Krieger was definetley one of the most underrated guitarists of our era. Manzarek also shines on keyboards once again.

"Crystal Ship" shows a softer, more beautiful side of the band. This song is probably the only soft song on here. Morrison shines here, with his soft vocals. And Krieger gets some lovely sounds off of his guitar.

The guitar driven "Twentieth Century Fox" is yet another of the band, but it's still a masterpiece. It's pretty much an ode to a "foxy" lady. Krieger delivers a stinging solo again.

"Light My Fire" was the greatest hit the Doors ever produced, and what a song it is. Even though it is more of a showcase for the instrumental Doors,except when Morrison screams "TRY TO SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE!!". This is mostly remembered because of Manzarek's breathtaking keyboard solo, which takes up most of the song. Krieger's solo is awesome, and when Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek all play together in harmony, it's just sheer breathtaking.

The eerie "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" is a fun little tune, with some strange keyboard effects by Manzarek. Manzarek actually overdubs on this song, and that haunting organ past after each verse is great. Simply put: Manzarek is a genius of keyboards.

The cover of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man" shows that the Doors weren't just a band known for haunting masterpieces, but they could play some kick ass blues. Krieger dleivers a BLISTERING solo, and Morrison's growls and grunts adds to the excitement.

"I Looked AT You" is yet another pop side of the band, but it dominates the other two songs. Once again, Manzarek shines, and when Morrsion's pull out those screeching vocals, it just it off.

This next song is not the song to listen to before you go to bed. "End Of The Night" is that song, and it's one of the eeriest, darkest recordings I've ever heard. It stays in that same dark mood and you almost get chills listening to it.

"Take It As It Comes" is what most people would call pop, but it is a bit psychadelic. Manzarek gives 2 ringing organ solos, and Morrison's vocals shine again!

That finally leaves Morrison's haunting, 11 min. "The End". This song is beyond haunting, and Morrison's genius, poetic songwriting skills are put to the test here. This song is mainly about lost love, but it turns into a song about death. This song is mostly remembered for Morrison's lyrics and him screaming "I'M GONNA RAPE YOU!!!" was like nothing the world had ever heard at the time. The onyl thing remembered about this musically is Krieger's haunting guitar line.

So, if you are sick of same old, normal music, then I suggest this for you. This proves how much of musical genius Jim Morrison is, and when this came out, nothing had sounded like it before.

 

Mesmerising. Beautiful. Flawless. Whatever you want to call 'The Doors' by The Doors, this is without a doubt

The Doors are known for taking over the 1960s like a plague, and changing the world before Jim Morrison's death. But before the group's problems set in, they created The Doors, their best record by far. It encompasses everything rock stands for. The Doors rock hard, and the play harder. Their music comes from the heart. They rock everyone's hearts with their lyrics and especially their music. They changed the rock world with this one amazing album that nobody thought would be that big.
'Light My Fire' was the group's breakthrough song, but nearly every other song is just as good. 'Break On Through(To The Other Side)' is one of the best tracks, showing The Doors' passion for their music. Soul Kitchen was the first song that immediately caught my attention, but for some reason, I bored of it quickly. That doesn't mean that it's not one of The Doors' best songs, though. 'The Crystal Ship' is an incredible achievement in musicmaking. It is dreamy, delightful, and mysterious. Music is what this song is all about. Not one of their most popular songs, but definitely a favorite among fans. 'Twentieth Century Fox' is a great song, but lackluster on this album. A spectacular chorus is all that holds it together. 'Alabama Song' follows 'Twentieth Centruy Fox' as a poor moment on the album, but if you get in the mood to listen to it, it is still a pretty good song. 'Light My Fire' is the album's most popular moment, but not the best song. I can't help but notes its similarity to 'Soul Kitchen.' 'End of The Night', and'Take It As It Comes' both had serious potential, and are terrific additions to this already incredible album. Take it As It Comes was nearly a hit on scale with 'Light My Fire', but somehow never achieved the same success. 'End of The Night' is enshrouded in eerieness and mystery. It is deifinitely an essential song to the style of The Doors, and it fits in well on the album. The remaining songs are good as well, but the only one worth mentioning would be 'The End'. The eleven minute song is one of the album's highlights, and one of the best "ending songs" in history.