Life's full of disappointments

It has to be hard to make it into the public consciousness as a band. You have to be good, speak to people, and even then you may go unnoticed because of timing. I think it is because of this that bands are very aware of promotion and do their best to get themselves out there. They build up their own mythology and effectively sell parts of themselves to the public in return for attention.



There are very few bands over the last 50 years who have done this better than The Doors. I really like some of The Doors music. I think I have said before that I bought into the Jim Morrison mythology at a hedonistic part of my life. I have grown out of that now, but the music remains and I do look forward to hearing some of their music from time to time. It isn't music I have left behind 

Some time ago I watched a documentary on the making of their first self-titled album. I wrote at the time how much I had my eyes re-opened to the music. Two of my heros, Henry Rollins and Perry Farrell, appeared on the documentary and this only re-affirmed some of the ideas that had been filed away in the back of my mind about the quality of The Doors music.

So you can imagine how much I jumped for joy, OK, so I am not really a jumper when joy hits, I was mildly excited, when I saw on one of the TV channels here that they were going to show a Classic album series doing one of my favourite albums, LA Woman.

Cool, an in-depth look at the way the album was made.

Ah  . . . no. It was an hour long delve into the myth of Morrison and the way the Doors stood for counter culture - what people, who very clearly had too much time to think about it, thought each song's symbolism was to Morrison.

Extremely dull.

It is not that I do not get the whole myth thing. But it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Actually with a huge bucket of salt. Before this gets into a rant on a level with this great one from Amadeus in Music by Day , I want to remind of how good the music is.

Before we even start, let's not forget that this is a band that were hardly even talking to each other and had all of the issues that meant the only real reason they were still together was because they were too valuable to the record company to not keep them together. 

So the track listing is as follows

The Changeling
Love her Madly
Been down so long
Cars hiss by my window
LA Woman
L'Merica
Hyacinth House
Crawling King Snake
The WASP
Riders on the Storm

That is a strong album. A very bluesy, dare I say West Coast American album. By that I mean, it taps into not just the blues, but the whole country and western ideas of loners and the shattering of dreams. Some self loathing, some reflection and some defiance.

The next thing I would say about the album is that what gives it strength it not the lyrics so much. Some of the imagery is great, but actually it is the other members of the band and their tightness as a band. The blues and swing feel to so many of the songs is just amazing. It is not just the title track that is so good at conveying the feel of the lyrics, Love Madly, Been Down so long etc etc . The musicianship is far better than the lyrics.

I am not going to go through every song and explain what is good about it, you may not exactly agree with me which is fine, but mainly because you should discover this album for yourself or re-discover it. See what you think.

What I will do though is talk about the two songs that ended the original vinyl sides on a record. I have the record for this album. I actually have it in most formats except 8 track. Perhaps I should get an 8 track of it to complete a collection? I think that would elevate it up the list of albums to a top ten position and I am not sure it belongs quite there . .

LA woman, what I love about LA Woman is the driving beat. The idea that the song is a somewhat out of control journey. A song full of hedonistic joy. Tinged with reflection and the idea of a night that wasn't really planned but kept on going and turned into something memorable. My point above, of the muscianship really comes through on this song. The lyrics are just about going out in a crazy town. The music though is something else. The tightness and the rhythm of the band is amazing.The song never lets up. I just adore the feeling of it. There is even a part of it when it slows down that reminds me of jumping in a taxi to go to the next spot in a night out. A slight downturn and then back into the craziness.

Riders on the Storm, is so different from LA Woman it is hard to think they are on the same album and that it still makes sense as an album. It is also a journey, but a completely different and far more introspective one. One much more orchestral in its composition and the effects of the double vocal track, with a very subtle drum beat give it an almost ghost-like quality. A much more solitary and isolated feel to it than LA Woman. It was the first Doors song I heard and it did lead me to explore them more, with pretty good results I have to say. I am never quite sure what the song actually says to me. I think I just enjoy the soundscape.

 A fitting and very triumphant way for a band to leave us.

Listen to the album (again) it is well worth it on a Sunday afternoon. Life may not always live up to expectations and the idea of the myth of Morrison is very true in this aspect, but look under the surface and the disappointment may be dispelled by the jewels you sometimes come across.