The Doors: Cool Music For (Un)Cool People｜Vinyl Monday

[@abigaildevoe]

what’s your favorite doors song? comment below!

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

LA woman

[@alanclayton9277]

Really like the riff and tinkly keys on The Spy.

[@BillAdams-fb3jm]

I don't have one, I have several (I've been a Doors fan for a long time), but "Five To One" used to make it onto a lot of the mixtapes I made for people, when I was a kid.

[@chrisvarosky]

When The Music's Over

[@tungtobak]

Most often I say Not to Touch the Earth, but it varies over time.

[@josemaria8177]

Say what you want about Jim Morrison, but he made the catchiest rendition of the Oedipus Complex in rock music

[@richardelliott8352]

I remember an interview with a band member recalling a time where the cops were stacked up , waiting to bust the band for profanity, with the band playing the music's over and hoping nothing would happen, but then , when Jim got to his mothers room part of the song, he said, "the Word" and things just went crazy

[@antlerbraum2881]

Somebody had to do it lol

[@simonagree4070]

There's always "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" by The Mothers.

[@tmead07]

Not rock, but ragtime: Tom Lehrer’ s contribution kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5fJaqZ7jt2rg68si=oRthn-MOV-0FyPNH

[@drummmmerfish]

this is a master piece of a album. to have a dark song like "the end" in 1967 is pretty monumental by itself. no one sounded like the doors. all 4 members were meant to be in a band together, they had that perfect synergy every band hopes to achieve.

[@gary6514]

The fact Jim Morrison was "difficult" makes the superb music the Doors created even more astounding. Light My Fire is a sublime masterpiece. Perhaps better albums were to follow but this debut album was a sign of what was to be created during their career. Great video. Regards from England.

[@abigaildevoe]

he wasn’t just difficult, he was UNHINGED. any level of efficiency from this lineup was a miracle

[@flannigan7956]

Do wonder where his bust is! That the crooks maybe gave, sold or just let their kids inherit it. For that matter did the fella just bring a hacksaw and saw off the bolt I guess? At his grave there was the bolts remnants where you could tell it was, on the top. Eventually in zomer hands heh heh

[@SuperStrik9]

@@abigaildevoe Totally disagree. Jim had a concert in his head and wrote and inspired the majority of the Doors songs via his vocal melodies and lyrics. Those melodies dictated the vast majority of The Doors music. If he was an unhinged lunatic that never would've happened.

[@SuperStrik9]

@@flannigan7956 Yeah that was shameful that his grave was defaced like that.

[@limomangeno]

​@abigaildevoe You had to be there at the times .Really experienced the middle to late 60s early 70s...maybe took a few trips and listened to them.

[@FlyJohnny100]

Manzarek’s playing was a huge contribution and the jazz reference is dead on. The Doors came from a time and place heavily influenced by Latin music; Getz/Gilberto, Sergio Mendes, Tijuana Brass and others were big then (though more so with our parents), and Mexican garage rock was also pervasive here in SoCal. Manzarek lent these influences and killer left-hand bass lines to Doors material. Densmore was also amazing…his airy, jazzy beats often made Morrison’s poetic hallucinations more profound.

[@michaelcooley4553]

No one mentions the Tijuana Brass anymore but I remember as a child they were HUGE in the Sixties and on the radio constantly. It's really amazing how few Rock acts or songs were even nominated for Grammys in the 60s

[@BlueSky...]

One of the best "late night" albums ever made by one of the best ever groups. Jim seemed to have everything---intelligence, charisma, sex appeal, and vision. . . . and he was unhinged. That last part is what made the Doors exceptional---Jim could channel that crazed element of his personality and put it into the songs, supercharging them with it.

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

Indeed. This album is definitely a nighttime album. ESPECIALLY a chilly fall night. I can't get into listening to Crystal Ship, End Of The Night or The End outside on a bright sunny warm afternoon day. Just doesn't work.

[@philuribe7863]

That Doors 1967 album is still, to my mind, the greatest debut album of all time (and their best). Great music - and timeless; as good today as then.

[@flannigan7956]

Well and anything 1966 that was that fresh, dark and plain rockin' is bad as hell

[@jimfiscus1248]

I think it would be a improvement to have a bass player playing rather than Ray's bass keyboard.

[@blib3786]

@@jimfiscus1248 Almost all of the songs on this album (and all the other Doors albums) have a bass guitar track, either played by a session bassist or overdubbed by Robbie.

[@DeAndresTellez]

As Densmore said in his biography and Krieger recently said in an interview: The most important thing is Jim Morrison's natural talent for composing melodies in his head. Jim used to say he wrote lyrics just to remember the melodies, but the people is obsessed with seeing him as a poet and a singer when really the difference is his melodies. Even Krieger admitted that Jim changed the melody of Light My Fire to improve it: you can hear Krieger's original melody in the rehearsal scene in the Oliver Stone movie because Krieger played it that way for the actor.

[@abigaildevoe]

interesting! i never gave that element much thought. i always thought jim's strength was his presence and delivery: even if the lyrics weren't the best, he made you believe them

[@DeAndresTellez]

Yes of course. But The Beatles are The Beatles because of their melodies and The Doors are The Doors because of their melodies (mostly arising from Jim's unconscious). By the way, I love your channel: You are totally on my wavelength, and I love your sense of humor. A loud applause.@@abigaildevoe

[@SuperStrik9]

💯Great comment. Jim had a concert in his head according to the other band members and his melodies and lyrics were the backbone of the majority of the Doors music. Jim was a genius and I hate when he's not given his proper due. I hate that awful Oliver Stone Doors movie. It's a total insult to Jim's memory.

[@mathstar4176]

Hi Abbey you are doing a great thing for classic rock n roll and introducing the youth to great Iconic music

[@starshiptrooper7670]

I agree 100%. Thx Abby, you Rock!

[@thepagecollective]

Yes. Love this channel. Really makes me think about the music I love and the music I don't love.

[@johnthursfield3056]

Not just Densmore but Ian Paice, John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell even Bill Ward were all taught by jazz drummers and had jazz chops, I think swing is an important part of all their playing

[@abigaildevoe]

that’s a good chunk of my list of favorite drummers right there!

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

Indeed, as jazz is the hardest type of music to play! If you can play jazz, you can play anything. Sometimes jazz is more "rock" than rock music. Haha!

[@9999bigb]

Alex Van Halen, too. His dad was a jazz musician. Oh and he also had this little brother who could play a mean trumpet, and then some guitar.

[@luke9947]

Don’t forget about Jimmy Chamberlin

[@ThiagodMoraes]

Bonzo never took a drum lesson on his life. He was self taught but surely influenced by Jazz too!!

[@JaceDanielFilms]

The way you talk about this album is so regal, it makes it feel like you're taking us on a tour through an art gallery of sound. Nobody talks about modern music like this, treating each track as a piece of history. Although there's probably a reason for that.

[@bongodave13]

The Doors remain in my top 5 bands of all time. After 50+ years, they still sound fresh and different from anything else. When you hear them, you immediately know it's them, and even their weakest numbers are still better than a lot of bands' best.

[@bobburroughs6241]

Forever Changes and now The Doors! Two favourites. You can't underestimate the weight and force of the breakthrough of this album. I bought this on release on holiday and 4 of us lay around listening to it on a sunny afternoon in a Jersey guest house, the stunned landlady walking in as The End played! The guitar break in Light My Fire still sends a tingle down the spine. A great 6 album ride ending with the superb Riders On the Storm. Another great review Abigail.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Growing up my mom had an old hippie friend that lived in Haight-Ashbury in the mid to late 60’s, she had stories galore, the Lizard King was often featured in them. As a teenager in the early 80’s I was amazed at that period and loved every discussion with her, most involved some “substance” to start the conversation.

[@PersonalVx]

It’s not music for uncool people, it’s music for the uninvited

[@davidlauter1622]

When the musics over is a total masterpiece ! The End is really kind of a jam.

[@ratbones620]

I really love this album. As much as I love all of The Door’s discography, this album has always stuck out to me. It has such an almost supernatural quality to it that it’s really impossible to focus on anything else but the album itself.

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

I've listened to this album for so many years ingrained into my soul since junior high in the late early 90s, that it's weird to me when people say it's flawed. That's like claiming the Mona Lisa is flawed.

[@marknovak6498]

Light My Fire was the first "Song of the Summer" I know that became a thing later but that was a time when music was just bigger in everyone's life. Even parents knew every word of the song they hated.

[@joshuadavies9275]

I really appreciate what you’re doing with this site. The Production value, your personality, and the delivery - as well as the extensive Research, honesty, and genuine love of the music. And the schtick is wonderful!

[@KevinMooretoons]

Growing up as a kid in the '70s, the Doors were the favored band among the blue collar teens I knew, the guys who wore a lot of denim, leather and bandanas and the girls in tight jeans and tube tops. They seemed to dig whatever head trip the music and lyrics -- "the poetry" -- the band offered, and Jim Morrison was at that point a legend, a poster on your wall above the incense and drum cigarettes and wine bottle candle. When I finally got into the band as a teen in the 80's, I read No One Here Gets Out Alive, and listened to this album incessantly. I think my Doors fixation lasted until Oliver Stone killed it when his ridiculous biopic came out in my freshman year in college. At some point in the 90s it was not cool to like The Doors, but I always insisted their counter cultural message was proto-punk.

[@kelvinkloud]

when it became uncool I was even more motivated to embrace the band..... frequently mischaracterized but never forgotten.... theyve outlived nearly all their peers in the industry. morrison was a inconsistent wreckless indiv. But his genius & talents w were truly rarified.

[@postmortemjunkie]

I feel like I could listen to you talk about The Doors forever.

[@walterfechter8080]

I bought The Doors' debut LP when it hit the record store shelves. As with albums by The Beatles, Cream, Love, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Pink Floyd, I never left it behind in the 1960s. Even my Ma and Grandma loved "Light My Fire."

[@limomangeno]

Don't forget Blue Cheer....

[@ronny-2112]

One of my favorite bands, and first musical influences. I love this album in particular, you know 1967 was a wonderful year for music. The first songs I heard and saw on video from them were the two obvious ones "Light My Fire", and "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" and a live version of "The End". The wonderful thing about this band was that at the time, along with The Velvet Underground (another of my favorites from the 1960's), they were the only two bands that spoke outside the box of the Hippie movement, that spoke about the darkest aspects of the mind, and human behavior, and about the misery of humanity itself. The first album I heard from them was the compilation "The Best Of The Doors" (1985) on vinyl, thanks to my parents' record collection, then I got it for myself on that classic Double Fat Box CD, also one of my first 10 CDs in life. I still have it and keep it as a nice memory of when music began to be my favorite hobby, and when I became a musician. I have always thought that the popularity of Jim Morrison's image and person overshadows the talent of the other three guys. John Densmore is a very good drummer with his Jazz, R&B and Blues touch. Robby Krieger makes some very interesting licks and riffs, direct and appropriate for the songs. Ray Manzarek for me was the genius behind the band's music, he was the musical director, the visionary, his sound and style gave the unique atmosphere that the band had.

[@alejandrogiraldoorozco4075]

"He'd literally take a nap" that one got me 😂😂😂

[@georgemathie8123]

The door's debut is a timeless classic and what an introduction for this legendary band to kick off an amazing discography

[@dsgp7835]

Having been in my prime teenage years when this album was released, I can tell you the Doors and this album was so new and fresh sounding in a time when so many bands had their own fresh sound. When I hear this album I hear the soundtrack to my life an the world around me.

[@danielhudson5186]

My favorite band! Love everything about them! The sound, the vibe, the kind of dark sense of foreboding that seemed to come to the band so effortlessly. Strange Days is their best, but the debut is undeniable.

[@James-hd4ms]

Clicked new to you and you came up. So for that I’ll say Hello, I Love you.

[@janemilozi]

One of the best vinyl Monday ever!!!! I looooove the debut Doors album.... So unique and all the songs are amazing, one and one... Nice work Abby!!!!

[@iamadwarf]

"The End" never fails to entrance me, literally. It's a spiritual experience for me.

[@zorromaskedman8220]

70's FM Radio...the only way I learned of the Doors. Late to the party for sure, Summer of '71 Jim passed away. I still did not really appreciate the Doors until 1977. And did not know ALL their past albums until cd box set 1998. They set a high mark for Studio sounding perfect. The band members and Jim seemed to have very DIFFERENT goals in mind. The Doors were a Power House! 50th Anniversary Albums now too!

[@danielfuentes3226]

The Doors debut album is a great classic,one of the greatest albums of all time and one of my favorite bands.Great review.

[@richierugs6544]

Break on Thru is one of the best opening tracks of all time---saw them at Absolutely Live at the Garden--absolutely transcendent !

[@konowd]

Absolutely great track to open the album

[@Juan-wo7zu]

This has to be my favourite doors album. They really nailed it on the first try although all their albums with Jim Morrison are great. Also I love the appreciation for Alabama song, one of my favourites on the album. That song always sounded pretty Halloween-ish to me. (Second edit) I disagree about take it as it comes. Obviously a very sexual song but I love the energy and the keyboard solo is among the best on the album, not forgettable to me. This is a personal 10/10 album

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

I might be the only one who loves and appreciates the way "Alabama Song" was used in the Oliver Stone movie. 👍🏽

[@mperezmcfinn2511]

@@sugadelicsavagesoul8623 Not the only one.

[@cbond1c113]

The first door album is by favorite my favorite Doors lp. Sometimes I have problems with the whole deification of there output, and Jim Morrison in general, but this album definitely puts them in the canon. It's got to be the greatest debut album of all time!

[@stevenimeson902]

I noticed you have 79 repress as it has the small E the 1970 versions will have a big E and the doors written under the hole I was doing some research when I got a copy of waiting for the Sun with this exact label and found out that 1979 Electra re-released all the doors albums

[@garyolshan4177]

Doors' Morrison Hotel is one of the greatest rock albums in history. Period! From that flawless record, Peace Frog and You Make Me Real are gems

[@mperezmcfinn2511]

The beauty of "Take It As It Comes" is that it's a perfect slice of '66 era go-go pop (worthy of a Nuggets compilation). It has all the authenticity of a regional garage hit, except written and recorded by the Doors. It could have been a less ambitious band's one hit.

[@soulhealer20]

I have to say I grew up with The Doors. I got to see them in 69 when Soft Parade was the new thing. It's not as high on the general Doors fave list but I like Touch Me. But Light My Fire and Love Me Two Times are my favorites.

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

Soft Parade is probably my favorite! 👍🏽

[@stevecowder4774]

Of course, one of the finest debut albums ever but “ The End “ for me will always be the ultimate Doors song, thanks to its appropriate use in Apocalypse Now. From one masterpiece to another. And you hit the nail on the head with Ray. He was more valuable to the success of the Doors than most people ever gave him credit for.

[@flannigan7956]

What did you think of Muad'dib playing Ray in the Oliver stone, I still don't knoe how to feel about

[@JustFortheRecord66]

The End is the Doors masterwork!

[@flannigan7956]

@@JustFortheRecord66 feel like you just volunteered to turn out the light

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

​@@flannigan7956lmao!!!! I had to re-read your comment twice before I caught your reference! Muad'dib! 😂

[@flannigan7956]

@@sugadelicsavagesoul8623 "just a bigger picture"

[@TorontoJon]

Four or five years ago, I was lucky enough to find The Doors' first record album, 'The Doors', at my local Value Village for only $2.00 along with some other great albums that particular thrift-hunting day. I had bought the CD many years earlier in my college days as well as a still-sealed vinyl record, but to find a very gently used, pristine record album from my local Value Village was a great score indeed. :)

[@allancorfield8164]

I've been revisiting albums from your reviews that i haven't listened to for years. I've currently got Twentieth Century Fox running round my head. Keep up the good work

[@Danielallanz]

I think of Jim as the psychedelic Frank Sinatra..his voice was really beautiful..

[@ryangunwitch-black]

It’s absolutely wild and wonderful that they already had “The End” by the first album. I mean come on. That’s a a progressively killer song.

[@vpagsx]

Thank you for doing Jim and the band some justice, brought me to tears. Xo Soul Sister

[@dennismason3740]

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht composed Alabama song for the German stage in the late 1920s before they had to escape N**i persecution. In 1967 my friend Steve Hansen called me and said "get up here, now!" and I mounted my Schwinn Stingray (coolest bicycle on earth) and rode up the hill to see what my rich-kid friend was so excited about. We were 13 and 14. I wouldn't smoke weed for another two years however when the album played I was changed. It was like music from a dangerous planet full of poets and killers. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. Light My Fire, the "radio version" (chopped down to three minutes) was climbing the charts in L.A. and brave DJs were playing the full seven minute version and we lost our shite when the long version (with all of the solos) came on. Now I had just experienced the whole album. I felt comatose. Our schoolbus driver, Mister O' Minor, had taped a transistor radio to his PA microphone and clicked on a local rock station. The timing was perfect. The rimshot and organ intro blasted throughout the bus speakers and Light My Fire came on. Most of the kids on the bus hadn't heard the album version with solos. As the yellow bus drifted around the banked curves of Sunset Boulevard we had entered another reality that I can't even begin to describe. The bus arrived at Paul Revere Junior High School (public) in Brentwood and many of the kids from the bus were changed forever. Magic School Bus, indeed. I saw Cream that year but oddly enough I never saw the Doors.

[@RabbiSteve1]

This was another delight from you. While LA WOMAN is my personal favorite, your video essay here, makes me want to go back and compare all of them again. Your work is quite rewatchable. There’s so much there. I often feel like I need to take notes. Thank you for all the great work you do.

[@jetnova3788]

Oh my GAWD I’m sorry, but this will be a longer-ish response. I’m bursting at the seams here. Hopefully I won’t bore you. The Doors pretty much saved my life in high school. They were my cornermen in that helllish world, where I I was an outcast like Jim. “No One Here Gets Out Alive” had just been published. I read it three times back-to-back-to-back, and sometimes I’d just flip to a random page and take on that aspect of Jim for the day. My HS yearbooks (I made my own. I was such a rebel) are full of “You remind me of Jim Morrison, mannnnn.” The lasting legacy is that Jim made a writer out of me. He was/is an idol of mine but he also taught me how to be my own best iconoclast. Jim needed the Doors, and The Doors needed Jim. They set themselves up as a Diamond on stage, a configuration that they felt was sacred. I met both Jac Holzman and Robby Krieger on “The World Series of Doors Trivia.” It’s on KZbin and worth watching, if only for the moment I playfully diss Robby Krieger. Whiskey Bar is THE song that turned Holzman on during that set at the Whisky. He thought it utterly audacious that a band would take on that song, and he loved their version. I do, too. It’s one of their finest moments. Live, they often did a medley of Whiskey Bar/Back Door Man/Five to One. Phenomenal when Jim was in the mood. The bold statement I’ll make that’s sure to get some eyes rolling is that I believe Jim to have been an authentic Shaman. Check out the live version of The End in Toronto, 1967. He betrayed the gift (was it really that the spirit of a dying Navajo jumped into his brain when he was five? Who knows, but what a great story). A true Shaman must go through a traumatic disorganization of the senses. That’s what Jim did on that rooftop in Venice, gobbling all that LSD and “taking notes at a fantastic rock concert in [his] head.” Jim came to California with his Junior College sweetheart Mary Werbelow. He loved her and was absolutely devastated that she left him. He claimed that the first two albums were about her. “The End” began life as a heartbroken goodbye to her and then morphed into the ever-changing masterpiece we know today. It doesn’t appear that Jim and Mary were as toxic together as Jim and Pamela, whom I think of as his woman by default. Ray saw the Shaman in Jim, moreso than the others, and it was Ray who stuck with him no matter what. He was the only one who remained on stage with him as the stage collapsed in Miami, and at the other concert (the name of the venue escapes me, but it’s the one that inspired Iggy, who was in the crowd). Jim was dead serious about his vision, right up until the time the other three sold “Light My Fire “ to Buick. He never got over that betrayal, and pretty much let the vision go at that point. If the Doors had only recorded the first two albums, we’d probably think of them as we do Joy Division. Jim was in actuality a big dork. It’s possible that he had an actual allergy to alcohol (due to the lack of a certain enzyme), as plenty of witnesses attest to him drinking a ridiculous amount of booze and being completely lucid, then all of a sudden turning into an absolute maniac when it hit him all at once. Jim liked rolling the dice that way, though. “Drugs are a bet with your mind.” So much more I’d like to say. I’m amassing info for a book I’m going to write about Jim as an artist inspired by The French Symbolist poets, reflecting on what it was like to discover The Doors in fake-as-f$#k Southern California in 1980. As is the case with most of the titles of Books about Jim, I’ll use a line of his poetry for mine: “To Come of Age in a Dry Place.” Be on the lookout. Thank you for consistently pulling off the miracle of making Mondays something to look forward to.

[@9999bigb]

Huge love for the shout out to Eve Babitz! What a fantastic book, and a document to a time and a place.

[@WhiteNucklin]

My favorite reason to wake up on mondays!

[@bumperu]

When the doors of perception are cleansed, things will appear as they truly are, infinite. Aldous Huxley.

[@paulgardner-uy6fh]

The doors are brilliant

[@johnlorinc2081]

I can't remember what rock critic wrote this about the Doors first album, but it's perfect: "The Beatles and the Stones are for destroying your minds, the Doors are for afterward." The Doors debut is an obvious classic....and it lives up to its legend......but it's not my fave. That would go to the follow-up Strange Days......although for a while it was Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe. Light My Fire and The End are still epic.....and there are soooooooo many great deep cuts like Take it As it Comes, Soul Kitchen and especially Twentieth Century Fox. That cover of Back Door Man is also spine-tingling. Great video once again!

[@MoonbloomMusic]

A debut masterpiece. Faves on this lp: The Crystal Ship, Back Door Man, The End, End of The Night, with Break on Through seeming to sum up what the counter culture was all about, breaking societal boundaries ("to the other side").

[@Emet.V]

Favorite performance of “the end” is the doors 🚪 live 68 at the Hollywood bowl . It is amazing!! 27:55

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

So now I'm curious --what is your favorite jazz album/drummer that you referred to?? So many questions! Haha! But back to the album.....I absolutely love how you described it. Nailed it perfectly. This is definitely NOT a sunny by the pool album. This is a nighttime, candles, lava lamp incense kind of album! (Which, btw I love your dancing transition interlude featuring incense. I can only wonder what type it was) But for me, "The Crystal Ship" is hands down the best song on here. And you nailed it with that flickering description. Perfect explanation. Can't wait to hear you review future Doors albums. (Hopefully)

[@abigaildevoe]

my favorite jazz drummer (besides elvin jones he’s everyone’s) is sheridan riley. wildly, unreasonably talented. i was geeking out over the new wayne horvitz album “in absentia”

[@sugadelicsavagesoul8623]

@@abigaildevoe Guilty!🙋 Elvin Jones is one of mine. Along with Billy Cobham.

[@Anthony-945]

This is one of my favorite albums of all time

[@danmayberry1185]

Bravo! Loved it (age 5) when new, and live, 35 yrs later (Manzarek, Kreiger, Astbury). This album was an agent of change.

[@shelleylyme6402]

"Age 5". Are you sure about that?? My fave tune when I was five years old was "Nellie the Elephant". You must have been very advanced for your age. I feel so inadequate by comparison 😞

[@danmayberry1185]

@@shelleylyme6402 .. and yet I know nothing of Nellie. My parents were in a west coast band in the 60s, so my soundtrack was questionable for children. I was reportedly singing Light My Fire along with the car radio, they asked me what it was about, and I let them know a guy was inviting a girl over for a BBQ. Rather than correct me, they nodded.

[@terencestephenmoss2159]

Break on through is probably the best song 🎵 on a debut album ❤🎉

[@bumperu]

We all broke through to the other side.

[@jameschavez6400]

I like the waiting for the sun album a lot &much more than the soft parade

[@mickjaegermeister]

Another banger video! One of my fav albums of all time fasho

[@abigaildevoe]

thanks! you have one hell of a username there and i'm mad i didn't come up with it

[@robinwitting2023]

One of my favourite albums; like many classic albums it has a rush and a spontaneity to it. The End is loaded and powerful and pre- empts Manson and Altamont; the dark side of the sixties. Robin Witting England

[@donnicholson3200]

Such a fun, funny, informative review of that great album. Blast from the past for me - I need to see if I still have my original copy.

[@Cosmican68]

Don’t ask why, but Alabama Song has been a favourite since I was a young teen. Reminds me of a crazy circus carnival with those amazing Manzarek keys.

[@glrose3787]

gosh we really are in spooky season... i have never seen the eye in the letter d at 3:25. My favourite doors song is 'When The Music's Over'. Love your videos, Layla!!!

[@thenewertruth5745]

Ray was the greatest OMG that organ is wayyyyy out there:)

[@reginaldobittencourt878]

Love when you play the "Intermission" excerpt

[@abigaildevoe]

thanks it’s the elevator music in my brain

[@vangrod8510]

Records released in winter in northern climes secure extra space in memory, etching deep grooves for being played over and over curing cabin fevers. Such were ‘Fresh Cream’ and ‘The Doors,’ released weeks apart during a season of blizzard, both having arresting characteristics of complete originality, plus considerable hype in music magazines. All the same, (keyboard distinctions aside) these original sounds had similar root: jazz drummers, clean guitar tone, crooner vocalizations, like tripping Doo-wop or Sinatra slumming in The Haight. Both albums open with songs of emancipation, Jack Bruce sounding not unlike Morrison on the opening lines of ‘I Fee Free,’ Krieger’s tone not unlike Clapton on ‘Soul Kitchen’ et al. Album sides ending with extended tracks, instrumental solos, new pop concept… Such things are heard when new albums take turns on a turntable in the darkness of January. Thereafter, the bands go their ways, keyboard mastery and dark focus blending naturally with the “hellfire” of Crazy Arthur Brown’s opening act for the Doors, variations of surreal lyricism from both (so welcome during Dylan’s long mid-60s hiatus), Morrison’s nightmares versus Peter Brown’s waking dreams, both requiring a classical education to comprehend! Few will think of these bands in the same breath, but distinguished debuts joined by time are secured, virtually molten together, in what Dali called “the persistence of memory.”

[@scootinand]

"Break on Through" was in a Tony Hawk's game which is how I fell in love with it. Years later I borrowed a compilation from my nephew's father, and it had the uncensored version on it with the full "she get HIGH!" line intact. My dad loves singing The Doors at karaoke or on open mic nights. This album in particular was one I fell in love with when I really started taking vinyl seriously

[@GoDrex]

First album I bought myself (on cassette) and I still love it. I think it's fashionable to hate on the Doors but I love them.

[@nickjones9650]

Thanks for covering one of my faves. You are the coolest!

[@james-nw9up]

I love the Doors

[@ryangunwitch-black]

My mom liked the Doors a lot when she was a teenager and I stole her records when I was younger. My mom is an absolute nerd. And so am I. ❤

[@mykeadelic]

the doors are one of my all time favorite bands. doors fans though… an odd breed lol

[@ApolloSuns]

MORRISON HOTEL is the best Doors Album. I said it and stand by it

[@stefano.b65stef77]

Hi Abigail, it's so difficult to choose just one song, let's say Riders on the Storm, this is a monumental album, one of the best first albums ever

[@ScarlettFire341]

Excellent Delivery & Content ! L A Women LP is Amazing ! My Fav Live Gloria Hits the SPOT !

[@northsongs]

I'm an old fella now, but this is still one of the greatest albums of all time, IMHO. Thanks Abs!

[@shaunxthexmod777]

just got this album off ebay.. had it once when i was sixteen way back in 1987, love the track.. Take It As It Comes!

[@JustFortheRecord66]

When did the Doors become uncool? They were the coolest band when I discovered them in the early 80s. They still sounded so contemporary at the time!

[@MrMultichris234]

I don't think it's the "If you listen to the Doors you're uncool" but more of a "if you're uncool listen to the Doors". In a way they made music for introverts, rejected, lonely, those types of people. Similarly how decades later The Smiths were music for uncool of the 80s

[@jimfiscus1248]

Don't forget Devo. They were "through being cool" and proud of it.

[@abigaildevoe]

exactly!

[@konowd]

The Doors were somewhat uncool in the seventies then they finally had a big revival with Apocalypse Now and the book No One Here Gets Out Alive.

[@flannigan7956]

Between 60s comeback of the 80s and the one of the 90s at least how I remember. Hippie stuff sucked and everybody would be like "the 60s are over!" then got big again for stoner kids, The Doots with the other top 60s legends, teens at 90s Grateful Dead shows, you could sometimes get bell bottoms new at the store before that quit bein a big deal etc. I purposely embraced 60s/70s for blatant social subversion but then very soon after a buncha the high school kids thought I was one of em

[@johnhitz1185]

The Doors and Strange Days, it seems to me, were the most influential records of the second half of the 1960s. Much more so than Pink Floyd and Zeppelin 1, which I got from a pharmacy because of the cover, and thought a bit insane at the time.

[@levitation25]

Three bands that influenced The Doors always come to my mind when discussing the band in 1967/68: The Animals, Them & The Kinks. The Doors were lyrically more sophisticated but their sound was influenced by those bands. The studio echo on this album is quite spooky I love how it sounds at the beginning of 'The End'. I divide the album up into the great tracks (Break on Through, The Crystal Ship, Light My Fire, End of the Night & The End) and the good tracks (Soul Kitchen, Twentieth Century Fox, Alabama Song, Back Door Man, I Looked at You & Take It as it Comes). I always compare this album with Strange Days. I prefer the feeling and sound of Strange Days to their debut. The debut is a bit too gloomy for me while Strange Days I find to be more colourful (psychedelic?) and livelier.

[@abigaildevoe]

can't believe i didn't talk about the studio echo/production more, thank you for pointing that out! all 3 of those bands remain terribly underrated outside the hits

[@levitation25]

@@abigaildevoe Jim's vocals sometimes sound a bit British to me at times the most obvious influence on his vocals I think is Eric Burdon of The Animals. British bands usually try to sound American but often some of their own accent comes through and Eric has a very strong Geordie accent (from Newcastle, England). Jim probably had no idea about the accent add ons thing from his influences and it was all just American blues to him. When you've been listening to Geordies (The Animals), Northern Irishmen (Them) and Londoners (The Kinks) there's a good chance it will come out in your own vocals.

[@scotttaylor7767]

I’m very fond of “Break on through “. I can see why they cut out the “she gets high” bit thou ! The Byrds couldn’t even get “Eight miles high” on the radio in 1966 ! Lol

[@farrellmcnulty909]

Really, what was wrong with programmers back then? "Getting high" as a phrase doesn't sound obscene. If any self-appointed censor would see a problem with the phrase, I'd have to ask "President Reagan", "Mike Pence" or "Karen" if their children ever "got high" or if they themselves partook.

[@flannigan7956]

​@@farrellmcnulty909reminds me of the huge uproar of Billy Boy talking about yes I used to smoke weed but didn't inhale it, and the Satanic panic ladies had tv ads like "and then, in front of our children , he said this" talk about blowin smoke

[@farrellmcnulty909]

@@flannigan7956 Who did the Satanic Panic Ladies blow?

[@ApolloSuns]

Former fat kid here. Totally get it. Dropped 55lbs and now don't recognize myself lol

[@Binx.mp3]

Take It as It Comes will always be my favorite Doors song. Close second is End of the Night

[@DQ-su6qf]

It was interesting growing up in Los Angeles in the 60’s..saw the doors & love all over town..

[@alanarakelian5021]

Your copy of the LP is a late 1970s or early 1980s press. For it to be from '70, the "E" on the label would need to be huge. The smaller "E" is a later press.

[@BillsBoxOfSound]

Speaking of this album and jazz, the chords to the solo section of Light My Fire is directly lifted from the solo section of John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" (Ray copped to it in an interview). For years I wasn't a Doors fan until I got the Absolutely Live LP and it blew me away - "When The Music's Over" goes over the top when Jim tells everyone to shut up, goes into a monologue, then the band takes it even further after 'we want the world and we want it'! Oh, and yes, by all means, you are a 20th Century Fox, regardless of what year it is. Looking forward to next week's video!

[@gregpaspatis9425]

The saddest thing about the "Absolutely Live" double set album by the Doors is that none of the biggest three hits from them ("Light My Fire", "Hello, I Love You", "Touch Me") are on it, nor are other singles like "Love Me Two Times".

[@BillsBoxOfSound]

@@gregpaspatis9425 I can see your point, but for me the lack of live versions of radio hits is the allure for me. It pulls me into the mystique of the doors and hooks the listener with deep cuts that give you the feeling of what really went on at Doors shows.

[@pasteye1671]

For the first time, Lovely Lady, our favourite tracks align! Although people say The Beatles personified the 60s, to m the decade is best remembered for the Doors and Jimi. Loved the background info, as geeky usual. Your workload must be massive to turn these out weekly. So thanks.

[@abigaildevoe]

the first time?? your constant dissent until now is impressive! re: the workload: dude you have no idea

[@millivinilli]

Dear Devoe, watched this. Have a good morning. Thanks. The Doors remind me of Excene everytime.

[@kazooplayer3]

This was my favorite album for a while. I probably wouldn't be watching this channel if I didn't listen to it!

[@BrunaHera]

Such an amazing record, I love this one so much and what a great video, so glad I subscribed

[@alansmith1989]

A most informative video. Thank you Abby. I must confess that i`m not an out-and-out Doors fan, but do like some of their output. From the debut album here - my favourite is "Break on Through" Incidentally `Light my Fire` only made No 49 in the U.K (In the `Record Retailer` chart) but a cover by Jose Feliciano made the top 10 (No 6 I think?) a year later. My most liked Doors song is "Roadhouse Blues" when their style had changed.

[@inanimatecarbongod]

I think the worst thing you can say about Alabama Song is that it smooths out the original tune so much into that sort of oompa thing. Though I didn't appreciate that until I actually heard a recording of "Mahagonny" years later and realised just how jagged and angular the original is; I remember being kind of stunned by the strangeness of David Bowie's version when I first heard it, but it's much nearer the original.

[@tedgegi155]

You got gorgeous eyes. Oh yeah, and The Doors were great too.

[@TheAgeOfAnalog]

Morrison Hotel will always be my favorite Doors record, the others are probably all a tie for me. That said, I’ve loved everything they ever did (with Jim) since forever.

[@TrumptonMayor]

Great to hear a mention of William S Harvey, his beautiful record cover designs for Elektra are amazing. No wonder the british 80s band Felt did a tribute, Song For William S Harvey on their 1986 album Let The Snakes Crinkle Their Heads To Death.

[@phosphorescentscotsman]

ole Leather pants rising from the mesozoic Ooze. (sigh) Becoming a rockstar was not something he anticipated. He DID know he would be a writer, and somehow work on films. I think privately he was really, really taken aback by The Door's success. Your attempts to humanize him are laudable and worthy of respect. He possessed a planetary sized intellect, and despite his preoccupation with death, I doubt he envisioned himself dying in a bathtub. Jimbo is a seamless example of not having what you want, and not wanting what you have. Weird scenes inside the goldmine indeed.

[@roschel5832]

One of my absolute favorite albums! Thank you abby

[@warrenpeace4276]

Me and a friend were listening to this album in the pitch black while getting high. He threw up after it. I was also on acid, again listening to this album, and believed I died and was reborn. End of the Night with Jim repeating “end of the night” over and over and then blasting into Take it as it comes really got to me with those lyrics, tho it could have just been the acid :D

[@abigaildevoe]

pretty sure you found the exact intended listening experience for this album

[@warrenpeace4276]

@@abigaildevoe “Jim would, so I should” :D