041: The Doors, by The Doors

The Doors (USA)
The Doors (1967)
11 tracks, 44 minutes
Spotify · iTunes

The Doors made so many great albums in their time, but their eponymous debut album from 1967 is just so well-rounded and exciting, it’s that one that gets the inclusion here. I seem to say this quite a bit – I guess that’s one of the perils of only talking about Good Albums – but almost every track on The Doors is a winner. Almost.

‘Soul Kitchen,’ ‘20th Century Fox’ and ‘I Looked at You’ hint at the burgeoning psychedelic rock movement while losing none of the rock’n’roll power behind them. ‘Light My Fire’ gave the group their first #1 single, and remains an enduring classic (even if it’s not my favourite track of the album). The easily overlooked ‘Take It as It Comes’ is near the end of the album, but still provides a wonderfully dark and Latin-esque groove which allows for some interesting solos. The two covers that the band chose to include show that they’re in no way bashful about the roots of their music: ‘Back Door Man,’ written by Willie Dixon for Howlin’ Wolf is as pure a blues as you’d expect; ‘Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)’ from a Bertold Brecht/Kurt Weill operetta is perfect for the theatricality of Jim Morrison’s performance.

But the stand-out is the opening track, ‘Break on Through (To the Other Side).’ It’s just a distillation of everything that makes the album itself great. Killer guitar riffs, bluesy melody, a proto-prog organ solo and lyrics simple enough to stay with you long after the track’s finished. It’s one of those tracks that sound so completely fresh and electrifying even though it was recorded more than 50 years ago.

Okay, as I alluded to, it’s not an out-and-out perfect album. ‘The End’ is one of the most recognisable tracks on the album, but it is a bit of a glimpse of the wankiness that Jim Morrison was capable of – full of that faux-depth and self-conscious edginess that make you think he was probably a right twat to be around. But, like The Doors in general, his artistry was mostly on-point, especially when restrained by the rest of the band.

Overall, it’s an interesting album this, because I think you can hear how much of an influence it had on both punk and prog to come. It’s as if the album was the progenitor to two completely opposed artistic movements. But most of all, it’s just an absolute cracker all on its own, right from the beginning if maybe not all the way to ‘The End.’