ALBUM: The Doors Greatest Hits (1980)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$
Man, what do you say about the Doors? They became a phenomenon while lead singer Jim “Lizard King” Morrison was alive and an even bigger one after he died in 1971.
As Rolling Stone magazine in 1981 famously put on the cover a photo of the handsome lead singer with this headline: Jim Morrison. He’s hot, He’s sexy, and he’s dead.
It had been 10 years since he overdosed in Paris on drugs after many months of erratic behavior including arrests for drugs and exposing himself at a concert. But the band’s music was seeing a resurgence surrounding a book and a movie.
I truly believe this Greatest Hits album is all you need. They had the best-worst discography of all time. In other words they had some amazing songs that you wondered where they came from — because they would be side-by-side on albums with some truly awful stuff.
On this album most of the songs are good, even excellent except for the godawful psychedelic tune Not to Touch the Earth, which like Five to One, thankfully not on this album, showcases everything bad about the band, trippy psuedo poetry from Morrison, and psychedelic guitar-organ interplay.
But then there was the good stuff.
Compare the aforementioned horror Five to One to LA Woman. In the latter song the band kicks into a thump thumping blues rift and Morrison’s words suddently make some sense, not profound but propelling what is essentially a long jam song with speedup-slowdown parts.
Drivin’ down your freeways
Midnight alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman
So alone, so alone
So alone, so alone
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light
Or just another lost angel, city of night
Mr. Mojo’s rising …
The musicians were good. Morrison strained too much on his voice. He certainly thought it was better than it was, but it was effective most of the time and he was the quintessential good looking, hard partying, artsy leaning, rock star. Robby Krieger on guitar was above average. Ray Manzarek on keyboards was outstanding and probably the real brains behind the music.
The thing I find fascinating stepping back on all this is how good some of the good songs were. Light My Fire is a classic that Frank Sinatra could have sung. So is Touch Me. And Riders on the Storm is timeless. Roadhouse Blues is a raucous rock and roller, also with timeless feel.
The lyrics are poetry, rarely great or even good poetry, but fitting right in and often doing their job as lyrics to Doors music.
On glaring omission on this collection is The End, famous for its Oedipal overtones and the darkness of death. It was featured in the movie Apocalypse Now — but it’s a long dark song and I’m not missing it here.
OK, I have to tell you my prank story involving Morrison and Birmingham News colleague. Ready Tom?
Nah, not yet, going to save that for a post solely dedicated to pranks.