Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Doors- Strange Days


Moving along to other 40(ish) year-old albums. I present to you "Strange Days". People might say that the Door's first was their best but those of us who like to cross over to the dark side and wallow in a Morrison induced funk seem to enjoy "Strange Days". Besides the catchier and more accessible Love Me Two Times and People Are Strange, there's a mixed bag of Morrison at his most poetic and theatrical and visceral. The atmospheric Horse Latitudes is like being at a Poetry Brawl and the eleven minute When The Music's Over is erotically political and self-indulgent in a way that only Morrison could pull off. It's hard to listen to the Doors and not feel the tragedy that befell Morrison but I sometimes think that it adds to the poignancy of their work. Ray Manzarek's signature organ is everpresent on this album and I think he added so much more to the doors than he's often given credit for. It must have been hard to watch Jim gyrate in his tight leather pants while he plunked away at his organ behind him. This LP is one of those timeless things that I'll be listening to till the end of time.

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