The music and lyrics of The Doors was – and still is – a big influence on popular culture.
The Doors’ first album is The Doors.
The Doors – The Doors
Tracks are: Break On Through (To the Other Side) – 2:29/Soul Kitchen – 3:35/The Crystal Ship – 2:34/Twentieth Century Fox – 2:33/Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) – 3:20/Light My Fire – 7:06/Back Door Man – 3:34/I Looked at You – 2:22/ End of the Night – 2:52/Take It as It Comes – 2:17/The End – 11:41
The Doors’ second album is Strange Days.
The Doors – Strange Days
Tracks are: Strange Days – 3:11/You’re Lost Little Girl – 3:03/Love Me Two Times – 3:18/Unhappy Girl – 2:02/Horse Latitudes – 1:37/Moonlight Drive – 3:05/People Are Strange – 2:13/My Eyes Have Seen You – 2:32/I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind – 3:26/When the Music’s Over – 10:58
The Doors’ third album is Waiting for the Sun.
The Doors – Waiting for the Sun
Tracks are: Hello, I Love You – 2:14/Love Street – 2:53/Not to Touch the Earth – 3:56/Summer’s Almost Gone – 3:22/Wintertime Love – 1:54/The Unknown Soldier – 3:23/Spanish Caravan – 3:03/My Wild Love – 3:01/We Could Be So Good Together – 2:26/Yes, the River Knows – 2:36/Five to One – 4:26
The Doors’ fourth album is The Soft Parade.
The Doors – The Soft Parade
Tracks are: Tell All the People – 3:23/Touch Me – 3:12/Shaman’s Blues – 4:49/Do It – 3:08/Easy Ride – 2:41/Wild Child – 2:38/Runnin’ Blue – 2:33/Wishful Sinful – 3:02/The Soft Parade – 8:37
The Doors’ fifth album is Morrison Hotel.
The Doors – Morrison Hotel
Tracks are: Roadhouse Blues – 4:03/Waiting for the Sun – 3:58/You Make Me Real – 2:53/Peace Frog – 2:51/Blue Sunday – 2:13/Ship of Fools – 3:08/Land Ho! – 4:10/The Spy – 4:17/Queen of the Highway – 2:47/Indian Summer – 2:36/Maggie M’Gill – 4:23
The Doors sixth album is Absolutely Live – their first live album.
The Doors – Absolutely Live
Tracks are: House Announcer – 2:40/Who Do You Love? – 6:02/Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) – 1:51/Back Door Man – 2:22/Love Hides – 1:48/Five to One – 4:34/Build Me a Woman – 3:33/When the Music’s Over – 16:16/Close to You – 4:04/Universal Mind – 4:54/Petition the Lord with Prayer – 0:52/Dead Cats, Dead Rats – 1:57/Break On Through (to the Other Side) – 4:41/Lions in the Street – 1:14/Wake Up – 1:21/A Little Game – 1:12/The Hill Dwellers – 2:35/Not to Touch the Earth – 4:14/Names of the Kingdom – 1:29/The Palace of Exile – 2:20/Soul Kitchen – 7:15
The Doors’ seventh (and last) album is L.A. Woman.
The Doors – L.A. Woman
Tracks are: The Changeling – 4:21/Love Her Madly – 3:20/Been Down So Long – 4:41/Cars Hiss By My Window – 4:12/L.A. Woman – 7:49/L’America – 4:37/Hyacinth House – 3:11/Crawling King Snake – 5:00/The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) – 4:16/Riders on the Storm – 7:09
Finally, there’s An American Prayer, which is Jim Morrison’ poetry and poetic observations and musings with a musical backing by the other members of The Doors.
An American Prayer
Tracks are: Awake – 0:36/Ghost Song (edit) – 2:50/Dawn’s Highway – 1:21/Newborn Awakening – 2:26/To Come of Age – 1:01/Black Polished Chrome – 1:07/Latino Chrome – 2:14/Angels and Sailors – 2:46/Stoned Immaculate – 1:33/The Movie – 1:35/Curses, Invocations – 1:57/American Night – 0:28/Roadhouse Blues – 5:53/The World On Fire – 1:06/Lament – 2:18/The Hitchhiker – 2:15/An American Prayer – 3:04/Hour For Magic – 1:17/Freedom Exists – 0:20/A Feast Of Friends – 2:10
The best albums to listen to are The Doors, Strange Days, L.A Woman and An American Prayer.
For those who want a concise package of good music, there’s always The Very Best of The Doors, which is a reasonable compilation of (most of) the best tracks.
Tracks are: (Disc 1) Break on Through (To the Other Side) – 2:27/Light My Fire – 7:07/The Crystal Ship – 2:32/People Are Strange – 2:09/Strange Days – 3:08/Love Me Two Times – 3:14/Alabama Song – 3:18/Five to One – 4:25/Waiting for the Sun – 3:58/Spanish Caravan – 2:57/When the Music’s Over – 10:56 (Disc 2) Hello, I Love You – 2:15/Roadhouse Blues – 4:02/L.A. Woman – 7:49/Riders on the Storm – 7:10/Touch Me – 3:11/Love Her Madly – 3:17/The Unknown Soldier – 3:23/The End – 11:42
With regards to Jim Morrison’s writings outside The Doors, I enjoyed reading his poetry. There are three collections:
The Lords & the New Creatures
The Lords/The New Creatures
Wilderness
Wilderness
The American Night.
The American Night
There’s also a book about Jim Morrison and The Doors that’s worth reading. It’s entitled No One Here gets Out Alive and it’s by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman.
Some critics have claimed it exaggerates certain events – and that may be so – however it’s still a very entertaining read.
There’s also a very good documentary about The Doors, called The Doors are Open.
It’s worth finding on DVD.
Finally, of course, there’s The Doors, the movie made by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as a very convincing Jim Morrison.
It’s an interesting and entertaining film with a great soundtrack. What else does anyone want from a movie?
All in all, there are some fascinating Jim Morrison and Doors-related CDs, books and DVDs available. Some good video clips too. Here’s one to be going on with:
The legacy of The Doors is quite an interesting artistic legacy – one that’s definitely worth investigating.
R J Dent 