L.A. Woman

It was all over. The Doors had had their run--and a very successful run it was--but it had run its course. It was clear the band was exhausted from continuous touring, uninspired, and ill-prepared to make an album. The previous album, though well received critically, had not sold all that well, nor had the album spawned a hit single. Now the band was back in the studio to make a new album, when without warning, their long-time record producer Paul Rothchild, angrily announced he'd had enough, and stormed out the door. Paul Rothchild, who had produced all five of the Doors' albums, had grown weary of having to deal with the band's mercurial lead singer--Jim Morrison. Morrison, the band's front man and chief songwriter, often shown up in the recording studio drunk, unprepared, and often late. Indeed, while recording the previous album, Morrison wrote only a few songs, most of them with lyrics that were unfinished. After pleading unsuccessfully with Morrison to finish his songs, the band members went to his house, and began thumbing through his notebooks of poetry in search for lyrics to finish his songs. Now, in December 1970, about to embark on making a new album, Morrison arrived in the studio, with no new songs at all, and an attitude that spoke of not wanting to be there. It was then Rothchild had a meltdown and walked out in a huff. That's when recording engineer Bruce Botnick stepped up to lead the Doors in recording what would become the Doors' sixth and last album. Botnick always enjoyed working with the Doors, because each member was a peerless, highly individualistic musician. Keyboard player Ray Manzarek was a classically trained pianist, Robbie Kreiger was schooled in playing flamenco guitarist, and John Densmore was a drummer steeped in American Jazz. Best of all, they were friends who loved jamming together and who enjoyed each other's company. The miracle is how three such gifted musicians managed to find each other. It was Ray Manzarek who started the band, in 1965. He met UCLA art student Jim Morrison on the beach in Venice, California. Morrison was a beat poet possessed with a dark vision. Manzarek was stunned by the depth and quality of Morrison's verse. A bohemian himself, Manzarek liked Morrison immediately. Manzarek knew of a number of talented musicians, but chose Kreiger (guitar) and Densmore (drums) to join his fledgling band. The problem was Morrison's shyness; he was not comfortable standing up before a crowd, nor did he see himself as a lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band. With a lot of persuasion, and several missteps Morrison overcome his shyness, and discovered his natural baritone blended seamlessly with the blues/rock stylings of the Doors' music. After rehearsing for several weeks, the band got its first big break with a an appearance at the Whiskey a Go-Go, in Hollywood. Their one-night gig created such a sensation that it led to a permanent nightly engagement as the Whiskey's house band. It was while performing at the Whiskey that Paul Rothchild discovered the Doors, and signed them to a contract with Electra Records. Ostensibly the band's sole songwriter, Jim Morrison told his fellow bandmates he could not do it alone, and urged them to try their hand at writing pop songs. The following day Krieger arrived at the studio with what would become their biggest hit--"Light My Fire". Coupled with a few rhythm-and-blues standards, and several more songs by Morrison, the Doors' first album made an immediate sensation across the county. Now in big demand, the Doors toured incessantly, only taking time off every year or so to record a new album. It continued this way pretty much non-stop up to December 1970, when the Doors returned to the studio to record their sixth album. After Rothchild walked out, the group and Botnick organized a makeshift recording studio at their private rehearsal hall, known as the Doors' Workshop. The idea was to record in a more comfortable and relaxed setting, while avoiding the expenses of a professional studio. A used mixing console was installed upstairs in the Workshop, while downstairs studio monitors, microphones, guitar amplifiers and keyboards were set up. To compensate for the lack of an isolated vocal booth, Morrison sang into a mic standing in the bathroom doorway. The first obstacle was coming up with enough quality songs. Morrison had nothing new to offer, so the band began jamming, performing tunes they all loved. This led them to the band performing "Ghost Riders in the Sky". They performed it so well, that Morrison wrote new lyrics that--couple with some musical tweaks--morphed into what would become "Riders on the Storm." Taken from Morrison's journals written in 1968, the band worked up the music for "The Changeling." Newly inspired, Morrison composed the blues number "Cars Hiss by My Window". Kreiger then wrote a new tune, "Love Her Madly". After much jamming, the band created the music for Morrison's sprawling homage to Los Angeles (what he called "the city of night"). The song would become the album's title track: "L.A. Woman." The Doors then worked up the music for "Hyacinth House" which was as close to country-and-western music the Doors would ever get; plus a newly-minted Morrison tune: "L'America" (which was originally titled "Latin America"). Morrison then dusted off an old blues number written by John Lee Hooker, entitled "Crawling King Snake". Toward the end of the session, the band created the music for Morrison's dark and foreboding journey through a sort of netherworld, entitled, "The WASP (Texas Ratio and the Big Beat)". To complete the album the band created the music for Morrison's "Been Down So Long," a song inspired by folk singer Richard Farina's book "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up for Me." Later, Manzarek explained that the band did not "approach the album with one vision, but after we started working on the songs, we realized we're talking about L.A, -- about men, women, love, loss, lovers-lost, and lovers-found in Los Angeles." For the recording session, Botnik brought in Elvis Presley's bassist Jerry Sheff, and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno to provide additional backing. By all accounts, Morrison--a huge Presley fan--was excited by Scheff's participation. In addition, Benno was asked to participate as a result of his notoriety from working with Leon Russell. Best of all, the two blended well with Manzarek's keys, Krieger's guitar, and Densmore's drums. About the sessions, Krieger said: "The warden (Paul Rothchild) was gone, which is one reason why we had so much fun." Later, after the band learned of Morrison's untimely death, Robby Krieger said: "I'm glad that "L.A. Woman" was our last album . . . It really captured what we were all all about. The first record did, too, but "L.A. Woman" is more loose, it's live -- it sound almost like a rehearsal. It's pure Doors." Indeed, with the exception of a few keyboard overdubs, the album was recorded completely live. The record execs loved it too, especially when "Lover Her Madly", was released as a single, and within a short time topped the Top-40 playlist (it would eventually go four-times platinum). After that they released "Riders on the Storm" as a single, it too went number one (and would eventually go three-times platinum). The album itself topped the charts (and went three-times platinum). The album received mostly rave positive reviews. Rolling Stone's Robert Meltzer was impressed by the sense of fun and the togetherness of the band, saying it was "the Doors' greatest album" and the best album of the year. Reviewing in New Musical Express, critic Roy Carr called it "one of their best in sometime," praising it as having "great depth, vigor and presence." Critic Stephen Dalton of Classic Rock, reviewing the 40th Anniversary Edition of the album, remarked how "the original L.A. Woman still stands proud, an all-time classic journey into bright shining darkness."

I bought the latest L.A. Woman reissue on a whim and am blown away by the clarity and depth of sound of both the original tracks and the bonus material. I'll go years without listening to The Doors since first becoming obsessed with "Riders on the Storm," which was in heavy rotation on AM radio when I was in 7th grade in the early 70's. The song was one of the first 45's I bought with my own hard earned money, saved from my weekly $.25 allowance and occasional baby-sitting jobs--great money for easy work as long as the kids were past the diaper stage. I owned all of The Doors' studio albums by the time I began high school and devoured everything about the band in the music press of the day--Rolling Stone, Cream, etc.. My obsession waned through the years, and The Doors were one of the bands that didn't make the cut as I replaced LP's with CD's and now MP3's in the digital age, opting for a 2 Cd comp to satisfy my Doors' urge as it crops up from time to time. I had forgotten how great it is to hear this album in its entirety--one that deserves its place (along with The Doors' debut album and "Morrison Hotel") as an essential album (in uber-nerd parlance) in the canon of rock music. Like all great rock bands, The Doors draw from a variety of musical influences to create something dynamic, exciting, and uniquely their own. Morrison's lyrics are exceptionally ominous, even for him, and complement a primarily blues driven album (obviously prominent in the the title track), with some funk (listen to "The Changeling"), and jazz (never more obvious than in the great piano solo in "Riders on the Storm") throughout the album. Another hallmark of not only this Doors' album but most of their albums is the influence of classical music-- often heard in Manzarack's keyboards or Krieger's guitar. Furthermore, the best Doors' songs, no matter how hard they rock, have a melodic quality that stays with the listener long after the music has been put back in its sleeve or computer file. All of the tracks are dynamic with stops and starts, sudden changes in volume, tempo or tone by pros who played together for years. Unlike many albums where the extra tracks are inferior versions of the songs that made the album or songs that just didn't belong on a particular album, the bonus tracks here offer a glimpse into the bands' creative process, often slower or faster paced than the final work or versions of songs that don't have the dynamic variety heard in the final work as each member of the band becomes comfortable enough with the work to put his unique signature on the piece. Jim Morrison is not a poet, but he did write some great lyrics and worked with a band of exceptional musicians that made L.A. Woman a great album.

Disclaimer: My last name is Morrison, but I am not related to Jim, at least as far as I can determine. I am slightly older than he would be by now. When I was a young Navy pilot in a small town in central California, we had a lot of parties. As young Naval officers, we were not typical anti-establishment '60s hippies, but we partied a lot. There always seemed to be The Doors on the record players, and I particularly connected with Twentieth Century Fox and Light My Fire. I was already a devotée of classical music in those days and not much interested in rock music. But, those two songs in particular wouldn't leave me, and in the summer of 2015, my wife and I were on a road trip in Virginia and I chanced upon a new vinyl pressing of the original debut album. I bought it. When I got home and played it, I loved it and started serfing around about The Doors and whatever else they may have recorded. I had also found an original vinyl copy of Morrison Hotel in Galesburg and bought that. I decided to go for L.A. Woman, this being the last record cut by the group before Morrison turned up dead in a bathtub in Paris. On it, he is by now a full-out madman, probably completely baked and strung out at all the recording sessions, and in full possession of his gifts and his voice. He is at least three different singers here, including his own self on L.A. Woman, a sort of over the top Elvis on Been Down So Long, and even a bit of Sinatra on Hyacinth House. You can tell when he's high, and you can tell when he's come down and is more mellow. It's a little scary. Morrison was a poet of sorts, and while some of his lyrics are sappy or incomprehensible, some of this stuff gets to you. For me, mainly, it's the music. The thing about all three albums, this from a classical music nut, is that they are usually musically valid, not just derivative screaming and pounding, and the three backup guys are all serious musicians. They never sound like a garage band or union guys just playing a gig. The group on this album is a finely honed ensemble of talented guys. I won't dive deep into The Doors and become a nutjob about them, but I may find the vinyl of this, too. The CD is incredibly well done and has the advantage of being playable on my giant audio rig at home or in the car when I drive down to San Diego to drink with my kid brother. If you're already an old (!) The Doors fan, you already have this. If you just have the old LP, go ahead and get this CD for its clean sound and portability. If you're young and just wonder what Jim Morrison was all about, get the debut album and this one. Hotel Morrison is kind of a different animal, satisfying in a different way. If, like me, you're mostly a classical music person, think of Jim Morrison as a sort of budding Stravinsky, who was also an improbable combination of a genius and a madman. Overall: I love it! Five stars! Get this album! Have a nice day!

Found this to be "the" definitive version of this stellar album! Dolby Atmos doesn't quite sound as immersive as this 5.1 production! The separation among the 5 speakers is truly an amazing experience in sound; L.A. Woman sounds spectacular!!

I consider myself a stickler for audio quality, and I find this 40th anniversary remastered special version of the Doors L.A. Woman album in MP3 format to be superior to the CD I bought back in the 90s. The vocals have great depth and the instruments are more distinct and clearer than ever. Whoever engineered this remaster did a fabulous job bringing out the subtleties while remaining true to the original. Many consider this to be the Door's masterpiece album. It may be, but I think there are others just as inventive, creative and musically stimulating. What really sets this apart is the second disc's worth of alternate tracks and B-sides. L.A. Woman is particularly fun but all of these "new" tracks inject new life into this already dynamic recording. Doors aficionados should get this if only for the remastering quality and these added tracks. Those new to the Doors may want to start off with earlier albums, but this 40th Anniversary edition should be on their shopping short-list if they find that they like this band. This is classic Doors, and deserves to be your collection. You won't be disappointed, especially at the price Amazon is selling it at as of this writing. To complete this collection, consider also getting the last two tracks from L.A. Woman [40th Anniversary Mixes ], Orange County Suite and (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further. Enjoy -- this is Morrison and the Doors at the wane of their peak together. There's magic here. ~ Kort

Let's get one thing straight-I've been listening to THE DOORS since the band's beginning-both live and on record. So please don't think I dislike the band or their music when you read the following. The four "stars" are for the original album. I still own the original vinyl release-the one with the cool, clear plastic over the portrait of the band-along with all the other Elektra Records albums. Well-here it is I guess. The original album plus about 51 minutes of previously unreleased alternate tracks. Plus the unheard song "She Smells So Nice" (with a poorly recorded vocal). Plus some between takes studio chat. A booklet with a few photos of the band working in the studio, plus an essay by noted writer David Fricke. All in a cardboard tri-fold package. The sound is very good-even having a little warmth to it, reminiscent of the original vinyl release. Was "L.A. Woman" THE DOORS' greatest album? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly it's one of the band's best albums. And while I, too, like to hear unreleased stuff for a better understanding of a band, I can't help but think that listening to these extra tracks, proves that the original record was a good, stand alone album. The extra tracks are interesting, and at times, even exciting, but overall they're superfluous-it's obvious that the basis (especially early on) of the band's music (not necessarily the lyrics), and Morrison's first love and influence, was the blues. And that's fine. But I don't understand Mr. Fricke, who I've read from his first days at Rolling Stone Magazine (when that magazine mattered), and who is usually right when writing about music, when he writes that THE DOORS were "the most thrilling American band of the '60s caught live,". What? In an era when rock (as opposed to r'n'r) was producing a number of exciting live bands, why are THE DOORS at the top of the heap? And he writes that this album is "arguably, the first true indie-rock album, the sound of a band writing and playing on home ground, beholden to nothing but their own passionate standards". What was the difference between what THE DOORS were doing, and all the other great bands of the era? Maybe it's me, but his comments seem to go a bit too far. He seems to be, perhaps, over-selling the whole thing a bit. "L.A. Woman" is a good album-as good (I feel) as the band's first album, and "Morrison Hotel". But there were other bands producing music of great excitement and worth during the same period. Was this another "cash-in"? Who knows. If you don't own the original album, this is the one to pick up if it's cheap enough. Now if you're a died-in-the-wool DOORS fan/collector, you'll probably disagree with what I've written-that's fine. To each his own. But I can't help but get a slight, underwhelmed feeling with the whole package. I listen to the original album fairly often when I'm in a "DOORS mood", and I continue to think back to hearing the band just after their first album was released,and how exciting it all was. In those days the abbreviated version of "Light My Fire" was played on AM radio. Initially very few people knew of the longer version-it was played on the then new FM "underground" radio-usually only broadcasting late at night in San Diego in those first years. I still remember the feeling of hearing THE DOORS first album-with those long tracks, and lyrics that were a long way from the teen pop of the era-something weird was going on here. And the few people who knew about the band (including me) felt like they were in a group apart-we knew something the rest didn't-cool! But this "40th Anniversary" release isn't really necessary if you want to hear one of their best albums. The extra tracks seem to dilute the power, the feel, of the original album. As I wrote, there are some good moments on the second disc-but the original is still the best.

It's getting annoying, isn't it -- the endless parade of rereleases, remasters, and repackagings designed to bleed music fans with the promise of something new from a long-gone band? Reluctantly, I checked this album out on a streaming service. I wasn't about to part with another dollar to re-re-re-buy this middle-aged album without a good reason. I had the thing on vinyl, for cripes' sake. Then two CD versions, including the "Perception" box set... and now this. If you don't own a version of this album, and if you like the Doors at all, you must jump on this. And even if you do own a previous version, this edition is well worth it. Why? Well, if you don't own this album, you're missing a major shift in the Doors' direction, from sinuous adolescent psychedelia to boozy desert blues. It's not an easy shift for the listener to make; it took me easily 20 years of Doors fandom to really come around to this album after cutting my teeth on the poppy "Waiting for the Sun" and the hallucinatory "The Soft Parade" and all. I get it now. I'm glad I waited it out. And if you do own the album, I recommend you grit your teeth and spring for this edition (perhaps vowing, like me, that this will be the VERY LAST time you pay for this music). Why? First, it sounds great. Bright enough to hear all the instruments clearly, but not so bright that it sounds "modern." Let's face it, the warm sound of the music of this era is a major part of its attraction. No weird, forced stereo separation; no strange emphasis on any instrument or vocal; it's just pleasant to listen to. And now -- you need alternate versions? Don't go no further. The second half of this reissue is chock full of truly wonderful alternate takes that I personally had never heard. These are complete takes that stand on their own -- any one of them would have been worthy to be the final take (barring the rather lackluster "Love Her Madly (Take 1))." Some of the chatter before the songs is quite amusing as well, especially the cutting up before "Riders on the Storm." Given the serious tone of most of the album, it's great to hear a bit of Jim's funny side. As for the two "new" entries, "Rock Me" and "She Smells So Nice"... Well, "Rock Me" is a cover of the old blues standard, "Rock Me Baby," which they often performed live. And the "new song" that's been so hyped, "She Smells So Nice," isn't really a song, more of a loose, drunken jam on a blues theme. On both cuts, the band is ramshackle and Jim's voice is muffled and poorly recorded, and there are audible microphone crackles. I suspect these were warm-up jams that just happen to have been recorded. If you're a huge fan, you may want to get "She Smells So Nice" anyway, just for fun, but a "lost song" it ain't. The only thing keeping this from being the definitive, ultimate "L.A. Woman" issue is the lack of the bonus tracks from the 2007 issue: "Orange County Suite" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further." Neither was included on the original "L.A. Woman" issue, but both are real songs (unlike "She Smells So Nice") and both are worthwhile. I'd go so far as to say they're essential for the Doors fan, especially "(You Need Meat)," a Willie Dixon cover. It's one of their best latter-day rockers and it really fits in with the rest of the album. Your best solution, if buying this album for the first time, is to buy this edition and go buy those two tracks individually. Then you'll have everything worth having... until they "discover" another "new" track, that is.

Between their debut album in 1967 and this, their final album, in 1971, the Los Angeles based Doors took a giant leap stylistically. I think their first 3 albums can safely be described as psychedelic/acid rock - trendy, popular and very well produced. In general, all 3 included an air of dark mystery and sometimes violence. The 4th, "The Soft Parade", was an effort to change and move on, and it turned out to be a hodge-podge of different styles. Experimental and eclectic, it's not so bad, right? At least it shows the diversity these musicians were capable of. Then, on "Morrison Hotel", they once again found a zone they were comfortable in: bar rock and blues. This is not one of my favorites, but it does contain "Roadhouse Blues" and "Waiting For The Sun", both of which I do like, a lot. What I find missing from the album overall is that early air of mystery. It's too much of a "fun" album for my taste. Miraculously, on "L.A. Woman" the dark elements and the bluesy rock are synthesized to form a final album anyone would be proud of (and it is beautifully remixed like the other 5). On "The Changeling", Jim's gruff, boozy vocal is perfect for someone who is living on the edge. Likewise, "Been Down So Long" and "Crawling King Snake" are nothin' but mean, evil blues at its best, featuring Robbie's awesome guitar work. There's more blues in "Cars Hiss By My Window", but it is calmer, more traditional. The title song is a rock classic among rock classics; Jim goes through quite a workout and it sounds like he made a few pit stops along the way to complete the track. "Love Her Madly", a big radio hit, "L'america" and "Hyacinth House" remind me of the early psychedelic Doors. "Riders On The Storm" is very commercial and benign musically when compared to the other tracks, but lyrically, who except The Doors could have come up with the line "...If you give this man a ride, sweet memory will die..."? There are 2 bonus tracks. "Orange County Suite" is slow and bluesy, not really remarkable but not bad, and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" is standard old school blues-rock with appropriately suggestive lyrics. With only 6 studio albums, The Doors managed to establish quite a legacy. I regard them as the premier American rock band (The Byrds are a close second), on a level with The Beatles and The Stones, although certainly less prolific due to circumstances.

El sexto y último disco que grabó Jim Morrison con la banda. Se nota que el blues es el predominante en este disco. Se escucha perfectamente sin click o pops. La edición es curiosa al tener las esquinas redondeadas del cartón. Recomendable a todo amante The doors

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What can I say, I love this Album, it is one of my favourite albums of all time.

A obra final de Jim Morrison, um dos melhores da banda mais blues que os demais. Este LP vem.com a capa original da época, realmente im item sensacional.

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