Wow, a bit of a roller coaster, but, like, the wooden kind.
The Doors is the debut studio album by American rock band the Doors. Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California, it was produced by Paul A. Rothchild and released on January 4, 1967. Since its release, the record has been often regarded as one of the greatest debut albums of all time, by both music critics and publishers. It features the long version of the breakthrough single "Light My Fire" and the lengthy song "The End" with its Oedipal spoken word section.The Doors started recording their debut album under the maintenance of Elektra Records in August 1966. The recording of The Doors established the band's large extensive number of musical influences, such as jazz, classical, blues, pop, R&B and rock music. Its overall presentation has been viewed as an essential part of the psychedelic rock evolution, while it have also been acknowledged as a source of inspiration to other works. Paul McCartney of the Beatles has claimed that following the album's release, he wanted his band to capitalize on the Doors musical style as one of the "alter egos" of the group, for their upcoming album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.The Doors and "Light My Fire" have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2015 the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. The Doors remains the band's best-selling studio album, with sales of over 13 million copies, as of 2015.
Wow, a bit of a roller coaster, but, like, the wooden kind.
Astonishing for a debut. A cultural colossus.
Every song on this album is of the highest quality, not a bad one among them. Every song on this album is recognisable and still sounds great over 40 years later. This is what is meant by 'iconic', everyone knows these songs, they perfectly pinpoint a time in musical history. Apparently I really like The Doors.
I am reminded of the many times I used to put 'The End' on the jukebox in my local pub, hear 30 seconds of it and then it being rejected and the barmaid giving me my quid back. "Who put that bloody song on again?!?!" jt4527? Here's your quid back!!!!! The Doors for me are a band I can not think about, not listen to for years and then immediately jump right back in without skipping a beat. I think I secretly and very subtly love The Doors very much. Classic album, brilliant! 5 / 5 stars!
try to run, try to hide RF: Classic/10
Songs I've heard 100 times too many, interspersed with deep cuts that should stay hidden. A bad trip at the surfing circus. I've always found The Doors to be fairly tedious, and this album didn't change my mind. 'Hey add another 5 minutes to this last song, Jimmy came up with a little tune about butt-fuckin' that we just *can't* cut."
A tiresome album from a tiresome band full of their worst excesses - Morrison’s meandering sixth form poetry, shouting and moaning dressed up in pretension coupled with Manzarek’s wailing, screeching organ solos overpowering everything else on the track (which is a shame because the rest of the band are pretty solid). There’s the famous tracks you already know, plus plenty of filler, pale imitations of better blues rock or psychedelic rock where the doped up audience really are imagining The Doors are the key to unlocking the doors of perception, man. The problem is, you can accidentally be that but you can’t set out to be that. Stop trying so hard, guys. Can you imagine being at a gig where this happens?: ‘Morrison was well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live.’ If this is his best un-improvised poetry I dread to think what his improvised work was like. Some choice morsels; ‘ Time to live/ Time to lie/ Time to laugh/ Time to die’ ‘ You know the day destroys the night / Night divides the day’ ‘ The days are bright and filled with pain/ Enclose me in your gentle rain’ ‘Here is Jane/ See Jane run’ Dont get me wrong - popular music can be totally disposable and throw away. It doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful. The problem here is that Morrison and the band think they and their music are deep and meaningful. The album concludes as you might imagine - with a ten minute plus self congratulatory number, an attempt at some long form jazz, not so much The End as When Will This End?
The Doors! One of the most overrated bands of all time. Boring never ending music as a backdrop to pathetic junkie cod philosophy that’s got undeserved kudos because music journalists are generally not that clever.
I went through a huge Doors phase, and still love going back to their music. This album is arguably their best, and there aren't really 'bad' songs or filler, as in some other albums. I used to really buy in to the Jim Morrison as poet thing, but I think it's mostly nonsense, now. I still really enjoy their music, though!
A ma grande surprise, cet album des Portes de Marbre était plutôt agréable et bien senti, et m'a permis de passer un bon moment. C'est ce que j'aurai écrit si j'avais écouté, comme me l'a fait remarquer en plein milieu de l'écoute mon compatriote l'illustre Robdesert, cet album avec mon seul écouteur gauche... En effet, dès l'instant où l'on a le MALHEUR d'insérer son écouteur droit à l'intérieur de sa trompe auditive, tous les maux de The Doors font irruption, ou plutot LE mal de The Doors, j'ai nommé le detestable Manzarek. Nous proposant un synthé aux sonorités d'orgue tout le long de ce putain d'album, Manzarev nous fait passer un véritable supplice, camouflant la performance de Jim Morrisson en utilisant des extraits de discours du Grand Schtroumpf. Le plus grave dans tout ça, c'est que Manzarev vient même imposer sa loi 7 minutes durant, sur le titre désormais classé comme indésirable Light My Fire, nous offrant un solo tout bonnement inaudibe, non sans rappeler le générique du non méconnu Il était une fois l'homme. Manzarev rentre dans le top 3 des ennemis publics de ce générateur, et rejoins ainsi Elvis Costello et le créateur de cette liste ridicule.
Nr. 19/1001 Break On Through 4/5 Soul Kitchen 3/5 The Crystal Ship 3/5 Twentieth Century Fox 3/5 Alabama Song 3/5 Light My Fire 4/5 Back Door Man 3/5 I Looked at You 3/5 End of the Night 2/5 Take It as It Comes 2/5 The End 3/5 Average 3,0 Good, just don't vibe with The Doors music that much
I used to love the doors. Probably enough that I overlistened to them. Still awesome. Jim Morrisons voice is still iconic. It's rare I find the mood to actually listen to them anymore though.
When I think of 60's rock, I think of music just like this. This album must have had a profound influence on the rock counter-culture scene then, but there's something profoundly darker in this album than their generational counterparts. I've actually read the book that this band based their name on, and I can totally see the influence in it's psychedelic nature. I love the organs on the songs, its just so groovy and classic sounding. Morrison's vocal performance is fantastic, the guitars are good but mixed a little low, there's nothing too special to say about the drums or bass, the vocals and organ really carried most of the songs. I don't think this type of sound has aged too well though, it's good but it sounds so terribly dated. Maybe that gives it novelty, being a unique product of the times, and thankfully the Doors did this type of music very well. I will also admit that some of these songs didn't flow together well at all (like alabama song). But on a positive note, the organ solo on light my fire is one of the greatest things I've ever heard though. Overall, I liked this album a lot, but I had some problems with it, so I'll rank it a 3.5/5. Favorite song: Light My Fire - Least Favorite: Alabama Song
Fantastic album. Might as well be a greatest hits part 1. Unique sound.
Au fil de l'écoute, on s'aperçoit d'une véritable différence de niveau entre le deux écouteurs. Du côté gauche, les musiciens s'appliquent, le son est propre, le rythme juste. C'est dans l'écouteur droit que les choses se compliquent ; ça grésille, ça bourdonne, et, cerise sur la gâteau, ça joue de l'orgue. Le coupable n'est autre que Manzarek et celui-ci est bien décidé à pourrir l'album. La comparaison avec Framal du S-crew est dès lors inévitable.
This album carries so much nostalgia for me. It was something I’d listen to as a teenager in order to connect with my dad. Jim Morrison is an iconic frontman, and his rich baritone over the Hammond organ and the rest of their rocking set the standard for the genre.
I was fully prepared for Pink Moon to be my favorite album of the week, and my favorite album on the list for at least more than 24 hours, then we get THIS?? One of my favorite albums of the '60s and of all time. It's the second one on this list that I have on vinyl. A true classic. I don't know how much I need to say here. This album is a hit machine. Jim Morrison's voice and Ray Manzarek's organ make the perfect psychedelic combination, and every song sounds like it could've been a single (even "Alabama Song"). "The End" is one of my favorite songs ever made. I have so many memories tied to it--I put it on during a tornado warning once in Greeley for dramatic effect, I play it during COD zombies matches when I know we've reached our wit's end, and of course the use in Apocalypse Now is legendary. We needed to balance out the British Invasion, so I agree with the Lizard King when he said "The West is the best. Get here, and we'll do the rest." Favorite tracks: THE END, Break On Through, Light My Fire, Soul Kitchen, Take It As It Comes. Album art: Iconic. In the words of Sleepy Joe, "c'mon, man!" The fact that 75% of the band is standing neatly next to a massive, superimposed headshot of Jim Morrison is hilarious and insane. Plus the font is awesome. 5/5
I groaned when this came up today as it was the second Doors album in as many days. But to my surprise it was much better than Morrison hotel. Even more impressive is the fact that this was their debut album. Morrison’s powerful voice and Manzarek’s keyboard playing are standouts. The highlight for me are the organ and guitar solos in Light my fire. The only song that I really didn’t like is the Bertold Brecht / Kurt Weill inspired Whisky Bottle.
A Doors album on the day of an enormous fight? 🤔
The original psychedelic masterpiece. Loved it!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Fantastic music for a fall back to the 60’s. I never listened to them since I was a toddler and marijuana wasn’t legal. I image a psychedelic couch in a smoke filled room with pillows, plants and pot everywhere. They are the grooviest then and now. I’m sure my parents were terrified of them more then Elvis bringing rock and roll to the world. I could do meditation and yoga to this music all day long. Great drummer or should I say Symbolist! Great lyrics and a true opening up to the expanding minds of the 60’s revolutionary times. Don’t know if I would have like this music then but now see the beauty to it in all counts: lyrical, artistic, musical and dimensional. Girl we couldn’t get much higher. Come on baby light my fire. So cool man!
One of the greatest debut albums ever - I can only imagine how much more I'd enjoy this if I did psychedelics. Morrison's voice is obviously iconic and although I don't know what he's singing about half the time, I'm fully down with the ethereal imagery it creates. It is Manzarek's work on the keys, however, that really helps elevate and define the sound of The Doors here. Best track: The End
“Father…yes son…I want to kill you.” I just got this on vinyl from my record club. It’s a great combo of swingin’ sixties lounge and late sixties psych. Goes back and forth between dancing playboy bunnies and general Kurtz. Jim Morrison’s lyrics might be a bit overwrought, but we can for give the ol’ king snake, all these songs are undeniable, not a bad one in the bunch. All got radio play but one, and it’s still a banger. On the backbone of catchy keys and guitar licks it really shines. I don’t revisit the doors as much as a used to, but when I do, I really enjoy. It’s fun to imagine how weird/fun Jim Morrison would’ve become had he made it to old age. 5.
That was fun! Listening to this inspired me to do a Doors binge yesterday
Absolutely fantastic. "The End" is one of my favorite all time songs ("Apocalypse Now" anyone?) Would love to blast this one on the stereo, or car with the windows down. The crazy stereo mixing actually works great, I usually hate that, but it just puts this in the time period so perfectly and the separation of the instruments is cool.
Outstanding album. Fun fact: my friend and I once used The End at the end of a high school theatre sketch (could there be a sentence which more perfectly describes what I was like in high school? I think not). The first sentence of the song was met with great hilarity from the audience. Anyway, we filmed the sketch and put it on YouTube, and then it got flagged for copyright infringement. We never took it down, so it's still out there, with the audio removed.
A monument in music history
Great! But stop talking about little girls, creep
Much of the discourse surrounding The Doors relates to Jim Morrison’s almost divinely sensual mystique. And while his musings certain contribute significantly to the creative accolades of the band, The Doors are more than Morrison alone. Ray Manzarek’s genius, I would suggest, is at the heart of The Doors’ sound; they would be unrecognizable without his lines driving , his solos disorienting, ultra-psychedelic.
The Doors had an iconic sound from the start. That classic organ paired with Jim Morrison's howl is unbeatable. Both cool and rebellious, it's a solid debut, even if a few songs meander a bit.
This is one good example of how the radio can sometimes distract from the art of an album. Songs like Crystal Ship remind me how many good vibes are found between the overplayed hits. Whether psychedelics are involved or not, this self-titled LP of wild organ riffs and raw Morrison vocals provide quite a trip!
With this album coming into the list I hope we have now broken through to the other side. The minute I saw this classic cover of the group shadowed by a pensive yet determined lead singers headshot (sort of looks like Tom Brady), I knew I was in for a treat. I’m sure I’ve listened to this album before but this felt like a new listen. There are so many gems on this one. Break On Through, Soul Kitchen, Alabama Song, Light My Fire, and of course The End. A classic song that is featured both in Apocalypse Now and when we play Call of Duty: Zombies. I love how the album, when thinking about it, screams classic Rock, but when you listen to it, it feels a lot lighter than Rock. It plays a lot more like other late 60’s early 70’s albums with the electric piano. Reminds me a little of Ryan Goslings band Dead Man’s Bones, especially on In the Room Where You Sleep. I say this as I’m listening to I Looked At You. So I don’t really see this as a Led Zepplin or Journey type of Rock but that doesn’t diminish the power in this album. Even with a few weaker songs this is still a fantastic album to listen to at any time. 9/10
What an album. I loved this! I knew of The Doors, but never really listened to them. Some great songs and The End is an absolute study in drug taking. The only dud track for me was Alabama Song where I could almost taste the LSD. Great album and will be revisiting. Love that 60s organ sound as well. Best tracks: Light my Fire & Take It As It Comes.
I've listened to this album quite a few times. This like wild mixture of Jazz, Blues, rock, and a heavy dash of poetry. It slaps, hard. Break on the through, what a solid fucking intro song for a band on their debut album. It sticks with you. Also man, I wish more modern music incorporated Organs more into the sound. It's so solid.
I'm a sucker for a good organ line and this album holds some sentimental value. The lyrics are the sort that probably sounded deep if you were high but otherwise come off as kind of silly. 4/5 stars
I bought this tape when I was a kid. I was firmly in the classic rock Aerosmith / Led Zeppelin mode and The Doors was a necessary album at the time. And that tape was censored, which I didn't know at the time. So that bit in 'Break On Through To The Other Side' when he screams "She gets high!" for me was just "She gets!". Which honestly made enough sense back then and hearing "high" now sounds all wrong. Anyway - these tunes are good. Jim Morrison is just a good enough poet to land some good lines and the rest of it comes off as ridiculous pretentiousness that's pretty fun. It's a heckuva mix, which intentional goodness and untintentional goodness that adds up to a lot of goodness. I mean 'Soul Kitchen'? 'Soul Kitchen'? It's hard to hate an album that has a song about sleeping in someone's soul kitchen.
Woooo The allegations are true, i am a rock organ enjoyer. and enjoy i did. gorgeous wee album, best in the first half but full of lovely tunes. Oh to have hit a blunt before listening to this
Discovered that I own this, and "Waiting For The Sun"; I guess I am a secret Doors fan unbeknownst even to myself. Gotta agree this is a high quality debut and admit I am quite fond of the organ. Docked a point for that godawful Brecht/Weill number. Highlight is (most of) The End which was used so perfectly in Apocalypse Now that I play the opening bars in my mind whenever I see a cluster of palm trees, excitedly waiting for the napalm. Quite a burden if you lived in SoCal. The horror, the horror
I think there might be something wrong mentally with lead singer. For a debut and 1967 it's insane. Every 5 minutes something disturbing is in the lyrics. Obviously couldn't be a rock album without mentioning little girls. It's a good album but personally I don't think I'd find myself returning to it. The End was awesome though, I feel like Swans took a lot of influence from this song. Score: 70 Art: 60
"You are entering the vicinity of an area adjacent to a location. The kind of place where there might be a monster, or some kind of weird mirror. These are just examples; it could also be something much better. Prepare to enter: The Scary Door." jim morrison died when he 27. in that time he accomplished this great album. he died from the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle. when i die at 27 it will be due to pork pie related injuries. please play beethoven at my funeral. for all its high peaks of greatness this album has far more dead spots than i remembered - hence the mean looking rating. however this is a proper album. 'soul kitchen' fucking rules. 'break on through' gives me that devo/jerry lee lewis/punk type foam at the mouth focused destruction kind of feeling that i so very much adore. not a bad wee disc.
Hey, I’ve *watched* ‘Apocalypse Now Redux* and will *willingly* watch it again! Bit grumpy RNG has given us a consecutive weekend doses of the Doors, and almost defaulted this to 2 over an impatient first listen, but skipping through this a second time, I realised most of the songs I thought sucked have their charms. The vocalist’s horny shamanistic pretensions are present, yet they work with the setting, and the band is never less than listenable. I picked up a couple of sonic puns: ‘“This is the End…” DUM DUM DUM!’ And the Alabama whisky bar song being a cabaret-worthy oompa-oompa rollick. Not crap, a perhaps mean 3 here. Writing this on Friday, going back to the Associates record to see if I like it as much a day later.
“Jim Morrison was a poet” His poetry: “Ride the snake to the lake.”
I knew that the Doors would show up one day. Not sure why I am so out of step with the rest of the world on this but there is something so grating about them. 0 stars if I could. But, I did listen to the whole thing so I think I deserve something.
Starts off sort of strong but then falls apart quickly. "Twentieth Century Fox" is just a bad attempt at a song and I don't care what anyone else says. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" is a very good attempt at ruining a Bertolt Brecht song. Their attempt at covering Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man" fails miserably and ends up sounding like some teenagers jamming in their parents' basement. I refuse to spend another second listening to "Light My Fire." This is a downright horrible album that suffers from the weight of their own egos. The only highlight is the openers and closers. But, they've also been ruined by overplaying on classic rock stations. Confirms that the Doors were a shit band.
Gem!
Fantastic album.
Come on, Doors hei… timanttista ja kestää aikaa. Ei vaihtoehtoja.
Jim är otrolig
This was the first actually great front-to-back listening in this journey.
Phenomenal, Light my Fire is one of my all time favourite songs. Album as a whole is great, love the keyboards
Very good stuff.
Doors on itselleni aina ollut eräs aikakautensa suosikeista, ja varsinkin tämä levy on aika virheetön suoritus. Pitkähkön tauon jälkeen tämä levy kuulosti vielä paremmalta kuin muistelinkaan. Vitosen arvoinen nauhoitus!
Love twentieth century Fox. Love the sound of the end. The crystal ship reminded me of Jordan. I think the beginning of one of the songs is the same as a sum 41 song
Ouvi várias vezes o dia todo, mto bom
Album muito bom, principalmente The end.
El Mejor de las puertas
I really groove in the mix of personality between Ray the classically trained brain and Jim the lizard king.
It’s a testament to how transformative this album was that every time I hear The Doors, I think “1960s”.
Classic
Classic album. My favorite Doors album. 9-10/10 1. Light My Fire 2. Soul Kitchen 3. The End
Timeless classic.
Unique sound and lyrics... one of my favorite bands of all time. Wish the ride could've lasted longer with Morrison.
Un album incroyable qui me rappelle tellement de souvenir. 5*
Interesante.
The End, Light My Fire
I will always love this album so much.
This is an absolute classic. I noticed that I didn't listen to it for some time, but it is still one of my favorite albums of all time.
All time classic. All killers, no fillers!!
10/10
is it's own genre by itself really
Classic
Easy 5. An epic album
A great album
O album As Portas pela banda As Portas eh tao bom quanto As Janelas
I think I've listened to this album dozens of times dating back to my college years. Despite my more-diminished opinion of Jim's poetry these days, it still holds up and remains as unique and captivating as I remember. Even the worst songs (e.g., "End of the Night") have their charm. Look at the Ramones' cover of the largely-forgotten "Take it as it Comes"!
absolute classic, great songs top to bottom.
Still an absolute banger. No skips. NONE.
gggggggreat
I AM THE LIZARD KING
Break on through opener, Light my Fire anthem, The end closer. Great albumn
A true classic
Great album. Classic.
A genuine classic, and old enough to sound fresh.
Very good
5/5 - again, The Doors are not my vibe, but it's a good album; coherent
Great flow overall, fantastic album from start to finish.
5/5 stars. Absolute classic. Every song. Standouts: The End, Break on Through, The Crystal Ship, Light My Fire, Back Door Man, Alabama Song, Soul Kitchen, Twentieth Century Fox, End of the Night
Unfassbares debut. Die weitern fand ich nicht ganz so gut
Wahnsinns-Album
5/5 solo por existir. Me encanta el sonido de este disco. Mood: come on, baby, light me fire
Siguen los clásicos. Aquí se empieza el camino oscuro para la música.
I think I'm getting too generous with the 5-stars, but this album is so good. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" is my favorite track followed closely by "The End". Then you have the hits, of course.
The Doors by The Doors czyli kolejne doorsy do kolekcji listowej, debiutancki material, bandy ktora w ciagu 4 lat dzialalnosci wydala 6 albumow, przy czym kazdy teraz ma status klasyka, a dzisiejszy pik zawedrowal nawet do biblioteki kongresu, dobrze ze akurat taka kolejnosc albumikow, najpierw ostatni gdzie morrison jest juz mocno zmeczony na wokalu i sklania sie bardziej w stronie bluesa, a pierwszy ktory ma calkowicie inna energie jesli chodzi o wokal, kontent liryczny nie jest az tak mroczny jak na L.A woman, dominuja tutaj love songi w charakterystycznym dla doorsow zabarwieniu psychodelicznym, pan morrison jako teksciarz kreuje siebie na symbol seksu, co takze bedzie charakterystyczna cecha doorsowych materialow, bo jesli the doors, to od razu rzuca sie na mysl pan morrison, juz widac to nawet z samej oklaki i proporcji jakie czlonkowie zesplu na niej otrzymali w porownaniu z frontmanem, a moze backdoormanem, jak jest na traku o tejze nazwie, ale jak dla mnie brzmienie doorsow to nie tylko sam wokal, bo roznorodnosc gatunkow ktora potrafili stworzyc na jeden krazek i ich egzekucja to jest to czego sie szuka w ich materialach, nie moge sie doszukac kto pisac muzyke, ale z tego co pamietam to najbardziej maczal w tym palce pan Krieger, o klawiszach i drumach co napisac mialem juz napisac na l.a womance, chociaz tutaj brzmia troche bardziej surowo jesli chodzi o mastering, chociaz ta sama osoba odpowiada za cala dyskografie zespolu, czyli pan rothchild, to jednak dzwiek doorsow sie zmienia z plyty na plyte i zrzuca swoja surowosc, ale pomimo tego to chyba z tej plyty znam najwiecej trakow, pewnie ma to cos z tym wspolnego z tym, ze z 11 trakow 6 juz mam na plejce, wiec nie bede jeszcze bardziej doorsowal plejlisty, a wrzuce cala plyte na szelfa spotifajowego
Great album!
Classic. Untouchable.
A classic. Solid album.
A terrific debut album. I can imagine buying it and dropping the needle to Break on Through. What a start! I like the way Ray and Robbie lay down the foundation for Jim’s rants. There are some real classics here and the supporting tracks like End of the Night and Crystal ship are great ballads. And it’s something that they covered Kurt Weill and Willie Dixon songs on the same album! I’m not a fan of 20th Century Fox and the keyboard solo in Light My Fire goes on a bit...
I guess my last review telegraphed that I'd be heading upstairs with my rating for this one. Who knew we would get it the next day. It's a solid album top to bottom. imo The End is The Doors' best song. The lyrics show Morrison as a cross between a literary intellectual and a Rock and Roll brat. An interesting perspective is that this was released before Sgt Pepps. Lennon's Tomorrow Never Knows and She Said She Said were released around a year earlier. The End is in the same neighbourhood as those two songs. I can't say that about many other songs. Also of interest is that the song was 11 1/2 min. which is long by any standard. Many long songs from back in the day now sound too long. The End has aged wonderfully and when it ends I wish it would keep going.
My friend Beth gave me a cassette tape of this album in high school. I listened to it on the bus ride many times, and fell in love with it. There are a few "weaker" or less memorable songs ("I Looked at You," "Take it as it Comes"), but generally I can listen start to finish and still be in awe. Favorite song: Break on Through