L.A. Woman
The Doors

So I’ve always been a big Doors fan, going back to their self-titled debut album – which I’m sure will be on the 1,001… Most of my favorite songs are scattered across their catalog, though some albums ae more memorable than others – and “LA Woman” is definitely one of those… “Morrison Hotel” – the album that preceded “LA Woman”, was the bands weakest effort to that point, and with the exception of the songs “Roadhouse Blues” & “Peace Frog” – the rest of it was pretty lame when compared to what came before it… That’s probably why it was such a surprise that “LA Woman” followed, with truly some of the finest work of their career… Side 1 top-to-bottom is absolutely incredible! “The Changeling” – which leads off the album, is definitely the weakest effort on Side 1 – but still a solid song… Clearly the hits “Love Her Madly” & “LA Woman” are the hallmarks of the first side, but “Been Down So Long” & “Car Hiss By My Window” are exceptionally well done… There was a Doors cover band that used to play in Cleveland when I was in college called “Moonlight Drive” – and they always played “Been Down So Long”, and hearing it live really brought it to life – as I’m sure it did whenever The Doors played it – though I never got to see them… Side 2 is less stellar top-to-bottom, but the closing tracks “The WASP” & “Riders On The Storm” are so creative and brilliant, that they help kick the album’s status to another level… “Crawling King Snake” is fine – sort of the equivalent to Side 1’s “The Changeling” – so solid, but nothing amazing… “L’America” really seems out of place, and I checked a little further on Wiki, and that may be because it was supposed to be included on a movie soundtrack – so that probably explains it, and “Hyacinth House” was just there for me… So on balance for me, 6 of the 10 tracks were absolutely outstanding, with 2 additional solid ones – and 2 leftovers, and compared to the VAST majority of albums, that is truly an amazing accomplishment… Absolute 5 in my book – no doubt about it…

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