Released
on January 4th of 1967, The Doors eponymous debut LP is marking its
55th anniversary today. It is often considered one of the greatest
debut albums of all time by any rock band, a level of acclaim that may
well be exaggerated (and there are certainly those who have called the
band “overrated”). However, any objective examination of the album
reveals it to be sustained by a host of iconic songs which have become
emblematic of their time, influential in their legacy and remain
relevant in the modern era.
The album is also considered one of
the cornerstone releases of the psychedelic era, though it manages to
achieve that association without any of the usual production indulgences
which typified so many of the records associated with that label. In
fact, producer Paul A. Rothchild forbade Robbie Krieger from using a
wah-wah pedal on his guitar because he didn’t want to “date” the album.
The same went for the rest of the production which eschews the
excessive use of feedback, echo, phasing or backwards recording which
were often trademarks of other LSD inspired LPs. Yet it still manages
to find a surreal plain to inhabit by virtue of the song writing and the
inventive arrangements, which straddle a variety of musical styles,
from jazz to classical to vaudeville and more, in order to create a
pastiche of influences that give it a somewhat dreamlike disposition.
It’s a mood that could also slip into the realm of nightmares as the
album climaxes with the apocalyptic, nearly 12 minute dirge, The End, a
brilliantly conceived ode to termination that still allows for a
multitude of layered interpretations, from failed romance to global
Armageddon.
Of course, the centerpiece of the album is the hit
single, the second from the album after Break On Through failed to chart
significantly, Light My Fire. Along with The End, it has a certain
kind of nihilism to it that made the listener want to immolate their
inhibitions on the band’s sacrificial alter as they invoke a rather
Pagan animism of the power of the flame. The sexual charge of the song
was provocative enough on its own, but the allusion to drugs with that
“girl we couldn’t get much higher” lyric proved enough to send poor Ed
Sullivan into a rage. When the band refused to change the lyric when
they performed on his show, especially after they'd agreed beforehand to
do so, it resulted in them being banned from returning.
Overall,
it’s pretty much the band’s most consistent and potent album. There
are other classic songs on other albums, but the full weight of
perfection on their debut was basically impossible to surpass and, as
Morrison slipped deeper and deeper into the hazy lifestyle of drugs and
booze that eventually took his life, his ability to deliver the goods
became increasingly compromised, preventing him from hitting the same
highs. For me, it’s the one album of theirs that I can play from start
to finish and enjoy the entire ride. I think it occupies a significant
and vital place in the puzzle that is the intricate tapestry of the
late 1960s and the cultural revolution which swept the western world at
the time. It’s also an album that has gone on to influence generations
of subsequent experimental and alternative bands who have looked back to
The Doors as exemplars of adventurers daring enough to travel in
strange lands.
