THE DOORS - STRANGE DAYS @ 55

 

Released 55 years ago today, it’s the sophomore LP by The Doors, Strange Days, which was issued on September 25th, 1967. While its popularity was muted by the towering success of the group’s debut, creatively, it takes more chances and pushes the group into new artistic territory.

Part of the impetus for the experimentation employed for Strange Days was the receipt of an advance copy of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album. The Doors were blown away by what they heard on Sgt. Pepper and immediately committed to pushing themselves in the studio for their next release. Technically, this was aided by being able to record on a state of the art 8 track system, which opened up a new range of production possibilities. The group and their production team also employed a wide range of experimental techniques such as vari-speed recording (changing the record/playback speeds of tracks to alter their pitch and tone) back-masking (reversing the direction of the tape) and incorporating unusual instrumentation. This included the use of the MOOG synthesizer system, which was - along with The Monkees on Daily Nightly & Star Collector in the same year, one of the first uses of the instrument in pop music. The band made every effort to explore new instruments and techniques wherever they could.

Upon its release, it sold and charted very well, but the shadow cast by their debut was impossible to escape and inevitably gave the follow-up a perception of being less successful. The fact that many of the songs on their second album were around during the recording of the first album gave some the impression that the best of the batch had been cherry-picked for their debut. But the reality is that Strange Days only lacks in comparison and, taken on its own merits, is a remarkably crafted example of psychedelic music which eschews the usual cliches of the genre and establishes itself with its own distinctive voice.

THE DOORS @ 55

 

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.