From OP: The title track from the final album by The Doors recorded with Jim Morrison, released in April 1971. An exciting breakthrough LP for the band that had had mixed results from their two previous albums, especially Soft Parade. Morrison Hotel had been highly praised, but it was also very raw rock. On L.A. Woman the songs are well-polished, and overall jazzier, with a much more sophisticated recording quality. One track however, "Love Her Madly," although a great tune and destined to become a big hit, still sounded like it was locked in 1967-68. The other material seemed very modern, even ultra-modern, and gave us a wonderful glimpse of what the band would have been like as the decade of the 1970's progressed. No one could guess when listening to this fast-paced, jazzy blues rock track, "L.A. Woman," or the surreal "Riders On The Storm" with Ray Manzarek's magical keyboards and the sound effects of thunder and rain, that this would be the end and that Jim Morrison would be found dead in a bathtub in Paris by his girlfriend Pamela Courson on July 3, 1971. "L.A. Woman" was most memorably covered by Billy Idol in 1990, attesting to the progressive, futuristic nature of both the song and the album.
From OP:
ReplyDeleteThe title track from the final album by The Doors recorded with Jim Morrison, released in April 1971. An exciting breakthrough LP for the band that had had mixed results from their two previous albums, especially Soft Parade. Morrison Hotel had been highly praised, but it was also very raw rock. On L.A. Woman the songs are well-polished, and overall jazzier, with a much more sophisticated recording quality. One track however, "Love Her Madly," although a great tune and destined to become a big hit, still sounded like it was locked in 1967-68. The other material seemed very modern, even ultra-modern, and gave us a wonderful glimpse of what the band would have been like as the decade of the 1970's progressed. No one could guess when listening to this fast-paced, jazzy blues rock track, "L.A. Woman," or the surreal "Riders On The Storm" with Ray Manzarek's magical keyboards and the sound effects of thunder and rain, that this would be the end and that Jim Morrison would be found dead in a bathtub in Paris by his girlfriend Pamela Courson on July 3, 1971. "L.A. Woman" was most memorably covered by Billy Idol in 1990, attesting to the progressive, futuristic nature of both the song and the album.