I second the motion --

When it came time to move from albums to CDs, this and "LA Women" were towards the top of the list.

I agree with Lester Bang's line in the movie Almost Famous: "Jim Morrison is a drunken buffoon".

morrison was most defintely a drunken buffoon...but there's no denying that the first Doors records was great.

no holes in it. none.

then, The End.

perfect.

...and kudos to Eric for writing about the Doors and managing to not use the word "Dionysus".

Ray Manzarek is rather full of himself, but very entertaining talking about the early days of the doors if you ever have a chance to hear him speak.

And as a former filmmaking student, he says he gave Oliver Stone all sorts of great ideas for the movie which were ignored.

or bacchanalian. never forget bacchanalian.

unless i'm mistaken, the doors recorded two albums after jimbo "died." not quite as weak as would have been another jimi hendrix exp album, but still pretty bad.

I think the fascination with Morrison is that he was a drunken buffoon AND a great singer/performer/figurehead/lyricist (only sometimes on the latter) - again with the duality.

the question is...was he only great at what he did because of the drugs and alcohol? in other words, could he do it sober?

Val Kilmer played a great Morrison, I thought, but I'm not sure how accurate that movie was portraying Morrison's life though. The Doors have some great songs, but I haven't bought much of their music. Sad, but true. Crystal Ship, now that's an interesting song.

so i've read "No One Gets Out Of Here Alive" and also Manzarek's book...both books had big problems (including using that danged Dionysus word a bazillion times)...

is there a good book on the Doors?

Densmore's?

Mark, my favorite Doors/Morrison book is "Break On Through" by James Riordan. He is a FAN, but not a nut, and is sickened by the decline.

I like the 2nd album best. I like the single version of Light My Fire with long crappy solos chopped out.

I heard Manzerik on the radio, talking about how he had his "chops together" when he was with the Doors.

Wrong.

Clearly you like the "pop" side of the Doors, which is fine, but ultimately not their greatest strength from my perspective.

i agree...some of the stuff on The Soft Parade was just plain icky.

In general, the first and last (with Morrison) seem the most real to me, although there are plenty of great songs scattered between.

Great take on the album -- EO. Fascinating how the story of "The End"'s recording both heralds the birth and death of the band.

Maybe Morrison wouldn't have had it any other way.