The Doors are a band that struggles with credibility. They have a mythology that's centered on the 60s counterculture, a sincere belief in the transformative power of music, and psychedelic drugs. Oliver Stone's film The Doors crystallizes this on its greatest hits run through the Jim Morrison mythos, simultaneously embracing him as an icon and tearing down his legacy through the film's own ponderous ridiculousness. The 60s frequently seems ridiculous today, but is believing that music can change the world so wrong? I don't think so, and that's why I still love the over the top nature of The Doors' catalog, from the concise firebrand singles to the lengthy spoken word jam epics.
By Strange Days, they seemed to have this formula down, with a structure that echoes their self titled debut. The blockbuster single off this album, one that's still played every day on classic rock radio is "People are Strange." One of the things I love about The Doors is the way that they can make these incredible concise pop songs. At a little over two minutes, "People are Strange" does its thing, and then gets out of the way. It's a bit overplayed, but listened to in the context of the album, it sounds fresh again and holds up as a great pop song. The Doors' pop songs, such as this one or "Light My Fire," stand with the best of Motown at a moment when rock and pop sometimes converged to create the best popular music ever made.
If you embrace the band on that level, you're still left with some ridiculousness, including the rambling closer, "When the Music's Over," that takes up nearly a third of the album's running time. The template was clearly "The End," and while this one doesn't quite make it to that level, it's still a well put together, evocative song.
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
The fact that this review had been posted for a couple of days now and this is the first response maybe shows just how this album of ten gets overlooked. it's always considered "good," "solid," etc., but mostly it's just accepted as such and passed over. People even like discussing what are considered to be lesser quality Doors' albums like the Soft Parade, or Waiting for the Sun (not my feelings necessarily - more like 40 years of critical consensus) more than talking about Strange Days. Heck, even the bonus tracks on this remaster aren't interesting enough to change the spin on this album.
For consideration - since this album is probably closer in tone to the first self titled release, is it possible to improve either album by rearranging the tracks between them? Or perhaps by issuing a two album vinyl set would it have been up there with the classic doubles: White Album, Blonde on Blonde, Exile (Physical Graffiti even)?
I played Strange Days most of all when I was really into the Doors many moons ago - nowadays though, I find even I'm not paying it much attention. What's up with that - maybe the album isn't as good as we'd all like to believe?