Feeling heat all around him, Morrison did the sensible thing and yanked a fire extinguisher from the wall and doused the studio.
Alerted by the woman, Rothchild returned to the studio and persuaded the naked, dripping, foamy Morrison to leave, and left word with the owner to charge the damage to Elektra. The next day the studio was spotless and they got "The End," one of the most dramatic moments on record, in two takes.
The Doors is a great and enduring album, wherein Morrison explores the dark side with the seriousness of an artist over a deep and appealing sonic palette laid down by the band. While Morrison the person can be viewed as a pretentious, self-destructive clown who drank himself to death by 27, Morrison-the-artist was one of best singers, lyricists and performers in rock history.
"Break On Through" bounds in on the momentum of Densmore's irresistible double time bossa nova cymbal ride, Manzarek's charging organ bass and Krieger's tough unison guitar. Rothchild's production is timelessly immediate and alive, and Morrison delivers his sermon with a bodhisattva's certainty:
"You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Try to run, Try to hide
Break on through to the other side"
Morrison captures the good/evil, light/dark dichotomy with eerie economy. There are no rookie jitters here - the Doors arrived whole and complete.
"Light My Fire," a Robby Krieger composition and the band's signature tune, stretches out on great Manzarek and Krieger solos, but returns home on ballsy Morrison vocals and an insistent melody. The song shot to No. 1 and remains a radio staple. Rothchild's production and Bruce Botnick's engineering isolate the instruments from the vocals, creating a classic clean but live sound.
The Doors is one of the greatest rock debuts of all time.
Article comments
1 - Bruce Kratofil
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.
2 - James Bondage
I agree with Lester Bang's line in the movie Almost Famous: "Jim Morrison is a drunken buffoon".
3 - Mark Saleski
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".
4 - Steve Rhodes
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.
5 - Chris Arabia
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.
6 - Eric Olsen
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.
7 - andy
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?
8 - TDavid
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.
9 - Mark Saleski
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?
10 - Eric Olsen
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.
11 - David
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.
12 - Eric Olsen
Clearly you like the "pop" side of the Doors, which is fine, but ultimately not their greatest strength from my perspective.
13 - Mark Saleski
i agree...some of the stuff on The Soft Parade was just plain icky.
14 - Eric Olsen
In general, the first and last (with Morrison) seem the most real to me, although there are plenty of great songs scattered between.
15 - Eric Berlin
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.