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The Doors - Strange Days CD (album) cover

STRANGE DAYS

The Doors

 

Proto-Prog

4.25 | 621 ratings

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Chicapah
Prog Reviewer
4 stars An eerie, electronically altered voice calls out from inside the circus tent. "Strange days have found us," Jim Morrison sings. Indeed. Only a year earlier The Doors were just another starving band on the Strip and now their songs blared from every radio and their faces were plastered all over magazines around the world. Back then the mantra of the powers-that-be was to strike the iron while the fire is still hot so Electra sent the boys right back into the studio to mine for more top-40 gold. After all, "Light My Fire" was still a huge hit. And that mine was still rich with tunes they weren't able to include on the debut LP so the songs came quickly and before 1967 had ended this album with its macabre, captivating cover art was in the record bins. In many ways this album is as good as their incredible first one. Musically the band is as tight and confident as ever. The real difference to my ear is that there is less of a sinister undercurrent to the sexuality and cockiness of the lyrics. The message doesn't seem to be quite as urgent as before. Morrison seems less like a Casanova and more of a slick, smooth-talking predator on "You're lost little girl," "Unhappy girl" and "My eyes have seen you." "Love Me Two Times" sounds more like a request than a demand and, on "Moonlight Drive" (one of their best songs ever) he's downright romantic! But things had turned ever so slightly strange for this foursome and when Jim sings "I can't seem to find the right lie" on "Can't See Your Face in my Mind" you get the feeling that he wonders how long he can keep up the rock star charade. And in "When the Music's Over" he expresses a foreboding sense of his limited time on this earth with "We're gettin' tired of hangin' around, waiting around with our heads to the ground" and "We want the world and we want it NOW." But when the world came to them he realized far too late that he didn't want any part of what they brought along. However, that was yet to come. For now they were still a tightly-knit group of friends with a common artistic goal and they effortlessly produced an album of songs that were almost as earth-shaking as the first batch. They are all at the top of their game on these recordings but Robbie Krieger is especially good on "Moonlight Drive," "People are Strange" and "When the Music's Over." If I could give it a 4.5 star rating I would but it just barely misses being on the same level as their previous blockbuster. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic collection of songs.
Chicapah | 4/5 |

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