THE DOORS

The Doors

Proto-Prog

4.33 | 804 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

This must be a strong contender for the best debut album ever made. Whether it's prog or not is immaterial - it's quality, especially side 1 of the original album.

Morrison has, in my view, the best male voice in rock and his bandmates were a formidable force with just 3 instruments. The album starts with "Break on Through", possibly the weakest track on side 1 but everything afterwards till you reach "Light My Fire" is class. Highlights of this side include "Crystal Ship", a melodic ballad and "Soul Kitchen" but all tracks on this side are excellent (even the opener).

The masterpiece is, of course, "Light My Fire" which needs no analysis from me. The first track to be proggy as everything so far has been quality rock. They showed here how good they were on their instruments and longer arrangements. No self-indulgence here just great instrumental skill.

Side 2 is the weaker side of the original though the weaker side of a great album is no criticism. I find the shorter songs here weaker than those on side 1 with "End of the Night" being the best of them before the second proggy song, the "The End".

I couldn't fathom this one when I first heard it but it grew on me until it became my fave on the album. Imaginative, powerful, emotional and sometimes controversial ("Mother I want to....), Jim's lyrics went beyond the norms of the time and set the scene for other writers to push the boundaries. But John Densmore's drumming on this track is superb, particularly his drum rolls. One of the first great prog epics.

The Doors set a very high bar for their ensuing albums and never beat this one though LA Woman came close. This is quintessential Doors and is a must for any prog rock historian.

Progexile | 5/5 | 2022-7-30

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