LOVE ME TWO TIMES

"Love Me Two Times" is a compilation album of The Doors that was released in 2002. It's a two disc compilation album consisting of some songs that belong to their six previous studio albums, the albums released before Morrison's death.

"Love Me Two Times" has twenty-five tracks. "Soul Kitchen", "The Crystal Ship", "Twentieth Century Fox", "Back Door Man", "I Looked At You", "End Of The Night" and "Take It As It Comes" are from "The Doors" of 1967. "Soul Kitchen" is a nice rock song played with energy. It's a tribute to the restaurant "Olivia's" in Venice Beach, where Morrison and Manzarek met for the first time. "The Crystal Ship" is a love song inspired by Morrison's first love, Mary Werbelow. It's mysterious and has a dark sound. "Twentieth Century Fox" is about a fashionable but unfeeling woman. It's a metaphor for the famous movie and TV Company. This is a light soft ballad, a song with a bit humour. "Back Door Man" was originally a blues song written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf. This version is a great cover. "I Looked At You" is a rock ballad, a light and soft song. The structure of the song is simple, but it's a nice and pleasant song to hear. "End Of The Night" is an obscure ballad with a dark atmosphere that makes of it a hypnotic song. "Take It As It Comes" is a beautiful pop rock song, well made, which still sounds fresh and young today. "When The Music's Over", "Strange Days", "Horse Latitudes", "Love Me Two Times", "Moonlight Drive", "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "You're Lost Little Girl" are from "Strange Days" also of 1967. "When The Music's Over" grows in intensity, like "The End". It has a great climax and is one of their most progressive tracks. "Strange Days" is a dark song with great atmosphere. It has the use of a synthesizer, one of the earliest examples of the use of a synthesizer in rock. "Horse Latitudes" is a spoken word by Morrison with noises in the back. It's a strange track, the weirdest thing they ever made. "Love Me Two Times" is about a sailor and his last day with his girlfriend before shipping out to the Vietnam War. It has a slight touch of blues, a common thing in many of their songs. "Moonlight Drive" is one of the first songs written by Morrison. It's the song that Morrison sung to Manzarek in Venice Beach. It's a good song with a nice rhythm. "My Eyes Have Seen You" is a short, simple and nice rock song with the dark, evil and impetus vein of some songs in their earlier days. It's a love and a perverse song. "You're Lost, Little Girl" has a nice atmosphere, especially provided by the guitar work of Krieger. It's a simple and nice rock ballad with beautiful lyrics that sounds fresh, even today. "Hello, I Love You", "My Wild Love", "Summer's Almost Gone", "Five To One", "Wintertime Love", "Spanish Caravan", "Not To Touch The Earth" and "We Could Be So Good Together" are from "Waiting For The Sun" of 1968. "Hello, I Love You", despite be considered one of their most pop songs, it's a great and catchy song. I never understood the dislike of many fans of it. "My Wild Love" is performed in a Cappella style. Morrison's vocals are backed up by the band's members vocals, performing different sorts of sounds. "Summer's Almost Gone" is a quiet soft ballad. It's a mellow, sensitive and sad song with the psychedelic sound of them in their early days. "Five To One" is a heavy song, with Morrison's vocals energetic and with the distorted guitar sound of Krieger. It's also memorable because the lyrics. "Wintertime Love" is a waltz performed in a soft style. It's a small song that represents a beautiful moment. "Spanish Caravan" is, basically, a flamenco song with the beginning riffs taken from "Asturias (Leyenda)" of Isaac Albeniz. The texture of the composition and arrangements are original and great, really. "Not To Touch The Earth" is a fragment taken from Morrison's poem, "Celebration Of The Lizard". It belongs to their earlier psychedelic sound and represents a real heavy moment. "We Could Be So Good Together" was recorded during the sessions for "Strange Days". It's a pop rock song, but isn't a great song. "Touch Me" is from "The Soft Parade" of 1969. It's a notable song for the extensive use of brass and string instruments and because of the use of a saxophone solo by Curtis Amy. The orchestral arrangements work well and accent Morrison's vocals. "Waiting For The Sun" is from "Morrison Hotel" of 1970. It's a psychedelic song that changes from the quiet to heavy passages, with an excellent work and a melodic vocal performance. "Love Her Madly" is from "L.A. Woman" of 1971. It's a great rock song with good lyrics, good performances, especially the guitar performance of Krieger is great.

Conclusion: "Love Me Two Times" is a strange compilation. Of the six albums released by The Doors, with Morrison, twenty-wo songs are taken from three of those albums. So, despite "Love Me Two Times" be a good compilation, it's an unbalanced compilation. It's true that the twenty-wo songs belong to three of their best studio albums, "The Doors", "Strange Days" and "Waiting For The Sun", but incomprehensibly, it has only one song from "L.A. Woman" that is one of their best studio albums. By the other hand, it lacks on it some of their icon songs, "Light My Fire", "The End", "Soft Parade", "L.A. Woman" and "Riders On The Storm". So, I cannot recommend it as one of the best compilations of them. I recommend "The Very Best Of The Doors" which is probably the best and most complete compilation from the band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)