BREAK ON THROUGH

Now to the West Coast of the USA, where a new rock legend was born. The Doors, fronted by the enigmatic vocalist-lyricist Jim Morrison, debuted with the eponymous album (1967), which IMHO is one of the best rock albums of that year. Before the album came this single, in January '67. Both songs were included in the album, 'Break On Through' deservedly as the opening track.

Effectively grounded on a bossa nova rhythm pattern and featuring Ray Manzarek's skilful organ playing and Morrison's at-once mature power as a vocalist in full bloom, the song and its dynamic performance recorded in the autumn of '66 is a pure rock classic in every aspect. Energetic, edgy and yet poetically deep.

'End of the Night' is a relatively small scale, slow tempo song that beautifully captures the band's and its vocalist's ability to dive even deeper into the mystic, nocturnal atmospheres -- which were of course petfected in the marvelous long track 'The End'. On the surface, the piece is fairly simple and may appear as slightly monotoneous to some listeners, but to me it's among the group's most spellbinding songs.

A groundbreaking debut single deserving five stars!