The Doors: LA Woman

It's high time to write a review on L.A Woman, so here i am as i've already reviewed the first Doors album. L.A Woman will be the last Doors album with Jim Morrison who was dead at the time of the album's release ... So let's have a little history on what happened at this point of time ...

Nixon was nervous, and the Viet Nam war had spread till Cambodgia. On most American campus another war was on between students and cops. And the later had become trigger happy; four dead in Ohio (Neil Young will write a song about it later on). Bill Graham had just closed his Fillmore (East and West) and rocknroll was turning hard: Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin ect ...

During the past six month, Morrison had discovered the way of the American judiciary system; he had been arrested in Miami after one of those crazy concerts. He'll spend six months making appeal. Embarrassed, Elektra (the Doors Label) will release a double live (the legendary Absolutely Live) and a compilation.

Jimi was dead. Janis was dead. In the Los Angeles bars, when the subject was brought to Morrison, he'd retort "well i'll be number three, just wait and see"...

Morrison got the Blues. A blues that he'd discovered while touring in Europe with Canned Heat. He had grown fat and a beard; it was difficult to recognize him. That Dyonisos rocknroll had reinvented himself as Bluesman.

Morrison accepted the demission of the Doors Favourite Producer Paul Rotchild. Rotchild will explain later :"I was busy with the Janis Joplin posthum album 'Pearl' but had accepted a compromise and so i went to a rendez-vous where they played me their latest tracks and told them that i thought that it was nothing but dogpoo".

Their reply had been to install a juke box and a sofa in the basement of the record plant. So it was in those conditions that the engineer Bruce Botnick had been promoted co-producer by the Doors and he proceeded to record 'L.A Woman' ...

At once, they decided to record on an 8 track (and not a 16) according to Desmore, they were trying to find back the strenght of their first album "simple and raw" said he ...

Two extra musicians had been hired: Jerry Schreff (Elvis bassist) and Marc Benno (Leon Russell's guitarist) and those two will bring a new color to the album totally rocknroll and hard and agressive and efficient. In fact, the contribution of those 2 men on the album will be fundamental: suddenly free from that eternal bass problem Manzarek could concentrate his music more on the melodies, sub-melodies and counter-melodies ...

Side A

How the album starts is just amazing ! The first track said it all : "Changeling" Morrison had changed, his voice had been through a mutation. Like if the lizard had changed his skin. His voice ! We had heard it growing old becoming harder exploring higher, but here, on that album, that voice had reached a pick

Morrison, with his voice could compete with the greatest black singers, and on L.A Woman he'll just let his talent go free, and the musicians around him could weave a kind of Rhythm n Blues carpet. After "Changeling" comes a love song, naive and fresh: "Don't You Love Her Madly" a song i've always liked for the voice and the melody. That song will be the one released on single, by the end of March 71' and will reach at number one on May 11 1971.

"Been Down So Long" is another hard blues it's a great track that's been noticed with that guitar playing bottleneck and wah wah. No sign of Manzarek on that track, where he give way to a kind of 'terminal blues' without any doubt the best one ever recorded by the Doors.

"Cars Hiss By My Window" here it's evident that the Doors are in the terittory of the likes of John Lee Hooker (nightmare) Morrison is going further and further as he had found back the voice he had on "Strange Days" The end of side one ends into an apotheose very funky. Krieger proved himself a great guitarist. A little break and ..........

L.A Woman, the track that gave it's name to the project. Morrison will unveil his alter ego: 'Mr Mojo Risin' a Jim Morrison anagram. That track is legendary and it's the perfection on all the levels. The atmosphere the Doors invented to it is still as incredible today as it was then. Very fast, the voice will change, and the music will take the lead and will be thick and consistent till the end. L.A Woman had been written by Jim for one of his favourite girl friend Rockie Gardiner who had kept the oroginal manuscript for a long time where it said that Jim had dedicated it to her. It said "for Rockie the original L.A Woman" . The album had also been dedicated to a city Morrison really loved: Los Angeles. And so ends side A with such a tremendous track ....

The earlier Doors albums had been dedicated to a different concept "the other side" where the auditor was invited to go and look "somewhere else" what he/she was looking for. L.A Woman offered another direction: to go and to get lost in the city or in love: there was no more "elsewhere"

Side B

"L'Americana" In 1970, Antonioni, had ordered a song to the Doors, for his latest movie "Zabriskie Point" Old students of cinematography, the Doors had proposed "L'Americana" a three minutes track, with a different tempo . As the Italian director had refused it for a soundtrack the song had been chosen to open the side B of the project.

"Hyacinth House" will follow. That song was about that famous hotel in L.A the Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard where Morrison had performed just before his death . There was no threat in that title; just a cold party of chess with faith it seems. Morrison had not long to live.

"Crawling King Snake" a five minute track where Jim let his guitarist go free. A nice game for all rock critics of the time, was to compare that Blues with the "Backdoor Man" of the debut. In three years, Morrison had become human, expressing his agressivity and frustration only the threat felt in the first album had disappeared.

"The Wasp" another 5 minutes of pure Doors but a sort of tribal rocknroll Morrison admitted here that he was nothing but a poet. And he perfectly imitated those Bluesmen from the south. This song has to contain one of the best Morrison set of lyrics, with very vivid pictures where he talks about Egypt, Memphis, Pharaons and other forbidden parameters.

"Rider On The Storm" the final song for a perfect legendary album. It must be the best death song, the best road song, a summer song, a rain song, you choose. It sadly will be the very last ever song recorded by Jim Morrison with the Doors ...

A lawyer close to the government informed Jim, that should he go to jail there was a good chance that he could be killed according to sources. So that's why Jim had to abandon the album and the final mix and sought refuge in Paris and the rue de Beautreilli where the real end waited for him. And ever since fans come to party on his grave so much so that i've heard that there has been demands for his removal.

Even dead Jim Morrison rocks !

As Robby Krieger once said:

"It was difficult but we sort of expected it. We knew that he wanted it. He would always talk about it. He was just so interested in death. It took a long time to deal with it. We could have still been playing today if he hadn't blown his wad. In a way you are pissed at him and in another way you miss him. There was always something exciting when Jim was around. I miss him a lot."

Track Listing:

1.The Changeling 4:20
2.Love Her Madly 3:18
3.Been Down So Long 4:40
4.Cars Hiss By My Window 4:10
5.L.A. Woman 7:49
6.L'America 4:35
7.Hyacinth House 3:10
8.Crawling King Snake 4:57
9.The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) 4:12
10.Riders On The Storm 7:14