The Doors Albums Ranked and Reviewed Best to Worst
A list by JustGeorge93
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| 10 |  | 10.The DoorsFull Circle (1972) | ||
| 1972’s Full Circle was intended to be the final effort from the trio lineup of The Doors. Other Voices had proved that Ray, Robbie, and John could still channel the Doors sound without Jim, they just lacked the attitude and emotion of the passionate and disturbing Morrison lyrics and vocals. Other Voices may have cracked the Top 40 but it was a far cry from the band’s former glories. While there are a handful of undeniably remarkable cuts scattered throughout, Full Circle is increasingly sporadic and less focused than its predecessor. Case in point is the somewhat dated Age of Aquarius anthem "Get Up and Dance" that kicks off the platter. Krieger's "4 Billion Souls" is a happy little ditty about global survival and ecology, proclaiming "Don't cha see that we could be the first in history/leaving all that we don't need behind." Among the highlights is the slinky blues "Verdilac" with Manzarek conjuring up voodoo and Charles Lloyd (flute/tenor sax) making his first of two guest appearances on Full Circle during the tasty jazz-fusion informed instrumental section between the verses. The whimsical "Hardwood Floor" is sonically stamped by Manzarek's jangle piano. Instead of being a psychedelic anachronism as heard on "Love Her Madly" and "You Make Me Real," it comes off as comparatively lightweight. A similar fate befalls the cover of Roy Brown's R&B jump classic "Good Rocking Tonight" -- titled simply "Good Rocking." While there is nothing ostensibly wrong with the performance, it fails to catch fire and the lack of inspiration gives the track a sense of being little more than filler. "The Mosquito" is an undeniably peculiar recording and it is difficult to conceive what Jim Morrison could or would have been able to bring to lyrics such as "No me moleste mosquito/just let me eat my burrito." The centerpiece of the number is the nearly four-minute jam tacked on at the end. Manzarek's impassioned electric organ, Densmore's tricky timekeeping, and Krieger's transcendent string work are all worth mentioning as the intensity of their interplay hearkens back to former glories. 5/10 | ||||
| 9 |  | 9.The DoorsOther Voices (1971) | ||
| 1971’s Other Voices came surprisingly quick after L.A. Woman and the passing of Jim Morrison, and to many the loss of Morrison likewise meant the passing of The Doors. It was true that Jim Morrison’s performance and reliability had been in question right before his death, and the remaining trio were working on material to present to Morrison if and when he returned from his sabbatical in Paris. It is much of this material that features on Other Voices and sees the Doors sidemen taking turns in the spotlight, giving it their best shot. It is difficult not to compare Other Voices to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s opus Mardi Gras, which saw sidemen taking the spotlight with mixed results. The results on Other Voices range from decent Doors cuts to rather generic boogie rock. Manzarek's bluesy opener "In the Eye of the Sun" has hints of "Down So Long" and "The Changeling." However, its true earmarks are the greasy slide guitar licks proffered by Krieger during the solo, and in response to Manzarek's lead vocal. Speaking of the guitarist, he is credited with the bulk of the material, beginning with the whimsical ode to monogamy "Variety Is the Spice of Life." Particularly suitable here is Krieger's nod to the Lovin' Spoonful's "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind." The ethereal Densmore/Krieger composition "Ships w/ Sails" adopts the languid vibe of "Riders on the Storm," especially throughout the instrumental jam. The band charge forward in pure power trio mode with plenty of interaction between the primary participants -- most notably Krieger's fiery fretwork and Manzarek's authoritative vocals. The upbeat "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned" is undoubtedly a reflection of both where Krieger -- the song's author -- as well as the survivors of the emotionally frazzled '60s collective heads were at. Although they'd never regain their former acclaim, the Doors would take this platter into the Top 40 and pull off a successful tour behind the project. The three-person lineup wasn't done yet as Full Circle (1972) followed the next year, after which Densmore, Krieger, and Manzarek laid the Doors to rest. 5/10 | ||||
| 8 | | 8.Jim MorrisonAn American Prayer (1978) | ||
| An American Prayer is one of the more interesting posthumous releases in rock and roll history. Moody and mesmerising, An American Prayer is an interesting album of Jim Morrison reading his poetry over the Doors’ music. Those familiar with the lyrics of the Doors will not be surprised, but others may be put off because Morrison is unafraid to use crude imagery and talk unabashedly about taboo topics such as sex and religion. Although many dismiss his poetry as simplistic random musings, Morrison is a gifted lyricist with a vivid imagination. The album also demonstrates how the other musicians in the band create a mood that breathes life into Morrison's dark, twisted visions. The music excerpts of "Peace Frog" and "Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" provide a welcome air of familiarity, and the definitive live version of "Roadhouse Blues" in the middle of the album provides a nice respite from the barrage of stories and metaphors. However, An American Prayer must be listened to in one sitting to be fully appreciated, preferably at night time when one is alone and can devote full attention to the listening experience. This album is not for everyone, but is a must-own for Doors completists and fans of Jim Morrison's poetry. It was an absolutely crucial move by the band to pay tribute to their former singer and friend. 6/10 | ||||
| 7 | | 7.The DoorsIn Concert (1991) [Compilation] | ||
| In Concert is the successor live album to the individual releases of Absolutely Live, Alive, She Cried, and Live at the Hollywood Bowl; combining and remastering the albums to run as one cohesive continuous Doors concert. None of the Doors’ previous live albums ever presented more than a single angle or two of the group’s sound and each confined itself to only a portion of the group’s repertoire. In Concert is perhaps the best live album from The Doors and is definitely a must own for any fan. 6/10 | ||||
| 6 | | 6.The DoorsThe Soft Parade (1969) | ||
| 1969’s The Soft Parade is widely regarded as The Doors’ weakest studio album from their classic Morrison led period. This was more or less entirely blamed on the band’s over experimentation with brass and strings on a majority of the tracks were just not entirely successful. The band had rushed out a great quantity of material and toured tirelessly around the world in just the two professional years they had been on the scene, so naturally they were beginning to fatigue creatively, and were certainly in no position to get experimental. The Soft Parade includes some of The Doors’ weakest material; low lights including filler like “Do It” and “Runnin’ Blue”, as well as the out of place spoken word “Wishful Sinful”. On the other hand, about half the record is quite good, especially the huge hit "Touch Me" (their most successful integration of orchestration), the vicious hard rock riffs of "Wild Child," the overlooked "Shaman's Blues," and the lengthy title track, a multi-part suite that was one of the band's best attempts to mix rock with poetry. "Tell All the People" stands as one of the quintessential Doors tracks; consciously sung uncharacteristically with a sense of disenchantment towards pop culture and rock and roll life, a brilliant track. The Soft Parade will probably never be truly embraced on the same scale as other Doors albums, but it is still an interesting listen. 6/10 | ||||
| 5 | | 5.The DoorsWaiting for the Sun (1968) | ||
| 1968’s Waiting for the Sun was greeted as a major disappointment for many listeners and critics, which was possibly due to the perfection of the first two albums raising expectations too high. With a few exceptions, the material was much mellower, and while this yielded some fine melodic ballad rock in "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes, the River Knows," there was no denying that the song writing was not as impressive as it had been on the first two records. However much of the material from The Doors first three albums were culled from Jim Morrison’s notebooks, filled with poetry and songs he had written mostly before joining the band. SO it is easy to see how this approach begins with adapting the strongest pieces into songs, and ends with an over reliance on substandard, unfinished material to flesh out into songs. Lyrically, they reflect his heavy use of LSD, as well as his obsessions with the elements, death, crime, excess, conflict, shamanism, theater, and cinema. The images conjured by his words are highly visual, and also disturbing. Morrison revelled in the youth culture rebellion of the late 1960s, but he did not see innocence, peace, and love as idyllically as most of his hippie contemporaries. Led primarily by his visions, the music of the Doors between 1967 and 1968 explored the primitivism, hedonism, and violence inherent in American's cultural struggles of the period. On the other hand, there were first-rate tunes such as the spooky "The Unknown Soldier," with anti-war lyrics as uncompromisingly forceful as anything the band did, and the compulsively riff-driven "Hello, I Love You," which nonetheless bore an uncomfortably close resemblance to the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night." The flamenco guitar of "Spanish Caravan," the all-out weirdness of "Not to Touch the Earth" (which was a snippet of a legendary abandoned opus, "The Celebration of the Lizard"), and the menacing closer "Five to One" were also interesting. In fact, time's been fairly kind to the record, which is quite enjoyable and diverse, just not as powerful a full-length statement as the group's best albums. 8/10 | ||||
| 4 | | 4.The DoorsMorrison Hotel (1970) | ||
| After the misguided experimentation and anti-pop feel of The Soft Parade, The Doors returned to the crunching straightforward hard rock for 1970’s Morrison Hotel. Morrison Hotel is perhaps one of The Doors’ greatest albums, musically it is extremely well-rounded and delivered with an intense passion not entirely heard since their debut. Morrison Hotel did not yield any major singles, but it nevertheless returned them to favour with critics and hip listeners. Here it is as if the band start their songs fresh without relying on Jim’s old poetry notebooks, which births an increasingly bluesy flavour that began to colour the song writing and arrangements, especially on the party anthem "Roadhouse Blues." Airy mysticism was still present on "Waiting for the Sun," "Queen of the Highway," and "Indian Summer"; "Ship of Fools" and "Land Ho!" struck effective balances between the hard rock arrangements and the narrative reach of the lyrics. "Peace Frog" was the most political and controversial track, documenting the domestic unrest of late-'60s America. Morrison Hotel brings what Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade lacked, and that was coherence; the hard rock edge that is given to the shamanistic deliverance of the mystical lyrics results in one of the band’s greatest albums. It is an approach they would only perfect with follow-up and final album with Jim; L.A. Woman. 8/10 | ||||
| 3 | | 3.The DoorsL.A. Woman (1971) | ||
| 1971’s L.A. Woman is the final album from The Doors with Jim Morrison, before the posthumous American Prayer in 1978, and it is by far their most blues-orientated album. Jim’s poetic talent is undiminished by this arguably generic rock approach, though the deteriorating effect of his drug use is apparent in his voice on certain tracks. Nevertheless, The Doors give an absolutely stunning display of composition and musicianship on L.A. Woman, and it is perhaps one of the greatest swan-songs in rock and roll history; many of the tracks rate among their finest and most disturbing work. The seven-minute title track was a car-cruising classic that celebrated both the glamour and seediness of Los Angeles; the other long cut, the brooding, jazzy "Riders on the Storm," was the group at its most melodic and ominous. It and the far bouncier "Love Her Madly" were hit singles, and "The Changeling" and "L'America" count as some of their better little-heeded album tracks. The Doors’ debut album may have established the band as one of the most revolutionary acts of classic rock, but L.A. Woman cemented them there for eternity. 9/10 | ||||
| 2 | | 2.The DoorsStrange Days (1967) | ||
| The Doors quickly followed their excellent debut album with 1967’s Strange Days, an album that was arguably written around the same time as the songs that appeared on the debut, but instead were left off the preceding album and salvaged for the second. It is clear to see why Strange Days is not as consistently stunning as the debut, nevertheless it is still an extremely successful continuation of the themes on the debut. To say that Strange Days lives in the shadow of the debut album would be an unfair criticism, many bands never muster the same energy and enthusiasm on their sophomore effort, and The Doors do that impeccably here. Besides the hit "Strange Days," highlights included the funky "Moonlight Drive," the eerie "You're Lost Little Girl," and the jerkily rhythmic "Love Me Two Times," which gave the band a small chart single. "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "I Can't See Your Face in My Mind" are pleasing entries in the group's repertoire that share a subdued Eastern psychedelic air. The only song that would forever live in the shadow of the debut would be the eleven minute closer “When the Music’s Over”, an experimental piece that slips into drawn-out bombast. 9/10 | ||||
| 1 | | 1.The DoorsThe Doors (1967) | ||
| The Doors’ 1967 debut is definitely one of the best debut albums in rock and roll history! The Doors has been catalogued for preservation in the American Library, cited as having cultural and historical relevance of the late 60’s era. The Doors perfectly introduces the band’s fusion of rock, blues, classical, jazz and poetry with a knockout punch and eerie afterthought. The lean, spidery guitar and organ riffs interweave with a hypnotic menace, providing the brilliant seductive backdrop for Jim Morrison’s captivating vocals and probing prose. The single “Light My Fire” was the track that dominated the charts and immediately established The Doors as a dark force to be reckoned with in rock music. Yet it is “Break On Through” that showcases the rebelliousness, existential loathing and sheer musical force of the band with lyrics that seek to destroy systems and beliefs, and musicianship that destroys conventions altogether. Same can be said of the beguiling mystery of "The Crystal Ship," the mysterious "End of the Night," "Take It as It Comes" (one of several tunes besides "Light My Fire" that also had hit potential), and the stomping rock of "Soul Kitchen" and "Twentieth Century Fox." The 11-minute Oedipal drama "The End" was the group at its most daring and, some would contend, overambitious. It was nonetheless a haunting cap to an album whose nonstop melodicism and dynamic tension would never be equalled by the group again, let alone bettered. The Doors’ best album. 10/10 | ||||
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