THE DOORS – In these handful of days leading up to the 40th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s passing away, I’ve decided to share a few thoughts about an album from The Doors. Jim Morrison passed away on July 3rd, 1971, in Paris France. He was only 27 years old. Forever a Rock legend Jim Morrison shall be. Jim Morrison’s lyrics, vocals and poetry always fascinated me. I was lured as a young lad into the Rock world of The Doors and essentially have never looked back. By the way, I was only four years old when Morrison Hotel was released… Metal be thy name.
Each studio album from The Doors is a unique Rock Classic. There will never be another band that comes even remotely close to their sound or style, in my opinion. The album I’ve chosen to revisit from The Doors is Morrison Hotel, released back in 1970, on Elektra Records. As with all of The Doors albums, listening to Morrison Hotel on CD isn’t quite the same as hearing the old school analog quality of it’s vinyl predecessor. I guess the same can be said for countless albums, from an untold number of bands from yesteryear.
My two favorite songs heard on Morrison Hotel are: Roadhouse Blues and Peace Frog. I personally like all eleven songs on this album. I’m not ashamed to admit, (and it might sound crazy), yet I’ve never disliked any song from The Doors. This band was just that artistic and unique to me. Roadhouse Blues is just a sensational Blues Rock song, one that uncannily radiates an incredible amount of relevance in 2011. Seriously, (and this is my opinion), Roadhouse Blues rocks along like it was recorded yesterday.
Peace Frog is just a provocative listen into Jim Morrison’s thoughts, with the lyrical content really being a recounting of what personal events troubled him. Waiting For The Sun has always given off a sonically melancholic vibe to me. Regardless of the “sun” being a focal point in the lyrics, this song has it’s doom switch turned on that I can never get enough of. Land Ho! with all of it’s quirky song structure and Folk stylings dominating, still triumphantly rocks along. A knee tapper and cool drinking song is Land Ho!.
Like all of The Doors albums, there is so much more to the “hits”. Songs like Maggie M’Gill, You Make Me Real, Queen Of The Highway and Blue Sunday are gems of Rock Music history in their own right. I always felt the need to listen to the entire album to take in The Doors. The Doors music just gives off that feel, where listening to Morrison Hotel (or any album from The Doors) from beginning to end is an experience, rather than just a listen for me.
The album cover to Morrison Hotel says it all, with Jim Morrison being in the forefront and most prominent in the picture. The Morrison Hotel actually did exist in Los Angeles, with no ownership ties to Jim Morrison, of course. However, think about this… how many bands today could take the last name of their singer and attach it to “hotel” as an album title? Not many I would think. Daughtry Hotel? I don’t think Chris Daughtry would even care for it. Could Aerosmith ever pull off an album title of: Tyler Hotel? Nah.
The coolness and flamboyancy of Jim Morrison’s vocals were ahead of the times, couple that with his overall mystique and I see the realism behind the album title: Morrison Hotel. The album title of Morrison Hotel just makes more sense to me today, than it did say in 1982. I guess I never read into this album title as deeply as I do now. The songs on Morrison Hotel have never checked out for me. If anything, I will continue to “check-in” at the Morrison Hotel for the rest of my life… and be glad I did.
THE DOORS:
Jim Morrison – vocals
Ray Manzarek – keyboards
Robby Krieger – guitar
John Densmore – drums
Morrison Hotel – Track Listing:
Hard Rock Cafe:
Roadhouse Blues
Waiting For The Sun
You Make Me Real
Peace Frog
Blue Sunday
Ship Of Fools
Morrison Hotel:
Land Ho
The Spy
Queen Of The Highway
Indian Summer
Maggie M’Gill
* Morrison Hotel was produced by Paul A. Rothchild.
* For more info on THE DOORS, click on the link below:
LONG LIVE THE DOORS.
Rest In Peace, Jim Morrison.
Stone.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.