I’ve only seen Viva Las Vegas. It’s fun, but that’s almost entirely due to Ann Margret.

The Monk! Bought! Lunch!
Has anyone done more to bring shame to the idea of poetry than Jim Morrison? Well, other than Ray Manzarek reminding us for forty years that he had a poet in his band. A great poet, like a Baudelaire! A Rimbaud! His death bed mutterings supposedly "Jim....rhymed....good"

Now let's be clear, I hate The Doors. Exactly as much as you'd expect someone who used to wear a hand painted Jim Morrison Jean jacket to school to hate. But for a brief period they were the centre of the musical universe for me. A very brief blip in adolesence where I was possibly listening to one band more than The Beatles. And it was this pile of clowns.

Then, when I came out of the fog of whatever spell teenage hood had over me, I was only left with shameful memories of crooning to myself "The blue buussss, is calling usss". Beyond LA Woman, which seemed to finally tamp down on their more embarrassing indulgences, they never got played. I'd look at pictures and they just seemed like a band of three dorks following around a belligerent bully. Fawning over the nonsensical phrases  that seemed to collect in his beard along with the hoagie crumbs and beer foam.

But I dreamed of them last night. At least I must have. Because I woke up and all I could think of was their album The Soft Parade. The most maligned album of a band that deserves lost of malignment. And so it only seemed appropriate to play it while I washed dishes and thought about what a pretentious twat I used to be.

And....its obviously spotty. The big closing number has all the funky charisma of game show music. Wishful Sinful is likely the nadir of their songwriting. Jim Morrison has never sounded more earnest about the mouthwash garble that foams off of his lips. And their are all sorts of unneccessary and stupid musical flourishes.

But there are buried treasures here. And by treasures, I mean pristine cat turds dug out of a litter box. There is something liberating about this clown car of a band crossing the rubicon into an area where you feel they can't possibly be taking themselves seriously (even though they very much are). But its all just dumb enough to make this clearly worst album in their catalogue at least nearly on par with the other silly records in their discography. The absurdity and extravagance makes it a compelling listen. Most of the songs have parts where they simply become preposterous, but only a few are a complete waste. Shaman's Blues, Easy Ride, Wild Child, the country fiddle break of Runnin Blue, Even the bloat of opener Tell All the People has a certain charm to it.

And I've always like Touch Me, even though I generally think that is one of the more loathed Doors hits That opening build is wonderful, at least until Drunky MacDougall comes warbling in.




 

Jinnistan wrote:

Where I would strongly disagree, "Touch Me" is a piece of shit, basically Jim Morrison auditioning for his Vegas future that he mercifully spared us all.
 

Exactly what I like about it.

And my hate, just as my love, has always been disproportional. The hate is mostly directed at that jean jacket and a girl I used to date who thought Jim Morrison talked to her, and I take it out on the music. This was actually meant to go in my Love thread, but I just couldn't bring myself to write the words (I Love) The Doors without a suitable vomit emoji to come after it.

I'm even a fan of Waiting for the Sun, probably their most forgettable album, lost in the middle of the pack. It's where Morrison gets particularly windbaggy. Where the constant claims of poet are making him soggy. But I like nearly every track on it.

It's a complicated relationship though. I can't stand the reverence for Morrison. I can't stand anything about Manzarek. I can't stand the hardcore fans. I don't particularly like most of their biggest hits. And most of their records have obvious padding in them. But they are unique to a point that....who else sounds like them. A lot of singers have emulated that croon but, has any other band pulled off their very peculiar sound? That's at least worth a lot, in my eyes.

Plus, they did Crystal Ship, which my love of has never dimmed by.

Last edited by crumbsroom (1/31/2023 12:11 pm)

Jinnistan wrote:

Probably not an acceptable opinion in most circles, but I do admire Jim Morrison, as a vocalist if not a poet, more than, say, Ian Curtis or Morrisey.  *breaks bottle and waits for the mob*

Just keep standing there. I've just let of my anvil.

I'd consider Morrison as a better singer than Morrissey, but they sort of both occupy the same douchey cunt territory. I find Morrissey way more infuriatingly interesting though. And he's leagues better than Morrissey as a writer.

Curtis is pretty limited, but what he does in that space he occupies is shattering. And very few voices are more perfectly suited to the music of their band. Almost nothing is better than Unknown Pleasures and he is at least 25 percent responsible for that.

Last edited by Rock (2/03/2023 1:20 am)

crumbsroom wrote:

Heroin!
It's my wife!
And it's my life!
 

Have you heard his Words and Music release from last year?  I guess they're going to be doing regular archive releases every year.