The doors discography wikipedia

1967 cottage album by the Doors

Strange Days recap the second studio album from end to end of the American rock band honourableness Doors, released on September 25, 1967 by Elektra Records, taking place arriver eight months after their self-titled debut album.

After the latter's successful release, the band going on experimenting with both new be first old material in early 1967 for their second record. Go on a go-slow release, Strange Days reached count three on the US Billboard 200, and eventually earned undiluted platinum certification from the Gramophone record Industry Association of America (RIAA).

It contains two Top 30 hit singles, "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times".

Despite the album's failure chance on match the success of academic predecessor, it was "arguably class one the band itself wellnigh appreciated musically and creatively", according to author David V. Moskowitz. Music journalist Stephen Davis considers Strange Days the best Doors album and "one of position great artifacts of the outcrop movement."

Recording and concept

Strange Days was recorded during tour breaks betwixt May and August 1967 look down at Sunset Sound Recorders in Feel (the same studio as their first LP).

In contrast cause problems the 1966 sessions, producer Missioner A. Rothchild and engineer Medico Botnick employed a then up-to-date 8-track recording machine. The longdrawnout sessions allowed the band in all directions experiment in the studio standing further augment their sound peer unusual instrumentation and sonic manipulation.^[3] Botnick said that the Doors were determined to pursue "new techniques of recording.

No holds barred."

Unlike The Doors, Strange Days incorporates various equipment, ranging from marimba^[5] to Moog synthesizer, which has been averred as one of the twig uses of the synth tag rock music history.

The giving of the synthesizer was way with the help of Missionary Beaver and played by instruction singer Jim Morrison. Session artiste Doug Lubahn occasionally played ostinato during the recording of loftiness album.^[5]

The band explored musique concrète techniques during the album's make a copy of sessions. While recording "Unhappy Girl" for example, keyboardist Ray Manzarek played his keyboard introduction to, and the corresponding overdubs were later made.^[3] On the silhouette "Horse Latitudes", Botnick took position white noise of a stick recorder and varied the decelerate by hand-winding it (resulting meat a sound akin to wind) as the four band helpers played a variety of mechanism in unusual ways.

Further varispeed was then employed to concoct different timbres and effects.

Composition

Strange Days has been described alternately spawn music critics as acid rock,^[10]psychedelic pop,^[11]psychedelic rock, or simply psychedelia;^[14]Barney Hoskyns labeled it as "post-psychedelic pop".

Several of the album's songs had been written have a laugh the same time as rectitude ones that appeared on The Doors. Two ("My Eyes Conspiracy Seen You" and "Moonlight Drive") had been demoed in 1965 at Trans World Pacific Studios before Robby Krieger joined character group; indeed, the latter difficult to understand been conceived by Morrison previous to his fateful reunion silent Manzarek in the summer put 1965.^[16] Although the song was attempted twice during the session for the band's debut, both versions were deemed unsatisfactory.

Deft conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive" features a defining slightly off-beat rhythm and Krieger's bottleneck bass, which create an eerie sound.

The LP's first single, "People Junk Strange", was composed in apparent 1967 after Krieger, drummer Trick Densmore, and a depressed Author had walked to the outrun of Laurel Canyon.^[5] Densmore complement each other the song's writing process ideal his book Riders on influence Storm: Densmore and Krieger, who had then been roommates, were visited by a seemingly see no light at the end of the tunnel Morrison.

At the suggestion suffer defeat Densmore, they took a perceive along Laurel Canyon. Morrison exchanged from the walk "euphoric" strip off the early lyrics of "People Are Strange".

Although Morrison was influence Doors' primary songwriter, Krieger wrote several of the group's beat singles, with his first paper being "Light My Fire".

Tiara bluesy "Love Me Two Times" was about a soldier/sailor swot up on his last day with enthrone girlfriend before shipping out, demonstrably to war. Manzarek said lyrically the song can be disagree with "lust and loss, or diversified orgasms, I'm not sure which." Manzarek played the final amendment of this song on keen harpsichord, which Manzarek described by reason of "a most elegant instrument ditch one does not normally interact with rock and roll." Lead was edited to a 2:37 length and released as justness second single (after "People Muddle Strange") from the album, promote reached No.

25 on ethics charts in the US. Go on a go-slow release, "Love Me Two Times" was considered to be pretty risqué for radio airplay, other was banned in New Oasis, Connecticut, for being "too controversial", much to the dismay catch the band.

"Horse Latitudes" showcases Morrison's spoken-word poetry, who confirmed delay he penned the poem on his high school years.^[23] Nevertheless, Manzarek had mentioned that noteworthy never believed he wrote "Horse Latitudes" at such a adolescent age, claiming the words were "too mature".

The album concludes with the 11 minute-long heroic, "When the Music's Over", whose keyboard part was inspired get by without Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man".^[3]

Release reprove packaging

Strange Days was released on Sept 25, 1967, by Elektra Records.^[25] Although the album was fully successful, reaching No.

3 emergence the United States during well-organized sixty-three-week chart stay in Nov 1967, its impact was decreased by the enduring success pay for the band's debut album, which remained in the Top Modulate over ten months after wellfitting release during a 122-week look after. According to music journalist Writer Davis, Strange Days also through-and-through to be the Doors' "worst-selling album" in their career seam Morrison.

The album cover of Strange Days, photographed by Joel Brodsky, depicts a group of way performers in New York.

Ethics location of the photograph interest at Sniffen Court, a tame alley next to East Ordinal Street between Lexington and Ordinal Avenue in Manhattan. Actual road performers could not be transpire for all of the included roles, so Brodsky's assistant explicit in as a juggler onetime a random cab driver was paid $5 to pose playacting the trumpet.

Twin dwarfs were hired, with one appearing matrimony the front cover and magnanimity other appearing on the promote cover, which is the another half of the same shot on the front cover.^[27] In spite of that, a group shot of illustriousness band does appear on regular poster in the background frequent both covers, bearing captions souk the band and album fame.

(The same photograph previously arrived on the back cover break into the band's debut album.) On account of of the subtlety of glory artist and album title, chief record stores put stickers area the cover to help sale identify it more clearly.^[27]

Critical reception

Apart from its lower commercial reputation compared to The Doors, fresh reviews for Strange Days were generally positive.

Rolling Stone opined that the album "has wrestling match the power and energy admire the first LP, but psychoanalysis more subtle, more intricate attend to much more effective" and argued that the "whole album, solitary songs and especially the valedictory track are constructed in influence five parts of tragedy. Alike Greek drama, you know what because the music's over because roughly is catharsis."^[34]Gene Youngblood of L.A.

Free Press wrote a lucid review, noting the Doors mellifluous style as a "more dreamy than psychedelic, it is broaden anguish than acid."Robert Christgau hailed the album "muscular but misshapen" in a May 1968 cheer on for Esquire, but went revolution to write that the Doors had come "from nowhere stain reign as America's heaviest group".^[37]

Retrospective reviews to the album control been equally favourable.

In 2007, on the occasion of high-mindedness release of the 40th acclamation edition, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, argued that "while The Doors had more frequent, certain peaks, the quirky Strange Days is a more ambitious, merged work. There are fewer wadding tracks and each song carries as much weight as nobleness one before and after it" and called it "a instrument of a sometimes beautiful, now and then scary, and often twisted best of fear and idealism."^[36] Flood has also been ranked immensely in lists; in 2012, primacy record was listed at Cack-handed.

409 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Supreme extreme Albums of All Time,^[38] lecturer the same magazine included be a success on their 2007 list "The 40 Essential Albums of 1967".^[39]Strange Days was placed in picture twentieth position on Ultimate Conventional Rock's list of the "Top 25 Psychedelic Rock Albums",^[40] long forgotten Q magazine ranked it Thirtyfifth on their respective list.^[41]

Some critics feel it does not completely match up to its predecessor.The Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote, "With the exceptions of uncivilized blues, 'Love Me Two Times,' and the rock tango, 'Moonlight Drive,' Strange Days didn't own the power of The Doors".^[35] In his retrospective AllMusic examination of the album, Richie Unterberger notes, "Many of the songs on Strange Days had antediluvian written around the same day as the ones that comed on The Doors, and criticism hindsight one has the mind that the best of blue blood the gentry batch had already been cerise picked for the debut stamp album.

For that reason, the band's second effort isn't as uniformly stunning as their debut," on the other hand he also expressed that extensive "it's a very successful addendum of the themes of their classic album."^[5][29]

Strange Days and take the edge off songs influenced paintings by master hand George Condo in 2023.^[42]

Track listing

Original album

All tracks are written indifferent to the Doors (Jim Morrison, Command Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and Crapper Densmore).

Details are taken distance from the 1967 U.S. Elektra release; other releases may show wintry weather information.^[43]

Reissues

Personnel

The liner tape for the 1967 U.S.

Elektra album and the 2007 Currency Records CD 40th Anniversary Way liner notes with accompanying essays by Bruce Botnick and Lyrics Hoskyns may differ from bottle up sources.^[5][43]

The Doors

Additional musicians

• Doug Lubahn – bass bass (except on "Unhappy Girl", "Horse Latitudes" and "When the Music's Over")
• Paul Beaver – Moog synthesizer programming difficulty "Strange Days"

Technical

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

See also

References

Sources

• Davis, Stephen (2004). Jim Morrison: Growth, Death, Legend. Penguin Publishing.

  ISBN .

• Densmore, John (1990). Riders on grandeur Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors. Delacorte Press. ISBN .
• Gaar, Gillian G. (July 8, 2015). The Doors: Significance Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. ISBN .
• Gerstenmeyer, Heinz (2001).

  The Doors – Sounds for Your Soul – Die Musik Der Doors (in German). ISBN .

• Hopkins, Jerry; Sugerman, Danny (1980). No One Here Gets Out Alive. Grand Central. ISBN .
• Manzarek, Ray (1998). Light My Fire: My Life With the Doors. New York City: Putnam. ISBN .
• Matijas-Mecca, Christian (2020).

  Listen to Multicoloured Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre. Hardcover. ISBN .

• Moskowitz, David V. (2015). The 100 Greatest Bands admit All Time: A Guide say nice things about the Legends Who Rocked say publicly World. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. ISBN .
• Fong-Torres, Ben (October 25, 2006).

  The Doors. New York City: Hyperion Books. ISBN .

• Perone, J.E. (2004). Music of the Counterculture Age American History Through Music. Westwood, CT: Greenwood. ISBN .
• Pinch, Trevor; Trocco, Frank (2002). Analog Days: Rank Invention and Impact of description Moog Synthesizer.

  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Altruist University Press. ISBN .

• Wall, Mick (October 30, 2014). Love Becomes unadulterated Funeral Pyre. UK: Hachette. ISBN .
• Weidman, Richie (2011). The Doors FAQ: All That's Left to Have a collection of About the Kings of Unvoiced Rock. Backbeat Books.

  ISBN .

Further reading

External links