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05-20 Ray Manzarek passes away
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Psychedelic, Blues |
The Doors, one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s, were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by UCLA
filmstudents Ray Manzarek, keyboards, and Jim Morrison, vocals; with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger.
The group neveradded a bass player, and their sound was dominated by Manzarek's electric organ work and Morrison's deep,
sonorous voice, with which hesang and intoned his highly poetic lyrics. The group signed to Elektra Records in 1966 and
released its first album, The Doors, featuring thehit "Light My Fire," in 1967.
Like "Light My ...read more
The Doors, one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s, were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by UCLA
filmstudents Ray Manzarek, keyboards, and Jim Morrison, vocals; with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger.
The group neveradded a bass player, and their sound was dominated by Manzarek's electric organ work and Morrison's deep,
sonorous voice, with which hesang and intoned his highly poetic lyrics. The group signed to Elektra Records in 1966 and
released its first album, The Doors, featuring thehit "Light My Fire," in 1967.
Like "Light My Fire," the debut album was a massive hit, and endures as one of the most exciting, groundbreaking recordings
of thepsychedelic era. Blending blues, classical, Eastern music, and pop into sinister but beguiling melodies, the band sounded
like no other. Withhis rich, chilling vocals and somber poetic visions, Morrison explored the depths of the darkest and most
thrilling aspects of the psychedelicexperience. Their first effort was so stellar, in fact, that the Doors were hard-pressed to
match it, and although their next few albumscontained a wealth of first-rate material, the group also began running up
against the limitations of their recklessly disturbing visions. Bytheir third album, they had exhausted their initial reservoir of
compositions, and some of the tracks they hurriedly devised to meet publicdemand were clearly inferior to, and imitative of,
their best early work.
On The Soft Parade, the group experimented with brass sections, with mixed results. Accused (without much merit) by much
of the rockunderground as pop sellouts, the group charged back hard with the final two albums they recorded with Morrison,
on which they drew uponstone-cold blues for much of their inspiration, especially on 1971's L.A. Woman.
From the start, the Doors' focus was the charismatic Morrison, who proved increasingly unstable over the group's brief
career. In 1969,Morrison was arrested for indecent exposure during a concert in Miami, an incident that nearly derailed the
band. Nevertheless, the Doorsmanaged to turn out a series of successful albums and singles through 1971, when, upon the
completion of L.A. Woman, Morrison decampedfor Paris. He died there, apparently of a drug overdose. The three surviving
Doors tried to carry on without him, but ultimately disbanded. Yetthe Doors' music and Morrison's legend continued to
fascinate succeeding generations of rock fans: In the mid-'80s, Morrison was as big astar as he'd been in the mid-'60s, and
Elektra has sold numerous quantities of the Doors' original albums plus reissues and releases of livematerial over the years,
while publishers have flooded bookstores with Doors and Morrison biographies. In 1991, director Oliver Stonemade The Doors,
a feature film about the group starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. « hide |
Similar Bands: Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix
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