As you can see from the extra members, this is a pretty extravagant album. Nearly every song features alot of brass instruments along with the psychedelic music of The Doors. The album as a whole sounds alot like it's name, ballady and extravagant. Perhaps the best example of this is in the title track, a multi-part musical extravaganza. There's a lot of experimenting going on in this album as well.
The album kicks off with the horn into of
Tell All the People. It sets the pace for the album, and gives you a good taste of what to expect, with all the horns and such.
Second is
Touch Me, probably the most recognizable song off of
The Soft Parade. More brass and a good overall vibe to the song. If you were going to check out just one song from this album, this would probably be the one to get.
Next comes the darker song,
Shaman's Blues. There's an interesting chromatic riff by what i think is the guitar. Though it does get alittle repetitive after a while. Still, it is one of the more memorable songs on the album.
Do It is kind of average, though it does have a cool bass heavy keyboard riff in it. The line "Please, please listen to the children" gets overused IMO. Overall it feels like filler.
Next is
Easy Ride, the most energetic, fast paced song on the album. Another filler sounding song again. The lyrics are probably about another one of Morrison's sexual experiences.
Wild Child comes in with a cool riff and an "alright", then a cool snare roll beat. Overall, this song is pretty groovy and a unique doors song. This is one of the only songs (along with Easy Ride) to not feature any brass at all, just the 4 members of the doors.
A little country solo singing and the return of the horns starts
Runnin' Blue. This is a country flavored song with some cool fiddle playing. The chorus is also sung by Robbie Krieger in a funny sounding country voice.
Wishful Sinful has a more ballady tone off the start than the other songs. It also features (what sounds like) a whole orchestra. The guitar sounds pleasant and everything comes together nicely to make a great song. This song reminds me of the Wizard of Oz and other older movies that feature huge orchestra soundtracks. It picks up towards the end with a double time snare kind of thing, if that makes sense.
To end the album, there is the extravagant title track,
The Soft Parade. It starts off with Morrison speaking about "petitioning the lord with prayer" and then leads into the main song. A clean guitar arpeggio sort of riff, then followed by a chromatic section, then leading into a trippy part that lasts the rest of the song. This seems like it would be a great song to trip out to, although i don't do that kind of thing.
Overall this album is alright, nothing spectacular coming from the Doors though. If you were looking to start your Doors collection, you should probably get the self-titled debut or LA Woman
3.5/5
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