The Doors and Morrison Hotel

I feel crummy today. It's probably just the combination of stress and allergies and cold weather. Let's do another pair of records.

The Doors are explicitly "the doors of perception," so it's no surprise they are a radical, countercultural, philosophical behemoth of psychedelic blues rock. They are also one of the very few completely consistent bands i can think of: their entire discography is one gigantic album in my head. They are a lot like Creedence Clearwater Revival in that way; there's no question about whether it's The Doors or not, it is.

Even if you wanted to argue that their debut album and their 5th album are stylistically/sonically different, you can't really say the band "evolved." It's all there from the start, and what you're really noticing is the evolution of recording techniques/equipment/personnel, and the inevitable smoothing out of everything by the chronological passage of time. Any particular song could have been on any particular album.

But since we can't really break free from the chronology of time, we're stuck with thinking that they morphed from a self indulgent psych-rock cadre into moderately unstable rock 'n roll royalty. Yet, no matter which album you're listening to, it's a fact that it sounds better with your eyes closed and your head tilted slightly backward.

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