The Doors’ final album with Jim Morrison (he died three months after it landed in stores, and they made two more without him that you’ve never heard) dives even deeper into the blues than its predecessor, 1970’s Morrison Hotel, did; their version of John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake” is dark and theatrical-in-a-good-way, and “The Changeling” and “Been Down So Long” strut and snarl. But the two seven-minute-plus side-enders, “Riders On The Storm” and the title track, show the band (and keyboardist Ray Manzarek in particular) at its best, simmering and seething and occasionally rousing themselves for a headlong charge, staring into the abyss and, when it stares back, giving it the finger.

– Phil Freeman