The Doors

Released

The Doors had the instrumentation of a soul-jazz group (organ, guitar, drums), and their bluesy garage rock could swing surprisingly hard, but frontman Jim Morrison’s priapic-poet persona was the key that unlocked it all: his baritone yowl made his lyrics sound better than they were. The band’s debut album is their masterpiece, ranging from the hard-charging opener, “Break On Through (To the Other Side),” to the baroque pop of “Light My Fire” and the theater-kid earnestness of “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar),” and Morrison basically invents white blues-rock singing (Humble Pie, Free, Cactus, et al.) on their version of Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man.” The nearly 12-minute closer, “The End,” is bafflingly indulgent, but it’s hypnotic, too, and the actual music is brilliant, constantly shifting to follow Morrison’s dramatic exhortations.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Live/Dead cover

Live/Dead

Grateful Dead
The Gilded Palace of Sin cover

The Gilded Palace of Sin

The Flying Burrito Brothers
Stone the Crows cover

Stone the Crows

Stone the Crows
Before the Dream Faded cover

Before the Dream Faded

The Misunderstood
Candy-O cover

Candy-O

The Cars
Winning cover

Winning

Russ Ballard
Third cover

Third

Aqua Nebula Oscillator
The Soft Bulletin cover

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips