Waiting for the Sun (Remastered) The Doors

• 1 Hello, I Love You 02:40
• 2 Love Street 02:56
• 3 Not To Touch The Earth 04:00
• 4 Summer's Almost Gone 03:22
• 5 Wintertime Love 01:56
• 6 The Unknown Soldier 03:27
• 7 Spanish Caravan 03:02
• 8 My Wild Love 03:01
• 9 We Could Be So Good Together 02:23
• 10 Yes, The River Knows 02:42
• 11 Five To One 04:27
• Total Runtime 33:56

Info for Waiting for the Sun (Remastered)

One night recently the Mothers were performing 'Plastic People Louie Louie' when Frank Zappa stumbled onto the monologue that graces 'The End' ('he took a face from the ancient gallery and he walked on down the hall ...'). It was terribly funny, and it was nice to see Zappa go through the Morrison changes with an utter lack of seriousness, if only because Morrison himself could use some levity occasionally. Listening to the new Doors' album, Waiting For The Sun, reminded me of Zappa and also how good the first Doors album was; yet after a year and a half of Jim Morrison's posturing one might logically hope for some sort of musical growth, and if the new record isn't really terrible, it isn't particularly exciting either.

The group, as always, is tight: Manzarek does some nice things on keyboards and Krieger acquits himself quite capably on guitar; the rhythm section (particularly Densmore) leaves something to be desired in the way of swing, but at least everybody is together. The album's songs vacillate between the trivial and the neo-Freudian, reaching in some cases new depths as far as lyrics go: 'Summer's almost gone, summer's almost gone, we had some good times, but they're gone ...' But the real problem is Morrison, for the Doors have come to be structured around him: there are no extended solos to speak of, which is a pity considering Manzarek's not inconsiderable skill. On this album Morrison doesn't seem to sing as well as on the first Doors' release, but more important is his lack of subtlety: as S. Leon Sultan has pointed out, 'The Unknown Soldier' is about on a par with Eric Burden's 'Sky Pilot.'

There are of course some good tracks: 'Spanish Caravan' features some beautiful Krieger classical guitar work, and is well-arranged; 'Not to Touch the Earth' (part of a longer 'theater piece,' 'The Celebration of the Lizard') also has its moments, and in spite of its lyrics the music to 'Summer's Almost Gone' is highly evocative, with Krieger's slippery bottle-neck guitar effectively embellishing the song. 'Hello, I Love You' and 'We Could Be So Good Together' are pretty thin fare, while the marriage of Morrison with the work song ('My Wild Love') is somewhat awkward. There is some nice Manzarek harpsichord on 'Wintertime Love' (a waltz), but nothing of real substance, and (in case anyone wondered) Morrison shows on 'Yes, the River Knows' that he is incapable of sustaining a ballad. Then there is the album's 'hard' rhythm and blues number, 'Five to One,' where Morrison manages to sound like a combination of Barry Melton, Wolfman Jack and Conway Twitty while the rhythm section chugs through the changes.

Waiting for the Sun is a respectable, if unimpressive, third album; it at least represents an advance over Strange Days (which had the knack of sounding like the first Doors album, not only as good). Nevertheless the Doors are not a particularly exciting hard rock band and Morrison is something like rock music's equivalent to Rod McKuen. Whether all this adds up to the praise that has been heaped on the Doors in some circles is open to question. As for the music, great rock it isn't — but then Morrison is supposedly our generation's sex symbol. Anyway the cover is pretty. (Jim Miller, Rolling Stone)

Jim Morrison, vocals
Robby Krieger, guitars
Ray Manzarek, organ & piano
John Densmore, drums

Guests:
Douglas Lubahn, bass
Kerry Magness, bass (Track 6)
Leroy Vinnegar, acoustic bass (Track 7)

Produced by Paul A. Rothchild
Mastered by Bruce Botnick & The Doors

Digitally remastered.

With an intoxicating, genre-blending sound, provocative and uncompromising songs, and the mesmerizing power of singer Jim Morrison's poetry and presence, The Doors had a transformative impact not only on popular music but on popular culture.

The Doors' arrival on the rock scene in 1967 marked not only the start of a string of hit singles and albums that would become stone classics, but also of something much bigger - a new and deeper relationship between creators and audience. Refusing to be mere entertainers, the Los Angeles quartet relentlessly challenged, confronted and inspired their fans, leaping headfirst into the heart of darkness while other bands warbled about peace and love. Though they've had scores of imitators, there's never been another band quite like them. And 40 years after their debut album, The Doors' music and legacy are more influential than ever before.

Morrison's mystical command of the frontman role may be the iconic heart of The Doors, but the group's extraordinary power would hardly have been possible without the virtuosic keyboard tapestries of Ray Manzarek, the gritty, expressive fretwork of guitarist Robby Krieger and the supple, dynamically rich grooves of drummer John Densmore. From baroque art-rock to jazz-infused pop to gutbucket blues, the band's instrumental triad could navigate any musical territory with aplomb - and all three contributed mightily as songwriters.

The group was born when Morrison and Manzarek - who'd met at UCLA's film school - met again, unexpectedly, on the beach in Venice, CA, during the summer of 1965. Though he'd never intended to be a singer, Morrison was invited to join Manzarek's group Rick and the Ravens on the strength of his poetry. Krieger and Densmore, who’d played together in the band Psychedelic Rangers, were recruited soon thereafter; though several bassists auditioned of the new collective, none could furnish the bottom end as effectively as Manzarek's left hand. Taking their name from Aldous Huxley's psychotropic monograph The Doors of Perception, the band signed to Elektra Records following a now-legendary gig at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip.

Their eponymous first album, released in January 1967, kicked off with "Break on Through (to the Other Side)" and also featured the chart smash "Light My Fire", the scorching "Back Door Man" and the visionary masterpiece "The End". The Doors arrived fully formed, capable of rocking the pop charts and the avant-garde with one staggering disc. Before '67 was over, they'd issued the ambitious follow-up Strange Days, with such gems as "Love Me Two Times", "People Are Strange" and "When the Music's Over".

Next came 1968's Waiting for the Sun, boasting "Hello, I Love You", "Love Street" and "Five to One". Over the next few years they minded over new territory on such albums as 1969's The Soft Parade (featuring "Touch Me" and "Tell All the People"), 1970's Morrison Hotel (which includes "Roadhouse Blues", "Peace Frog" and "Queen of the Highway") and 1971's L.A. Woman (boasting "Rider's on the Storm", "Love Her Madly" and the title track).

They released six studio albums in all, as well as a live album and a compilation, before Morrison's death in 1971. their electrifying achievements in the studio and onstage were unmatched in the annals of rock; and though Morrison's death meant the end of an era, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore collaborated on two more original Doors albums, Other Voices and Full Circle, and a set of tracks they composed to accompany Morrison's 1969 recording of his poetry, released in 1978 as An American Prayer. They also pursued individual music projects, books, theatrical productions and other enterprises - and remain restlessly creative to this day.

In the decades since the Doors' heyday, the foursome has loomed ever larger in the pantheon of rock - and they remain a touchstone of insurrectionary culture for writers, activists, visual artists and other creative communities. Their songs, featured in an ever-increasing number of films, TV shows, video games and remixes, always sound uncannily contemporary. No matter how the musical and cultural tides turn, The Doors will always be ready to help a new wave of listeners break on through to the other side. (Source: jam inc.)

This album contains no booklet.