L.A. Woman is the sixth studio album by The Doors, and the last recorded with lead singer Jim Morrison, who died in July 1971, less than 3 months after the albums release. Its style signified a return to blues, following in the footsteps of Morrison Hotel. L.A. Woman has remained one of the bands most pivotal and popular albums. It allowed Jim Morrison to express his old blues man personality as it gave him the freedom to sing the blues music that he was influenced by as a child, including musicians such as Howlin Wolf and John Lee Hooker. It has sold over 14.5 million copies; Following the departure of their record producer Paul A. Rothchild (who, contrary to popular myth, loved Riders on the Storm but dismissed the groups differing style on Love Her Madly as cocktail music) around November 1970, the band fell in to a state of depression and Jim Morrison was obviously bored with Sunset Sound, the studio in which their first two albums were recorded. The song The Changeling was a tribute to James Brown. Bruce Botnick, their engineer, suggested they record at the Doors workshop. He and the band began production on the album at The Doors Workshop in Los Angeles. Most of the tracks were recorded live, except for a few overdubbed keyboard parts by Ray Manzarek. Morrison recorded his singing in the studios bathroom to get a fuller sound. Elvis Presleys bass player Jerry Scheff was brought in to play bass on the album, and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno was brought in so that Robbie Krieger could focus on playing lead guitar during live takes. Botnick later produced and mixed a new 5.1 Surround version of the album, which was released on DVD-Audio on December 19, 2000. It was produced from the original eight-track analog 1 master tapes. Early LP editions of the album were uniquely packaged: the albums cover was die-cut to remove a near-rectangular piece of it, with a sheet of transparent plastic on which the cover photo of the Doors was printed, glued in place in its stead. Later pressings featured a conventional cover without the die-cut hole and plastic window, and with the group photo printed on the cover itself. Release and reception[edit] Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 4.5/5 stars Robert Christgau (A-) Rolling Stone (favorable) The Rolling Stone Record Guide 5/5 stars Slant 3.5/5 stars The Doors embarked on a tour before completing the album, although it would only comprise two dates. The first was held in Dallas, Texas on December 11, 1970 and reportedly went well. The second performance took place at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12, where Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. John Densmore recalls the incident in his biography Riders on the Storm, where after the show he met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. By the time the album was released in April 1971, Morrison had moved to Paris, France, where he died three months later, on July 3, 1971. In 2003, L.A. Woman was ranked #364 on Rolling Stone magazines list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.........D J DR. ED
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 21:44:55 +0000