Record #140: The Doors – L.A. Woman (1971)

The Doors never returned to the jammy, poetic, psychedelic jazz rock of their first two albums, which is a true shame (this is said with complete ignorance to their post-Morrison catalogue).

The band would never jam together like they did on The End or When The Music’s Over or Light My Fire. Jim Morrison would never play the shaman again. LA Woman, released just a few months before Morrison’s death, is widely regarded as the blues-rockiest in the Doors canon. But, perhaps due to being recorded live, it’s much more inspired than Morrison Hotel, with a few excellent cuts, such as the title track and the closer, Riders on the Storm, which is far and above the best thing they recorded in the second half of their career. The rest of the album never achieves that same level of greatness, but there’s difference enough between the tracks to keep it from getting stale. All in all, it’s not Strange Days, but it’s not Morrison Hotel either.