Singer Jim Morrison belongs to the club of rock legends who passed away at the age of twenty-seven. When he died in 1971, he left behind with The Doors an oeuvre of six albums, the last of which, LA Woman, was released shortly before his death. A year earlier, the group members had decided to stop performing because the stage behavior of their singer had become too unpredictable. They retired to
… the rehearsal room / studio to work on LA Woman in peace. Their old love for blues music in particular returned. Morrison also regained his inspiration in blues songs such as Crawling King Snake (John Lee Hooker) and Been Down So Long. Jazzy undertones can be heard in The Wasp (Texas Radio And The Big Beat), Love Her Madly and Riders On The Storm. In the latter, something of the psychedelics can still be heard from earlier work, but this didn't stop ex-producer Paul Rothchild from accusing the group of making cocktail music. Perhaps his departure gave the album a dry and rootsy sound that also fitted in nicely with the zeitgeist. With the title track running like an imaginary car ride as the highlight, LA Woman is a classic rock album with which The Doors shake off the sixties with verve. (MR)more
