The Doors – L.A. Woman (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2021) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

The final album with Jim Morrison in the lineup is by far their most blues-oriented, and the singer’s poetic ardor is undiminished, though his voice sounds increasingly worn and craggy on some numbers. Actually, some of the straight blues items sound kind of turgid, but that’s more than made up for by several cuts that rate among their finest and most disturbing work. The seven-minute title track was a car-cruising classic that celebrated both the glamour and seediness of Los Angeles; the other long cut, the brooding, jazzy “Riders on the Storm,” was the group at its most melodic and ominous. It and the far bouncier “Love Her Madly” were hit singles, and “The Changeling” and “L’America” count as some of their better little-heeded album tracks. An uneven but worthy finale from the original quartet.

The last work from the Doors before their frontman’s fatal overdose in the summer of 1971 in Paris, L.A. Woman, recorded at the end of 1970 over six days at the Doors’ rehearsal spot in the Santa Monica Boulevard Workshop, shows a band at the top of their game. Jim Morrison, whose voice had thickened, was singing like a god and Ray Manzarek was setting his keyboards on fire. The title track L.A. Woman itself is another stunning tour de force, a blues cavalcade that verges on trance… Once again, it’s the blues that sets the tone here (a magnificent cover of John Lee Hooker’s Crawling King Snake). It’s a blues that is so clearly unique to the Doors: atmospheric, poisonous. The legendary Riders on the Storm closes out this final record, with its organic rhythm that’s in step with nature—you can hear the rain falling and the storm rumbling. This song remains the most beautiful ballad: an oddity whose power reverberates across the history of rock, across fashions and across eras. To celebrate its half-century, the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of L.A. Woman is out in a new remaster, done by their favourite sound engineer, Bruce Botnick. It also sports numerous bonus features. These include alternative takes and demos, such as one for Riders on the Storm, which specialists had believed to be lost forever. Also included in this orgy of unreleased material is a demo of Hyacinth House recorded in Robby Krieger’s home studio in 1969, and alternative versions of covers by Junior Parker (Mystery Train), John Lee Hooker (Crawling King Snake), Big Joe Williams (Baby Please Don’t Go) and Lee Dorsey (Get Out of My Life Woman). – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:
CD1
01. The Changeling (2021 Remaster)
02. Love Her Madly (2021 Remaster)
03. Been Down So Long (2021 Remaster)
04. Cars Hiss By My Window (2021 Remaster)
05. L.A. Woman (2021 Remaster)
06. L’America (2021 Remaster)
07. Hyacinth House (2021 Remaster)
08. Crawling King Snake (2021 Remaster)
09. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) [2021 Remaster]
10. Riders On The Storm (2021 Remaster)
11. Hyacinth House (Demo) [2021 Remaster]
12. Riders On the Storm (Sunset Sound Demo)

CD2
01. The Changeling (Pt. 1) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
02. Love Her Madly (Pt. 1) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
03. Riders On The Storm (L.A. Woman Sessions)
04. L.A. Woman (Pt. 1) [L.A. Woman Sessions]

CD3
01. L.A. Woman, Pt. 2 (L.A. Woman Sessions)
02. She Smells So Nice (L.A. Woman Sessions)
03. Rock Me Baby (L.A. Woman Sessions)
04. Mr. Mojo Risin’ (L.A. Woman Sessions)
05. Baby Please Don’t Go (L.A. Woman Sessions)
06. L.A. Woman (Pt. 2) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
07. Been Down So Long (Pt. 1) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
08. Get Out Of My Life Woman (L.A. Woman Sessions)
09. Crawling King Snake (L.A. Woman Sessions)
10. The Bastard Son Of Jimmy & Mama Reed (Cars Hiss By My Window) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
11. Been Down So Long (Pt. 2) [L.A. Woman Sessions]
12. Mystery Train (L.A. Woman Sessions)
13. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) [L.A. Woman Sessions]

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