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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Faces Come Out Of The Rain When You're Strange, February 26, 2006
Probably the best Doors CD available, remarkably fresh considering it was recorded nearly 40 years ago. Following up their debut album, Strange Days is moody, atmospheric, dark, and very well crafted. Morrison, vocals, and Manzarek, keyboards are really in synch here. The singing is wonderfully unpredictable, Morrison never seems to know what he'll do next. The lyrics are intentionally off base, sometimes bizarre, and the keyboards keep the groove together while the narrative twists and turns. Particularly welcome is the guitar playing of Robby Krieger, laying down that trademark, spacey, West coast sound - you can almost see the plumes of incense. Densmore is not a flashy drummer, but he's right where he needs to be, this is not stadium rock, it's actually closer to chamber music in sensibility. There are those who will not connect with Horse Latitudes, to them we simply say, at the time it was considered hip to mix poetry and music into a froth. For the rest, nothing but winners. The title track belongs in any best of the Doors grouping as do the spooky You're Lost Little Girl and the anthemic People Are Strange. Love Me Two Times definitely kicks, right there beside My Eyes Have Seen You. So many of these tracks build wonderfully, like Moonlight Drive which starts dreamy and ends with Morrison screaming in sinewy seduction. Of the closer what could possibly be said except, When The Review's Over, Turn Off The Lights, Turn Off The Lights.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless Music., June 6, 2002
"Strange Days" is one of the great rock albums of all time. It is The Doors' second best album and fittingly, it was released right after their greatest LP of all time, their debut effort "The Doors." It features some of the band's most timeless music and a few of their most popular songs. If "The Doors" contained the exhilarating fever and emotion of the band as seen in songs like "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire," then "Strange Days" is a trip down the darker realms of poetry and melody that have made the band so enduring to this day. The opening song, "Strange Days," is visceral, hypnotic and contains some of Jim Morrison's darkest, strangest and disturbing lyrics and vocals. The echo effect and Ray Manzarek's organ give the song an atmospheric quality that makes this one of the band's all-time greatest tracks. This is also the record that contains "Moonlight Drive," the song Manzarek says Morrison first sang to him on a California beach and convinced him of their musical possibilities. It is a dreamy tune, with wonderful, poetic lyrics and Robby Krieger playing some of his trademark slide guitar. One of the gems here is undeniably "People Are Strange," it is one of The Doors' most popular songs and surely one of their best. It is wonderfully melodic and alluring and perfectly sets the mood for what it is about. Today, even more than in the 60s, it perfectly captures the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Recently Goth bands like Nosferatu and more alternative artists like Stina Nordenstam have recorded this song, but it is never more captivating or even disturbing than when Morrison is singing it. Another classic here is "Love Me Two Times." It is one of the band's best blues songs and one of their funnest jams with some of Robby Krieger's best lyrics and inventive guitar playing. Aerosmith has done a roaring cover but this is THE version of course. The masterpiece though, is "When The Music's Over." This song is a true rock epic, it expanded The Doors' experimentation with extended tracks as they did with "The End" and is just as captivating as that other classic. "When The Music's Over" is visceral and Morrison really comes off here in his poet, prophet, genius persona. Here we find the immortal yell: "We want the world and we want it...NOW!" "Strange Days" is an example of truly timeless modern music, it shows why The Doors transcend cultures and generations. It embodies why this band remains one of the most influential bands in not just rock but popular culture as a whole as well. It contains the melodies that have sprouted current movements like the Goth Rock groups and Industrial bands. Jim Morrison never lived to see the impact he left on rock music for all time, but he left us songs that are truly classical in that they will endure and keep touching people. Here is one of the masterpieces of theatric, artistic and visceral music.
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Essential Doors Album!, March 17, 2002
I've yet to hear a Doors album I didn't like. That said, I enjoy "Strange Days" above any other Doors work, including the multiple "Best Of" compilations that have been released throughout the years.This is one of those rare works where both the music and the lyrics stay powerful from the first track to the last. We hear several wonderful pieces familiar to the casual Doors listener like "Love Me Two Times," and "Moonlight Drive." But the rest of the album isn't just filler. This is one tight and clear selection of tunes that all had potential to be hits. "Horse Latitudes" is a brief but chilling narration by Jim Morrison, and "My Eyes Have Seen You" is --in my opinion-- the most overlooked songs in the Doors repetoire. This song has a surreal flowing beat and dreamy lyrics that gives that personifies that psychedelic flavor that The Doors are known for. Many feel the songs on "Strange Days" are some of The Doors' darkest imagery. I can understand why they feel that way; but there is such a gentle flow to the music that I actually find soothing, with "Horse Latitudes" being the only pure haunting Guajardian piece on the album. This album is surreal in parts and sweet in others. This CD is one of the most complete albums I have ever heard.
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