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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Of The Doors, January 7, 2003
The Doors were--and are--one of rock's greatest bands, with a unique sound all of their own. Flamboyant frontman Jim Morrison may have been the face & image of the group, but these guys always worked together like a classy four-headed machine to produce some of rock's greatest music. Picking a favorite Doors album is hard---even the criticized "Soft Parade" album has got some terrific Doors gems on it. But 1968's "Waiting For The Sun" is my personal favorite from The Doors. It's a great Doors classic that sees the band masterfully walking the tightrope between the hard rockers and the softer ballads. For their third album, singer Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger & drummer John Densmore decided to go for an earthier, softer sound on some of the tracks, which lends this Doors album an extra kind of beauty. Even Jim Morrison himself sounds more down-to-earth on this album, as his vocals on the first two Doors albums were very echoey, making him sound like he was a disembodied spirit, or recording his vocals inside a cave. Not that there's anything wrong with that---I love "The Doors" & "Strange Days"--- but Jim sounded on those first two albums like he was always floating in the clouds above his three musical co-horts. But on "Waiting For The Sun," Jim's voice is warmer, not so echoey, and on definite equal footing in the mix with his bandmates, which is a plus.Great Doors songs are everywhere on "Waiting For The Sun"---the huge hit "Hello I Love You," the beautiful "Love Street," the bizarre "Not To Touch The Earth" (an extract from an even longer Doors composition, "The Return Of The Lizard King," found on the live "In Concert" CD), the haunting "My Wild Love," and other Doors classics like "The Unknown Soldier," "Spanish Caravan," and the terrific rocker, "Five To One." Say what you want about Jim Morrison's strange lyrics & poetry, but give the man some credit---this guy definitely had a way with words, AND he had a monster voice & presence to match. He was the quintessential rock singer, and he is greatly missed. Ray Manzarek can stroke the keyboards like no one else on Earth (and NO ONE plays the organ as brilliantly as he does). Robby Krieger is a mean guitarist, serving up some incredibly memorable licks, and John Densmore is one of rock's finest drummers, whether slamming his drumkit like a man posessed, or just kicking back with a steady beat. I suppose "Waiting For The Sun" is also my favorite Doors album because it captures the band right smack in the middle of their lifespan, with two albums behind them and three more to go, and with so much life left in them as a great musical force. They rocked all the way to the end, in fact, right up until Morrison took his leave of planet Earth. But "Waiting For The Sun" is, I think, the band's masterpiece. It's an amazing Doors album filled with variety, feeling, and tremendous power. Pick it up! :-)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creativity at Its Finest, June 22, 2004
The depth and insight of this music on these tracks are unprecedented. Robby Krieger's distinct sound that he has established as his own on the guitar in these songs, is like no others. When he plays his rhytmn/lead parts you can tell he is one of the greats. No wonder that in 1993 "The Doors" were inducted into the "Rock N Roll Hall of Fame"!!
His phrasing and finesse'that he releases here is from the soul and heart. For him to continually come up with something new and fresh is nothing short of genius! And for the band as a whole to create this masterpiece that is still flying off the shelves at your local record stores after more than 30 years speaks loud and clear to the critics of the past and present.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I hate to say it but this is the "mellow" album by the Doors, October 14, 2004
"Waiting for the Sun," all things considered, represents the softer side of the doors. Just come the difference in tone of both the music and the lyrics of "Light My Fire," the first song most people remember hearing by the Doors, and "Hello, I Love You," the hit single off of this third album. For the most part "Waiting for the Sun" was something of a disappointment after the first two albums, but whereas "The Doors" hit #2 on the Billboard charts and "Strange Days" made it to #3, this one made it all the way to #1. Go figure, boys and girls. But in the end this might be a lesser album by the Doors but it still has its moments.
The word that really describes the difference between this album and the rest of the Doors' oeuvre is, believe or not, "mellow." Listen to the rock ballads "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes the River Knows" and you will quickly get the point. Jim Morrison's lyrics for "Love Street" are pretty autobiographical in terms of his budding romance with Pamela Courson and fans can still check out some of the locations alluded to in the song, which is a lot less expensive than going on a pilgrimage to Paris to see Morrison's grave.
But while mellow might be a dominant element it is the eerie sounding song "The Unknown Solider," with its anti-war lyrics, that is the standout piece on the album. I am always amazed this song is only 3:10 long because it has so many parts that you think it goes on longer: Ray Manzarack provides a spooky organ intro (the man is one of my top three organ players of all-time in rock 'n' roll), the first verse has jazz elements, there is a firing squad in the middle, then the verse repeats in more of a rock style, and the song ends with the sounds of celebration. This was not a prominent anti-war song, but it is hard to find one this literate or musically ambitious.
"Hello, I Love You" was the hit single, but I always found it rather bland for a Doors song and at odds with pretty much everything else they did. The explanation is that this song actually predates their self-titled debut album, so there is a reason it sounds so outdated and out of place (face it, this is a pop song). I like Robby Krieger's flamenco guitar on "Spanish Caravan" and that song a lot more. "Not to Touch the Earth" is part of the legendary uncompleted work "The Celebration of the Lizard," and the final track "Five to One," driven by John Densmore's drumming, has some interesting lyrics attacking the flower children for failing to organize into a political power. With the heavy guitar and organ playing this last song is decidedly not in the mellow mode. The mix is a bit unsettling, but just proves the point that there is always something worth listening to on a Door's album.
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