Label: Audio Fidelity (US), AFZ 037
Style: Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: Los Angeles, California
Time: 45:30
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 275 Mb
Charts:
US #4, AUS #4, CAN #3, FRA #32, NLD #6, NOR #13, UK #12. SWI, AUT and
UK: Gold; US, CAN, FRA, POL and SPA: Platinum; AUS: 2x Platinum.
Morrison
Hotel opens with a powerful blast of raw funk called "Roadhouse Blues."
It features jagged barrelhouse piano, fierce guitar, and one of the
most convincing raunchy vocals Jim Morrison has ever recorded. This
angry hard rock is that at which the Doors have always excelled, and
given us so seldom, and this track is one of their very best ever, with
brooding lyrics that ring chillingly, true: "I woke up this morning and I
got myself a beer/The future’s uncertain and the end is always near."
From
there on out, though, the road runs mainly downhill. It’s really a
shame, too, because somehow one held high expectations for this album
and wanted so badly to believe it would be good that one was afraid to
listen to it when it was finally released. The music bogs down in the
kind of love mush and mechanical, stereotyped rock arrangements that
have marred so much of the Doors’ past music. "Blue Sunday" and "Indian
Summer" are two more insipidly "lyrical" pieces crooned in Morrison’s
most saccharine Hoagy Carmichael style. "Maggie M’Gill" is a monotonous
progression in the vein of (but not nearly as interesting as) "Not to
Touch the Earth," and "You Make Me Real" is a thyroid burst of
manufactured energy worthy of a thousand mediocre groups.
Admittedly,
these are the worst tracks, and the rest ranges from the merely
listenable to the harsh brilliance of "Roadhouse Blues" or the buoyant
catchiness of "Land Ho!", a chanty that sets you rocking and swaying on
first listen and never fails to bring a smile every time it’s repeated.
This
could have been a fine album; but the unavoidable truth - and this
seems to be an insurmountable problem for the Doors - is that so much of
it is out of the same extremely worn cloth as the songs on all their
other albums. It’s impossible to judge it outside the context of the
rest of their work. Robbie Kreiger’s slithery guitar, and Manzarek’s
carnival-calliope organ work and whorehouse piano are the perfect
complement to Morrison’s rococo visions. But we’ve all been there
before, not a few times, and their well of resources has proven a
standing lake which is slowly drying up. Perhaps if they recombined into
a different group the brilliant promise of the Doors’ first album and
sporadic songs since might begin to be fulfilled, but for now they can
only be truly recommended to those with a personal interest.
(rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/morrison-hotel-123765/)
Review by Lester Bangs (December 14, 1948 - April 30, 1982). April 30,
1970
01. Roadhouse Blues (04:02)
02. Waiting For The Sun (03:57)
03. You Make Me Real (02:51)
04. Peace Frog (02:48)
05. Blue Sunday (02:11)
06. Ship Of Fools (03:10)
07. Land Ho! (04:08)
08. The Spy (04:14)
09. Queen Of The Highway (02:45)
10. Indian Summer (02:34)
11. Maggie M'Gill (04:33)
12. Roadhouse Blues (40th Anniversary Remix) (Bonus Track) (04:09)
13. Waiting For The Sun (40th Anniversary Remix) (Bonus Track) (04:02)
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