Richard Gardner

One of my favourite Door’s albums (along with the other five), Waiting For the Sun managed to overcome “third album syndrome” with a burst of creative maturity that cemented the band’s status as one of the most successful experimental bands of the sixties (or any other decade). It sparkles with energy, reveals some of their tenderest work and presented them both with their only number one album, and first chart topping single (Hello, I Love You).

Many bands suffer with their third album: they are normally signed with enough material for two albums, and then have to write fresh songs whilst touring and in the studio. Here, though, The Doors come across as confident and exuberant as ever. Morrison’s voice still has a warm, summery chime (precipitating the later-grizzled, whisky-house laments of LA Woman) but he now commands his lyrics far more majestically, a subtle shift in development away from the uncontrolled passions of his youth. The creative output is as strong as ever, and, whilst still scouring the darker sides of Morrison’s poetical consciousness, the band manage to retain the breezy summer-rock feel that distinguishes them from some of their more indulgent contemporaries.

The album was supposed to draw out with another dark epic (based on the poem, Celebration of the Lizard, of which, on this special edition, a 17-minute demo is included), though only the musical centrepiece of this (the pulsating, and harrowing, Not To Touch the Earth) was deemed fit for release. Other dark matters include: The Unknown Solider (a powerful anti-Vietnam statement, that manages to persuade through a combination of fragile subtlety and brute force) and Spanish Caravan (a stormy and subversive demonstration of Robby Keriger’s flamenco roots). To counter these shadows, Love Street (a whimsical serenade for Morrison’s lover Pamela Courson), and Wintertime Love (simply a heart-warming love song in the vein of Wishful Sinful), give us two of The Door’s most beautiful works. Hello I Love You, the albums opener, is a vibrant pop-song that was written much earlier than the rest of the material here, and it does show. The other four tracks are fun and functional (Summers Almost Gone and We Could Be So Good Together), or quirky and poetical (My Wild Love and The River Knows) little curiosities that punctuate the summery storms.

You can’t really go wrong with Waiting For the Sun, it gives you a full-blooded taste of The Doors performing in their prime and is as unique and impassioned as any of their work. It’s charming and challenging in equal measure, but always manages to raise your goosebumps and is one of my favourite “I need to sit down” albums…

Buy it on amazon.co.uk
Waiting for the Sun: Remastered & Expanded