L.A. Woman

L.A. Woman is the sixth studio album by the American rock band the Doors, and was released on April 19, 1971 on Elektra Records (see 1971 in music). The album was the last to feature the group's lead singer, Jim Morrison, who unexpectedly died at the age of 27 three months after the album's release. It saw the band continue to integrate elements of blues back into their music, a direction that they had begun with their previous album, Morrison Hotel. In addition, it saw long-time record producer Paul A. Rothchild depart, after a fallout over the band's performance in the studio. After his departure, the band would co-produce the album with sound engineer, Bruce Botnick.

Upon release, the album peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 and reached number 28 on the UK Albums Charts It was preceded by "Love Her Madly" single in March 1971, which reached the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100. An additional single in support of the album, "Riders on the Storm", was also released to success on the Billboard singles charts, and managed to chart in the UK Singles Chart. Music critics Richie Unterberger and David Quantick have both noted that L.A. Woman is arguably one of the Doors' best albums, citing Morrison's unwavering enthusiasm in his vocal performance, and the band's stripped-down return to their blues rock roots.

L.A. Woman (song)

"L.A. Woman" is a song by American rock band The Doors. The song is the title track on their 1971 album L.A. Woman, the final album to feature Jim Morrison before his death on 3 July 1971.

In the song's bridge, Morrison repeats the phrase "Mr. Mojo Risin'," which is an anagram of "Jim Morrison".

The song was recorded at The Doors Workshop on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, between December 1970 and January 1971. Morrison recorded his vocal part in the bathroom of the makeshift studio due to the room's natural reverb. Marc Benno was a second guitarist on the session, Jerry Scheff played electric bass guitar.

The 40th Anniversary edition of the album version begins with a guitar riff of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".

Video

In 1985, 14 years after Morrison's death, Ray Manzarek directed a music video for the song. It was aired on MTV and included in the Doors film Dance on Fire.

Lyrics

A yellow sheet of lined A4 paper with the lyrics of "L.A. Woman" written by Jim Morrison, was auctioned in Berkshire, UK for £13,000 on Aug 4, 2009.

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The band got its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which itself was a reference to a quote made by William Blake, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." They were unique and among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, mostly because of Morrison's lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death on 3 July 1971 at age 27, the remaining members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973.

Signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors released eight albums between 1967 and 1971. All but one hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum or better. Their self-titled debut album (1967) was their first in a series of Top 10 albums in the United States, followed by Strange Days (also 1967), Waiting for the Sun (1968), The Soft Parade (1969), Morrison Hotel (1970), Absolutely Live (1970) and L.A. Woman (1971), with 20 Gold, 14 Platinum, and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone. By the end of 1971, it was reported that the Doors had sold 4,190,457 albums domestically and 7,750,642 singles. The band had three million-selling singles in the U.S. with "Light My Fire", "Hello, I Love You" and "Touch Me". After Morrison's death in 1971, the surviving trio released two albums Other Voices and Full Circle with Manzarek and Krieger sharing lead vocals. The three members also collaborated on the spoken-word recording of Morrison's An American Prayer in 1978 and on the "Orange County Suite" for a 1997 boxed set. Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited in 2000 for an episode of VH1's "Storytellers" and subsequently recorded Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors with a variety of vocalists.

The Doors (film)

The Doors is a 1991 American biographical film about the 1960-70s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson (Morrison's companion). The film features Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger, Kevin Dillon as John Densmore, and Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy.

The film portrays Morrison as the larger-than-life icon of 1960s rock and roll, counterculture, and the drug-using free love hippie lifestyle. But the depiction goes beyond the iconic: his alcoholism, interest in the spiritual plane and hallucinogenic drugs as entheogens, and, particularly, his growing obsession with death are threads which weave in and out of the film. The film was not well received by his band mates, close friends, and family, due to its depiction of Morrison.

Plot

The film opens during the recording of Jim's An American Prayer and quickly moves to a childhood memory of his family driving along a desert highway in 1949, where a young Jim sees an elderly Native American dying by the roadside. In 1965, Jim arrives in California and is assimilated into the Venice Beach culture. During his film school days studying at UCLA, he meets his future girlfriend Pamela Courson, and has his first encounters with Ray Manzarek, as well as the rest of the people who would go on to form the Doors, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.

The Doors (soundtrack)

The Doors: Original Soundtrack Recording is the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's 1991 film The Doors. It contains The Doors studio recordings, The Velvet Underground's "Heroin" as well as Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. None of Val Kilmer's performances of the Doors songs that are featured in the movie are included in the soundtrack.

Cover

The cover for the album is of Jim Morrison's character portrayed by Val Kilmer. It is a photo of Kilmer looking straight in the camera's lens. His face is in black and white and his hair has the color of burning flames, it is the same effect created on the movie's posters and advertising material.

The French release of the soundtrack features Jim Morrison walking in a hallway towards the viewer, he's also portrayed by Kilmer, and the photograph was also part of the advertising material especially in France.

Track listing

All songs are performed by The Doors and written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, except where noted.