Lord Lucan
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The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 16:58
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Just wondering if this might have happened to others round here...
When I was a teenage stoner I loved The Doors. Then at some point in my late twenties I just found them embarrassing, especially Morrisson's lyrics. It just sounded like bad sixth form poetry to me and I stopped listening for a decade or so. But prompted by hearing a couple of Doors songs on radio or when out and about last year I started listening to them again and it's all clicked again. Maybe it's distance or something, but Morrisson no longer makes me cringe, and I'm getting more out of them than I ever did. It's not nostalgia either. I feel like I'm getting into them on a some different level now. Quite possibly the symptom of a mid-life crisis, I suppose. But I'm glad I've given them another go because it really is like discovering them all over again.
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Moon Cat
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:07
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Revolving Doors?
I think that happens quite a lot for folk with various artists. I wonder if it's partly as you get older you just learn to enjoy things more for what they are rather then seek to perhaps over-actively emply one's "hard won" critical faculties? You know, I think a lot of hard core music lovers have this "I'm a student of music" phase and apply one's 'learned' stringent criteria to everything. I'm sure too, regardless of how "I am I'm ME" you are, a certain amount of cred worry comes into it at certain points. I don't mean to imply there's a loss of critical ability as such, but one of the few things about getting older (IMO) is the joy of liking something and not giving a fuck as to the reasons why.
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zerkalo
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:10
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It's never been about his lyrics for me to be honest, as that voice and their music has always been transcendent as far as I'm concerned. I think if I started to concentrate too much on the lyrical content (like most things) I'd start to find fault, but I can honestly say they are one of the few musical constants throughout my life and probably the biggest influence (along with Bowie) on the other bands and music I've hunted down over the years, never tire of any of their albums.
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keith a
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:28
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Love 'em. Well the first two albums anyway. Moonlight Drive? Aw...fabulous track. It's about time they were revered like they used to be.
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Lawrence
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:30
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I think the reason I like Morrison is the same reason I like to read Stephen King. I mean, if you were to let the most superficial writing of both stand by itself it wouldn't hold up. But then it's all in the subjects that both touch upon, or I suppose... Of course Morrison was a phenomenal performer, which helps.
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Moon Cat
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:31
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Agreed. It's the tunes first for me with the doors and the overall sounds. To be honest, it's the tunes first and if the lyrics are amazing, bonus!, with most bands/artists I like. I've got pretty low expectations of lyrics with a lot of bands and lets face it, Owapbapalooma awap bam boo may not exactly be Shakespeare, but it makes sense to me!
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Lord Lucan
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Edited Jul 16, 2010, 17:50
Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:48
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Like you, lyrics are rarely important to me and I much prefer the misheard lyric phenomenon to poring over lyric sheets, but with Morrisson the lyrics did jump out, because to a teenager they really do connect, in a similar way that Morrissey's lyrics did for me. But generally I always preferred the Liz Frazer approach of lyrics being just audio colour.
But with The Doors it's not that I've risen above what I perceived as sixth-form poetry over 10 years ago: I'm actively enjoying his lyrics again. I think it might be that I used to hear them literally line by line, but now approach them more as an impressionistic whole which manages to become hugely evocative in a way no-one else can do.
And I used to find Ray Manzarak's keyboard sounds a bit naff too, but am totally over that now.
Like Moon Cat says, now I'm older there could be a bit of can't-be-arsed-ness as far as peer opinion goes. They're just fucking quality. And hearing Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek interviewed on BBC6 the other day was great. They're great guys with a great sense of humour about themselves and a huge tendency to still express themselves things in a cosmic, psychedelic way. Loved their open discussion of LSD popping. A great thing to hear whilst at work!
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zerkalo
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:50
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Lawrence wrote: Of course Morrison was a phenomenal performer, which helps.
he'd certainly be at the top of my list of greatest rock frontmen of all-time
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zphage
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 17:50
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Been enjoying Doors NYC Felt Forum set
I agree with the others about rediscovering
the mystery of their music
after too much over exposure
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The Sea Cat
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Re: The Doors
Jul 16, 2010, 18:04
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Their first two albums are essentiall for me. Absolute classics. There's a lot of songs afterwards that are great, but album wise, those two are IT, for me. I think their Live At The Matrix is wonderful as well, you can here them still in the shadows and playing a lot of the material already written for those two milestones to come. Essential for any lover of the early raw dark psych mystic wonder of The Doors.
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