L.A.Woman: Remembering The Doors' Final Album Fronted by Jim Morrison
On this day 50 years ago, The Doors' monumental last album with Jim Morrison was certified Gold in America. Released on April 18th in 1971, L.A.Woman became the band's fifth consecutive album to receive the accreditation amidst the tragedy of Morrison's passing in July the same year.
The beginnings of L.A.Woman were rocky. The band's long-time producer Paul Rothchild delivered a bleak verdict on the recordings, deriding 'Riders on the Storm' as 'cocktail music' and 'Love Her Madly' as the final straw that drove him from the studio. It fell to engineer Bruce Botnick to mix the album that went on to immediate critical and commercial success with its first two singles, 'Love Her Madly' and 'Riders on the Storm', both ranking high on the Billboard charts.
It was the rawness of the recordings made in The Doors' rehearsal room that gave the album its power. Band members Robby Krieger and John Densmore both described a sense of liberation as the group returned to recording tracks almost entirely as live performances. Sometimes recorded in an adjoining bathroom for additional resonance, Morrison's voice alternates between soft and thunderous, bringing bare emotion to melodies and lyrics that live on and continue to inspire.
Genesis continues to celebrate the life and legacy of Jim Morrison in this commemorative year, and is honoured to publish
A GUIDE TO THE LABYRINTH in close collaboration with his Estate. This special edition includes an extensive collection of Morrison's poems and lyrics in their original, handwritten format. As well as two replica notebooks exclusively featured in the boxed set, the main volume reproduces previously unseen photographs of The Doors recording L.A.Woman, four sheets of Morrison's handwritten lyrics to the album's title track, as well as 'Riders on the Storm', 'The WASP', 'Cars Hiss by My Window', 'L'America', and much, much more.
To read more about
A Guide to the Labyrinth, and to pre-order your copy,
click here.
