L.A. Woman Massillon OH

L.A. Woman

The Doors

Elektra, 1971

REVIEW BY: Benjamin Ray

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/30/2004

He lived uptown, downtown, and all around, until he was founddead in a bathtub in Paris. Thus ended the legend of Jim Morrison,the last great casualty of the '60s free love/drug movement.

How fitting, then, that his adieu to the world was a bluesalbum, showing the Doors' love for their American roots and theirabandonment of the psychedelic culture they helped create andpersonify.

L.A. Woman is 49 minutes of blues, rock and pop, with only ahint of artsy flourish. It is probably the only Doors album thatcan be listened to on its own merits and not with the aid ofsubstances or in a larger context (such as "Music of the 60s: JustHow Creative and F***ed Up it Sometimes Was").

'The Changeling" is the best blues song here, with a chuggingrhythm that gives credit to Robbie Krieger, John Densmore and therevolving door of bass players. "Love Her Madly" is a perfect popsong, short and to the point but full of hooks and a cool guitarriff. The other blues songs are decent, but lacking the soul of theoriginals or the brilliant white-boy spin Stevie Ray Vaughan orJimmy Page could add.