Fifty years ago today (January 4), The Doors released their self-titled debut album.
The lineup that recorded the album, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, had been together since 1965 and had actually been signed to Columbia Records but, when the company couldn’t provide a producer for their first album, they were released, heading over to Elektra.
The four went into Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood for six days, from August 24 to 31, 1966, with producer Paul A. Rothchild and laid down the eleven tracks for the album which included some of the band’s best-known songs including Light My Fire, Break On Through (to the Other Side), The Crystal Ship and The End. Bassist Larry Knechtel was the only other musician to play on the set of Light My Fire and three other tracks.
The album ended up being a big hit, reaching number 2 on the Billboard 200 and has since been awarded five-times platinum, was number 42 on the list of the greatest albums by Rolling Stone, and has been placed in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry.
On March 31, Rhino will release a 40th-anniversary edition with a stereo version, a mono version and the third disc with April 7, 1967, show at San Francisco’s The Matrix. The latter is a brand new version of the show that, for the first time, has been mastered from the original tapes.
The vinyl version includes the mono version of the album.
The track list:
Disc 1 (Stereo version)
Break On Through (to the Other Side)
Soul Kitchen
The Crystal Ship
Twentieth Century Fox
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
Light My Fire
Back Door Man
I Looked At You
End of the Night
Take It As It Comes
The End
Disc 2 (Mono Version)
Break On Through (to the Other Side)
Soul Kitchen
The Crystal Ship
Twentieth Century Fox
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
Light My Fire
Back Door Man
I Looked At You
End of the Night
Take It As It Comes
The End
Disc 3 (Live at the Matrix, San Francisco, 4/7/1967)
Break On Through (to the Other Side)
Soul Kitchen
The Crystal Ship
Twentieth Century Fox
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
Light My Fire
Back Door Man
The End
