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Strange Days

The Doors - Strange Days Audio CD

A fair review of the The Doors "Strange Days" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Doors reviews here, or go back to the The Doors tabs.

Band: The Doors
Title: Strange Days
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Strange Days 2: You're Lost Little Girl 3: Love Me Two Times 4: Unhappy Girl 5: Horse Latitudes 6: Moonlight Drive 7: People Are Strange 8: My Eyes Have Seen You 9: I Can't See Your Face in My Mind 10: When the Music's Over

Great follow-up to their first album
The one main difference with this album compared to their first album is that the band used a session bass player (string bass) instead of keyboard bass provided by Ray Manzarek. Strange Days is about as good of a follow up to their self-titled debut album as there can be. Also, the album wasn't recorded all live - that is, it wasn't recorded in just one session for each song, unlike their debut album, which was virtually all live recordings of each song in the studio in one session. Still, it retains much of the signature sound of their debut album. The Doors started to change their style a little bit after Strange Days. If you are new to The Doors' music and want what I consider to be one of their two 'psychadelic' albums (along with their debut album), then get Strange Days. Standout tracks include the title track, You're Lost Little Girl, Unhappy Girl, Moonlight Drive, My Eyes Have Seen You, I Can't See Your Face In My Mind, and When The Music's Over. A classic Doors album that is a must have for any fan.

An Opinion
I think other people do a fine job of that kind of review. I never spend time breaking down my take of each track and giving a deep psycho analysis of what each song means to me. I think that it is even legit to differ as to what one thinks a definition of a review is or should be. I simply give my opinion or my overall impression of the impact of a disc taken as a whole and I try not to look at each song as simply a cut from a compilation of individual tracks. If this is too simplistic, I do apologize up front. In the case of Strange Days, I read a good portion of the reviews and I echo all the good commentary to be found here. I wanted to "pile on" with a super 5 review so as to further diminish the effect of the pitiful few who just "don't get it" on this one. Morrison's lyrics had more impact and insight on Strange Days than on any other disc, but some of the shear energy in delivery that was so intense on the first album had diminsihed in the darkness of the mood. Otherwise Strange Days easily equaled the genius of "The Doors" and simply was a continuation on a theme of murky observations into the darkness of the mind.

The Doors were simply one of the 5 greatest bands that ever cut a record and one of only a handful that truly were unique with a sound so distinct that it can never be said that they sounded like any other. Having said that I will give my opinion as to where Strange Days falls in the order of Doors greatness. Order of appearance and quality: Doors (I can still feel the summer it came out), Strange Days (totally unique and erie), Waiting For The Sun and then Morrison Hotel. Waiting always gets panned, but for me it is close to their best and creates a mood that puts you right square in the center of the love generation. Strange Days is like an acid trip that leaves you stunned by the journey. With Hotel they simply get heavy and prove once and for all that their muscianship was equal to anything out there.

There is no such thing as a less than five star Doors disc at least not for the first five releases. Soft Parade (maybe). . . . ? LA Woman - I love it but to deny that Morrison was gasping at times would be a rough go. .

The very best of their oeurve
Many second albums are problematic because there was a lifetime to make the first, and 2 months in the midst of a tour to write and record the second. There are great Doors albums, but "Strange Days" is in a class by itself. "Strange Days" was helped by solid writing, musicianship and great production (including the graphics-the cover is beautiful). In retrospect, the songwriting combination was a one-two punch of Morrison and Kreiger. Guitarist Robbie Krieger, author of "Light My Fire" also wrote "Love Me Two Times" and other great gems. His symbiotic creative relationship with Morrison was bedrock for Doors material. All four of them made the tune into a track, hence the collective writing credit. I saw much of this album performed live in 1968. It was a great show. Great album. Incidentally, people ARE strange when you're a stranger, but you knew that.

Strange Days
Strange Days is simply one of the darkest and greatest albums in all of rock n' roll history. The Doors-Strange Days *****

Darker then the bands purple hued debut album could not be more true. The band came close with their debut but Strange Days is where The Doors sealed the deal as the greatest band in all of the psycadelic genre of rock n' roll. All bets were off when this was released no more then six months after their emphamous debut. Anything experimental was a must on this record. Paul Rothchilds amazing production is at its stunning best here. Strange Days sounds more like it was recorded in 1997 rather then in 1967. The sound is big and phenomonal musician ship sure helped out. Robby Krieger played some of the best guitar of his career, while John Densmore became more experimental on this album then the first, and Ray Manzerek laid down some outstanding keyboard playing here, proving he is in fact the king of the keyboards. Jim "The Lizard King" Morrison showcases some of his most powerful vocals here, and his lyrics are as we all know are amazing, a true poet in a rock gods body.

The album opens with the errie title track 'Strange Days' which is not only the perfect way to start the album, but also one of the bands very best songs. The dark keyboards set the stage for the rest of the album. 'You're Lost Little Girl' is very out there and a hard track to describe much less define, one that honestly has to be heard to appreciate. 'Love Me Two Times' as we all know is one of the greatest songs of all time. The guitar is phenomenal, and Morrisons vocals are top notch here. 'Unhappy Girl' is an amazing song. It some how manages to mesh the bright happy go lucky Beachboys/early Beatles/Supremes sound of the 1960's with a darker twist to make one of the bands most creative creations. 'Horse Latitudes' is mearly just a Morrison poem set to music. Mainly just spoken word, but makes for a very interesting track none the less. 'Moonlight Drive,' the very song Jim Morrison sung for Manzerek in hopes if getting him to start a band with himself. Some impressive slide guitar work from Krieger makes for one classic song. 'People Are Strange' is yet another rock n' roll classic. The movie "The Lost Boys" used the song as their theme. One of the most errie songs in all of rock n' roll and also one of the best. 'My Eyes Have Seen You' may be a bit repetitive but it is one of the very best songs the band ever did. The guitar is out of this world and Morrisons vocals are the best here that they are on the entire album. Fantastic song. 'I Cant See Your Face In My Mind' is the weakest song on the album, and really the only weak song on the album. It is just missing something. But still really not a bad song, just not memorable. 'When The Musics Over' is quite simply one of the very best songs ever written and recorded in all of music. . . ever! 'When The Musics Over' is to Strange Days what 'The End' was to the bands selftitled debut The Doors. Robby Krieger plays the best guitar of his career on this song, and the solo alone is worth every penny of the album cost. The lyrics are maybe Morrisons best. The whole band plays together as if they are on one eleven minute acid trip, which makes for an amazingly interestingly never boring yet very long song. The Doors couldnt have recorded a better song to end the album with. The song may be teh very best song to ever end a rock n' roll album.

The Doors was an amazing album, and L. A. Woman was better then that, but Strange Days is easily the singlegreatest thing The Doors ever recorded. Even if they had stayed together and Morrison had not went to the otherside, they might have come close but would have never topped this. Esentially one of the greatest albums in all of musical history, Stranges Days by The Doors is one of those albums that changed the world and is esential to every music collection along with Srg. Pepper, Kind Of Blue, Dark Side Of The Moon, Highway 61 Revisited, and Nevermind.

Good but uneven followup
There's solid stuff on it but it runs out of steam in the last three songs. After their maiden album that was so great, The Doors' Strange Days is not as strong as their first. The album's magnum opus (When the music's over) is too long for its own good.

Standout tracks:

-Strange Days.
-You're lost little girl.
-Love me two times.
-Unhappy girl.
-Moonlight drive.
-People are strange.

I give it four stars.
.

You can see a complete list of all The Doors discography, or go back to the The Doors tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.