1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 179. The Doors – Morrison Hotel (1970)

 

Having mentioned in the last album the pretentions of White Man Blues, this album opens with what it has to be said is a bit of a barnstorming White Man Blues song, Roadhouse Blues. I think it helps that Jim Morrison exudes a kind of dirty charm through his voice and so can carry off a slightly rougher sounding blues. The album closes with a bit of a blues rock stomp as well, with Maggie M’Gill.

This is a much harder album than The Doors, with more focus on hard drum and bass overlaid with grungy guitar, with Ray Manzarek’s keyboards much less prominent in the mix. And although blues rock predominates, it dips into all kinds of musical genres. Indian Summer is probably the most akin to earlier Doors, sounding a little like a truncated version of The End while You Make Me Real is a good old fashioned rock and roll track and Land Ho! is almost a rock sea shanty.

Musically my favourite is probably the funky Peace Frog, which is like a Happy Mondays song. If Dimery is choosing the 1970 albums to highlight different responses to the end of the hippy movement, this is borne out by this track, with its fade out chant about blood in the streets. While the other Morrison, Van, chose to find domestic bliss and peace in nature, Jim by contrast descends into cynicism, also seen in the track Ship of Fools. Morrison, J., is by this time getting steaming drunk before going on stage while Morrison, V., has put that behind him. That said, some of the tracks are about love as well, but dark – The Spy about possessive jealousy, for example. There’s a tinge of the misogyny of the Stones’ Aftermath about it all.

I think I liked this one better than the debut album, even though (or perhaps because) there were no tracks on here I’d heard before. It’s quite earthy and dirty, and perhaps it’s because it stands in contrast to the previous two albums, that you wouldn’t mind your granny hearing, that made me appreciate it more than if I’d heard it in isolation, or amid other blues-rock albums. Oh, and I’ve just noticed what the next two albums are, talking of complete contrasts….