Track Listing

1. Roadhouse Blues
2. Waiting For The Sun
3. You Make Me Real
4. Peace Frog
5. Blue Sunday
6. Ship Of Fools
7. Land Ho
8. Spy, The
9. Queen Of The Highway
10. Indian Summer
11. Maggie M'Gill

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14686 in Music
• Released on: 1988-08-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .18 pounds

CD Description
Feted first as underground heroes, then reviled as teeny-bop stars, the Doors threw off such conundrums with this magnificent release. MORRISON HOTEL reaffirmed their blues roots,stripping away some of the psychedelia of their early releases and the orchestral ambitions that weighted albums like THE SOFT PARADE. The opener, the powerful "Roadhouse Blues", is a case in point. Based on a classic blues riff, structure, and theme ("Let it roll, baby, roll/All night long"), the song is elemental and hard driving.
The album then unfolds through a succession of songs showcasing all the group members' considerable strengths. Distinctively tight instrumental playing underscores memorable material, while Jim Morrison's authoritative vocals range from the demonstrative ("Maggie McGill") to the evocative and melancholic ("The Spy"). Though the band harks back to their tingling '60s sound on "Waiting for the Sun" and "Queen of the Highway", the album's best moments, like the politically minded boogie "Peace Frog", wed edgy rock to the band's highbrow vision. MORRISON HOTEL returned the band to critical favour, and was, overall, their strongest effort since STRANGE DAYS.

Customer Reviews

The Doors finally get back to their blues and jazz roots
After a couple of albums that were more noted for hit singles that smacked too much of pop music for their fans, namely 1968's "Waiting for the Sun" with "Hello, I Love You" and 1969's "The Soft Parade" with "Touch Me," the Doors got back to their roots with "Morrison Hotel." This is clear from the opening track on this 1970 album, the rock 'n' booze anthem "Roadhouse Blues," which blasts this album into the stratosphere. Robbie Krieger's opening riff sets the tone and Ray Manzarek pounds away on the piano to establish the mood, with the whole thing capped off by Jim Morrison's vocalized howls. You can hear live versions of "Roadhouse Blues," but unfortunately none of them were ever performed in the perfect locale, which would have been a bar. But you can imagine how great it would sound to hear this one blasting the top off of some juke joint.

There are not any hit singles on the group's fifth studio album, which is undoubtedly why it went over better with the fans of the Doors, even if it only made it to #4 on the Billboard album charts. To help validate the blues the Doors brought in the great sessions jazz guitarist Ray Neopolitan, albeit as a bass player (the Doors never really bothered with one). The requisite touch of the exotic can be found in songs like "Waiting for the Sun," "Queen of the Highway," and "Indian Summer." Morrison, who was noticeably disengaged in terms of both his lyrics and his singing on previous albums, is back to waxing poetic big time, as evidenced by "Ship of Fools," which mixes nihilistic imagery with prospects for hope. Again, Morrison is found commenting on the counterculture, singing about how "Everyone was hanging out/Hanging up and hanging down/Hanging in and holding fast." Musically the instrumental break is where the group gets to indulge in some showmanship where the emphasis is decidedly on jazz and no longer on pop.

The other great track is "Peace Frog," which comments on the "Blood in the streets," but is more notable for Morrison's musings on an episode from his childhood in some of his most searing imagery (e.g., "Indians scattered on dawn's highway, bleeding to death") and poetic (e.g., "Blood is the rose of mysterious union"). Again, Krieger and Manzarek provide the appropriate musical accompaniment to the verbal images of cultural unrest as the end of the turbulent Sixties being thrown out by Morrison. The Doors often commented on what was happening in the streets without ever offering a solution, and this song is one of their best efforts in that regard. One final track of note remains, and that would be the slow blues tune "The Spy," simply because its music, if not its lyrics (e.g., "I know the word that you long to hear/I know your deepest, secret fear"), anticipates the last great Doors song to come on their final album, "L.A. Woman."

I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer
Amazingly, Morrison Hotel marked a return to form for the Doors - and what a return to form! Gone the brass of the Soft Parade and the psychedelia of Strange Days, replaced by a ballsy, raw, bluesy sound. And Morrison's voice had gained depth and soul - the upside of heavy smoking?. There isn't a duff song here. Roadhouse Blues is the textbook road song - and full of classic quotes. Ship of Fools, Land Ho, Maggie M'Gill all plough a similar bluesy furrow. But other songs conjure other moods, take Blue Sunday and Indian Summer for example. These are soft, atmospheric songs. Indian Summer sounds different too because it was recorded four years earlier in 1966 during the recording sessions for the first album. Notice the difference in Morrison's voice!

"The future's uncertain and the end is always near"
Even though I'm a big Doors fan, I still haven't heard The Soft Parade, which apparently isn't too good. This album was the follow up, and an almighty effort it was too. The powerful opener "Roadhouse Blues" is fantastic and became a popular live song for the band to perform (one of which is heard on "The Best Of" album). "Waiting For The Sun" is equally as unique and powerfull, with surreal noises eminating from the background as Morrison croons lovingly over the top. "You Make Me Real" is another classic Doors song, but it's the truly funky "Peace Frog" that keeps things rolling nicely. One of their most controversial songs it indeed is, and at mid-point in the song Jim breaks out into a poem - "Ghosts shroud the children's fragile egg shell minds". The song eases nicely onto the next track "Blue Sunday" without the listener noticing, which is a clever technique for the early 70s. Another highlight of the album is the soothing "Indian Summer", which really could have been made longer (it stands at only two minutes and a bit). It seems strange that Morrison missed the opportunity to make another epic, but in the end it just shows their brilliance by being able to produce epics, or be remarkably concise. "The Spy" uses blues as its roots, hinting at what would come in their stunning final album (as the original four piece) "L.A. Woman". Morrison Hotel isn't perfect, though. "Land Ho" is just plain corny and "Maggie 'M'Gill", whilst interesting, is not really worthy of a second listen. On the whole, a strong album that returns the four members to their absolute best, well, almost anyway.