Josiah Reynolds's Album Reviews
L.A. Woman is certainly their bluesiest album; a sound the band all had interest in playing from the start, but had never fully embraced on a full LP. The Doors' previous album, Morrison Hotel, was their furthest dig into the blues, but with songs like 'Been Down So Long', 'Cars Hiss By My Window' and 'Crawling King Snake', the band pay worthy homage to their heroes, proving that they were a band born to play the blues.
Songs like the funky 'The Changeling' and the perfect road trip song, 'L.A. Woman', are rock classics. 'L'America' and the iconic 'Riders on the Storm' echo their famous psychedelic sound, providing an eeriness to the album, but are really only hints at the trippy sound they were once inseparable from in image. The relentlessly groovy, largely spoken word 'The WASP' is a personal highlight, and 'Hyacinth House', while nothing particularly impressive all by itself, is nonetheless a solid song that works better within the context of the album as a more laidback track than most songs on here - even despite its paranoid lyrics.
This is surely one of the greats when it comes to well produced rock albums, too. It has fantastic clarity without sounding clean or anaemic. The Doors always sounded brilliant, but this is their ultimate album for those who particularly fancy hi-fi.
L.A. Woman is one of those rare, perfect swan-song albums. It really couldn't be a better send off to Jim Morrison and the full line-up of The Doors. It's a real tragedy that we lost Morrison so early, but this is one hell of a send-off to a supreme talent.
-9.5/10
Songs like the funky 'The Changeling' and the perfect road trip song, 'L.A. Woman', are rock classics. 'L'America' and the iconic 'Riders on the Storm' echo their famous psychedelic sound, providing an eeriness to the album, but are really only hints at the trippy sound they were once inseparable from in image. The relentlessly groovy, largely spoken word 'The WASP' is a personal highlight, and 'Hyacinth House', while nothing particularly impressive all by itself, is nonetheless a solid song that works better within the context of the album as a more laidback track than most songs on here - even despite its paranoid lyrics.
This is surely one of the greats when it comes to well produced rock albums, too. It has fantastic clarity without sounding clean or anaemic. The Doors always sounded brilliant, but this is their ultimate album for those who particularly fancy hi-fi.
L.A. Woman is one of those rare, perfect swan-song albums. It really couldn't be a better send off to Jim Morrison and the full line-up of The Doors. It's a real tragedy that we lost Morrison so early, but this is one hell of a send-off to a supreme talent.
-9.5/10
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