So why is The Doors’ Waiting for the Sun on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
One of my earliest exposures to The Doors was by way of seeing the Oliver Stone-directed movie, The Doors, in the theater in 1991.
I clearly recall that I had mixed feelings about the movie itself – a sentiment that hasn’t changed to this day (more on this below) – but the music crept under my skin, fused with my DNA, and I was a fan for life.
I mention the movie because there’s a part where it’s referenced that “Hello, I love You,” one of the band’s most popular and remembered songs, is a sign that The Doors have sold out and are on the decline.
While I’m okay with arguing that the band’s first two albums are their best (you’ll note for example that they, along with LA Woman, The Doors’ final studio release, have not yet made an appearance on the best 1,000 albums ever), it’s preposterous to assert that “Hello, I Love You” represents any kind of “decline.”
In fact, I see it as a quintessential late ‘60s psychedelic rock classic, swinging and boisterous and slightly dark and sultry in the way that The Doors uniquely excel at.
While The Doors were largely political much more in spirit than in messaging, both “The Unknown Soldier” and “Five to One” are the band’s most overtly political statements. “The Unknown Soldier” is strange and beautiful statement, told from the viewpoint of living in the United States while trying to comprehend how soldiers are getting killed and maimed half a world away.
Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead
Bullet strikes the helmet’s head
And it’s all over
For the unknown soldier
On a slightly embarrassing note, I used to blast the song after I’d get through a major test or finals while in school, particularly the it’s all over, the war is over section. I just thought it was cool, okay?
All right, it’s more than a little embarrassing, fine.
Waiting for the Sun is arguably The Doors’ rangiest album, because we also get songs like the flamenco-flavored “Spanish Caravan,” and the gentle and gorgeous “Yes, the River Knows.”
Again, on a slightly embarrassing note, I’ll credit “Spanish Caravan” for helping to instill in me a wanderlust and desire to travel – along with novels like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road – and I will also admit that I joyfully listened to that song on repeat while staring out the window during an overnight train ride from Paris to Madrid after living in England for six months during the late ‘90s.
“We Could Be So Good Together” is one of the very best deep cuts in The Doors’ catalog. It’s slinky and groovy and has a slight yet surprising vaudevillian vibe to it somehow.
How great is Manzarek’s work on the organ keys on this one?
And then there’s the gloriously haunting and slightly psychedelic pairing of “Summer’s Almost Gone” and “Wintertime Love.”
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The Doors’ Waiting for the Sun
Okay, here’s some more thoughts about The Doors movie, if you’re interested.
Val Kilmer’s performance as Jim Morrison is astonishing. He completely embodies Morrison’s look, his strange and ever present somewhat stoned-to very drunk vibe, and even his voice.
Some of the concert scenes are incredibly exciting and fun. It’s the closest that I’ll ever get to attending a Morrison-fronted Doors live show.*
* I did get to see Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger perform with Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell standing in for Morrison at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood some years back, which was quite a thrill.
But overall, The Doors movie is one big bum out, I’m afraid to say – particularly its dreary, montage-y second half that follows Morrison’s descent into alcoholism, culminating of course in one of the most infamous “rock star deaths” of all time in Paris in 1971.
Then, if you’re a Doors superfan-meets-nerd like I am, there are also the embellishments to get annoyed about. For example, in the movie, The Doors’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is treated like a chaotic mess, but the actual footage of the performance looks as crisp and professional as could be.
It’s a shame, really, as there are those great pieces. I think that much more could have been done too with the talented supporting cast of Kyle MacLachlan as Manzarek, Kevin Dillon as Densmore, Frank Whaley as Krieger, and Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson.
Some stats & info about The Doors – Waiting for the Sun
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, SoCal Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Waiting for the Sun released? 1968
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #99 out of 1,000
The Doors’ Waiting for the Sun on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Doors’ Waiting for the Sun that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Hello, I love you, won’t you tell me your name?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.