The Doors Riders On The Storm/ Changeling (Elektra, EKM 45738, 1971)
Apparently (according to Ray Manzarek) this was the last song recorded by the members of The Doors with Jim Morrison. The single was released in 1971, shortly before Morrison's death, entering the charts on 3 July 1971, the day that Morrison died.
I have a very distinct memory of hearing this song for the first time. I was 14, waiting for my mother in the car outside an antique shop in Auckland when this song came on the radio. It was one of those moments of epiphany that come along from time to time. Something connected me to the song there and then.
In my head I immediately linked it to the Marvel comics character - The Silver Surfer. I don't know why (I was 14! Strange associations pop into my mind still) but I guess it was the rider/storm idea.
I didn't really consider the literal situation of the song - the killer on the road (I misheard this for years - thinking it was 'row' as in death row) and the sweet family who he'd kill - instead I was riding the cosmic storm as the Silver Surfer!
Being the teenage me - I also misheard those sound effects for years as well - I thought they were waves crashing on a beach!
The video below is the edited single version - some three minutes shorter than the album version. Just shows - if it's a great song it can stand up to rough treatment.
Hidden gem: The B side is also on LA Woman and not their strongest track - again - a worthy B side but nothing particularly special.
The Doors Love Her Madly/ (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further (Elektra, EKM 45726, 1971)
The Doors Wishful Sinful/ Who Scared You (Elektra, EK 45656, 1969)
Two contrasting singles from The (mighty) Doors (Of Perception) kick off the next hundred singles in my collection.
Love Her Madly is a terrific pop song. They could write nifty singles when they wanted to. Even though the lyrics are very basic, they are on the top of their game here.
Wishful Sinful is NOT a terrific pop song. I'm not exactly sure what they were attempting with this song. It's not rock and roll, there's no bluesy Doors sound going on here and it's not pop. A bizarre choice for a single. Sure enough it bombed!
Hidden gems: The two B sides are reasonably rare in the Doors discography in that they are two of only three B sides that did NOT appear on their current albums (I'm sure they've appeared on compilations since and what with the interweb/ Spotify/ Amazon/ itube etc they are no longer rare songs - a good AND a bad thing in my humble).
You Need Meat is a cover of a Willie Dixon song and is an okay version - you can't improve on Willie though so...
Who Scared You is a Morrison/Krieger song that didn't make the cut for The Soft Parade. Oh dear - not their best album is it? Who Scared You is actually a pretty choice cut and is much better than a lot of the stuff on the album. Some nice organ from Ray, some tasteful brass parts and a sinewy little riff propel the song forward. Unfortunately it's not a great vocal performance from Jim so that was that - it made a B side.
