Search - Doors :: Waiting for the Sun

Strange as it sounds, this would be the "mellow" Doors album

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 04/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Waiting for the Sun," all things considered, represents the softer side of the doors. Just come the difference in tone of both the music and the lyrics of "Light My Fire," the first song most people remember hearing by the Doors, and "Hello, I Love You," the hit single off of this third album. For the most part "Waiting for the Sun" was something of a disappointment after the first two albums, but whereas "The Doors" hit #2 on the Billboard charts and "Strange Days" made it to #3, this one made it all the way to #1. Go figure, boys and girls. But in the end this might be a lesser album by the Doors but it still has its moments.



The word that really describes the difference between this album and the rest of the Doors' oeuvre is, believe or not, "mellow." Listen to the rock ballads "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes the River Knows" and you will quickly get the point. Jim Morrison's lyrics for "Love Street" are pretty autobiographical in terms of his budding romance with Pamela Courson and fans can still check out some of the locations alluded to in the song, which is a lot less expensive than going on a pilgrimage to Paris to see Morrison's grave.



But while mellow might be a dominant element it is the eerie sounding song "The Unknown Solider," with its anti-war lyrics, that is the standout piece on the album. I am always amazed this song is only 3:10 long because it has so many parts that you think it goes on longer: Ray Manzarack provides a spooky organ intro (the man is one of my top three organ players of all-time in rock 'n' roll), the first verse has jazz elements, there is a firing squad in the middle, then the verse repeats in more of a rock style, and the song ends with the sounds of celebration. This was not a prominent anti-war song, but it is hard to find one this literate or musically ambitious.



"Hello, I Love You" was the hit single, but I always found it rather bland for a Doors song and at odds with pretty much everything else they did. The explanation is that this song actually predates their self-titled debut album, so there is a reason it sounds so outdated and out of place (face it, this is a pop song). I like Robby Krieger's flamenco guitar on "Spanish Caravan" and that song a lot more. "Not to Touch the Earth" is part of the legendary uncompleted work "The Celebration of the Lizard," and the final track "Five to One," driven by John Densmore's drumming, has some interesting lyrics attacking the flower children for failing to organize into a political power. With the heavy guitar and organ playing this last song is decidedly not in the mellow mode. The mix is a bit unsettling, but just proves the point that there is always something worth listening to on a Door's album."