Morrison Hotel

I continue my sporadic look at albums that turned 50 this year with Morrison Hotel, the Doors fifth and penultimate album. Some think it's their best album, certainly an improvement on their previous one, The Soft Parade, which included brass and strings.

Morrison Hotel was a return to their bluesy, hard rock beginnings. It kicks off with "Roadhouse Blues," which sets the tone: "Keep your eyes on the road and your hand upon the wheel," and a killer bassline by session bassist Lonnie Mack. 

The second track, "Waiting For The Sun," is also hard rock, but with a tinge of psychedelia, courtesy Robbie Krieger's distinctive guitar and Morrison's cryptic lyrics:

"At first flash of Eden 

We raced down to the sea 

Standing there on freedom's shore"

There isn't a clinker on the record, but those are the best songs, along with another classic rock staple, "Peace Frog," which calls to mind the violence of the late '60s:

"There's blood in the streets it's up to my ankles 

Blood in the streets it's up to my knee 

Blood in the streets in the town of Chicago 

Blood on the rise it's following me"

In addition to those striking lyrics, the song pulsates with energy. It makes you want to get up and do something

I never owned this album, so the other songs were unfamiliar to me. I was most struck by "The Spy," which is thought to be Morrison writing about the rocky relationship with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. It contains the lines, "I'm a spy in the house of love," and "I know your deepest secret fear," which I'm sure no women would like to hear from her lover, especially Morrison, who sings it like some sort of demon.

A bit of trivia: the back cover features a photo of a dive called The Hard Rock Cafe. It no longer exists, but the name was pinched by the otherwise unrelated Hard Rock Cafe and its over-priced food.