Strange Days
	Produced by Paul A. Rothchild
	Released on October 1967
	US CHART POSITION #3 . . . GOLD RECORD (1/12/68), PLATINUM (11/15/01)
	Find it at GEMM
EKS-74014 cover [hi, resolution photo]

S trange thing is, The Doors actually had a sense of humor. It hits you when the band nonchalantly shifts from “Horse Latitudes” to “Moonlight Drive,” and you realize you’ve been had. It’s not shamanism or gory Greek tragedy come to life, it’s just four guys trying to push the limits of what the listener can experience through music. The intensity of their debut is used sparingly here: “Love Me Two Times” and “When The Music’s Over” are the two tracks that most recall the unbearably hot blues-rock of their first record. Otherwise it’s a playful album, which is nowhere more apparent than in Robby Krieger’s guitar playing. Krieger supplants Manzarek as the main musical force, perhaps because the omnipresent organ that became so inextricably linked with The Doors’ sound on their first album is often replaced by piano this time around. Robby has always been the joker in The Doors’ deck, the perfect foil to Morrison’s deadpan readings, the jester at the right hand of the king. But Krieger “got” what The Doors were trying to do; that opening explosion of guitar on “When The Music’s Over” is as scary as anything Manzarek or Morrison conjured (and the guitar solo in the middle is strikingly Fripp-like). Some fans were put off by the musicality of Strange Days, something that came to the fore even more on Waiting For The Sun. These fans wanted to hear Morrison invoke inner demons, burn through women like a raging fire, take them to the edge of the world and threaten to leave them there only to gently guide them home. You don’t really get that with Strange Days. “People Are Strange” and “Strange Days” are observational rather than incantatory. And a few of the tracks are simply forgettable, such as “My Eyes Have Seen You” and “I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind.” Taken in toto, it’s classic Doors, but that’s sort of like calling a Led Zeppelin album a classic Led Zeppelin album. They’re all classics up to a point.

EKS-74014 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. STRANGE DAYS    3:05
2. YOU'RE LOST LITTLE GIRL    3:01
3. LOVE ME TWO TIMES    3:23
4. UNHAPPY GIRL    2:00
5. HORSE LATITUDES    1:30
6. MOONLIGHT DRIVE    3:00
7. PEOPLE ARE STRANGE    2:10
8. MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOU    2:22
9. I CAN'T SEE YOUR FACE IN MY MIND    3:18
10. WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER    11:00
    
    All selections written and arranged by The Doors

CREDITS

JOHN DENSMORE -- drums
ROBBY KRIEGER -- guitar
RAY MANZAREK -- keyboards and marimba
JIM MORRISON -- vocals
Douglas Lubahn -- occasional bass
Jac Holzman -- production supervisor
Bruce Botnick -- audio engineer
Joel Brodsky -- cover photography
William S. Harvey -- cover concept & art direction

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