Morrison Hotel by The Doors

Morrison Hotel, the Doors' fifth album, came out on Elektra in 1970, and after the horns and strings Paul Rothchild had draped over The Soft Parade, it's the sound of the band getting back down to the blues. They started cutting it at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles in November 1969 and split it into two titled sides, "Hard Rock Cafe" and "Morrison Hotel".

Jim Morrison sounds like he's been living in the roadhouse he's singing about, Robby Krieger's guitar grinds and stings, Ray Manzarek's keyboards roll like barrelhouse piano and John Densmore keeps it swinging, with Lonnie Mack and Ray Neapolitan sitting in on bass. "Roadhouse Blues" kicks the door down, "Peace Frog" slinks along on a restless groove, and the whole thing was greeted as a return to form. It reached number four in America and number 12 in Britain, their best UK showing for a studio album, and Henry Diltz shot the cover.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.