“When the Music's Over” by The Doors

"When the Music's Over" sprawls across 11 minutes of Strange Days, the Doors' second album, put out by Elektra in 1967, and it's the band at its most ritualistic. They had been working it up on stage at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles in the middle of 1966, before any label had signed them, stretching and reshaping it night after night until it grew into the long, dark rite on the record.

Paul A. Rothchild produced, and Jim Morrison insisted they cut it live in the studio with no overdubs, so what you hear is the whole band caught in the act at once, the music hushing, swelling and erupting like weather. John Densmore later said he had to take a deep breath before starting it. It stayed a stage showpiece, turning up on Live at the Hollywood Bowl and the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 recording.

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