Strange Days was recorded during tour breaks betwixt May together with August 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders inwards Hollywood (the same studio equally their outset LP). In contrast to the 1966 sessions, producer Paul A. Rothchild together with engineer Bruce Botnick employed a cutting-edge 8-track recording machine. The protracted sessions allowed the band to experiment inwards the studio together with farther augment their otherworldly audio alongside odd instrumentation together with sonic manipulation; developed alongside the assistance of Paul Beaver, the championship rails constitutes 1 of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer inwards rock. On the Morrison poetry form "Horse Latitudes", Botnick took the white dissonance of a tape recorder together with varied the speed past times hand-winding it (resulting inwards a audio akin to wind) equally the iv band members played a diversity of instruments inwards odd ways. Further varispeed was thus employed to exercise dissimilar timbres together with effects.
Much similar their debut album, Strange Days features several moody, authentically odd songs, although some critics experience it does non quite fit upwardly to its stellar predecessor. In his AllMusic review of the album, Richie Unterberger notes, "Many of the songs on Strange Days had been written roughly the same fourth dimension equally the ones that appeared on The Doors, together with alongside hindsight 1 has the feel that the best of the batch had already been cherry picked for the debut album. For that reason, the band's 2nd travail isn't equally consistently stunning equally their debut, though overall it's a really successful continuation of the themes of their classic album." Two of the album's songs ("My Eyes Have Seen You" together with "Moonlight Drive") had been demoed inwards 1965 at Trans World Pacific Studios earlier Krieger joined the group; indeed, the latter had been conceived past times Morrison prior to his fateful reunion alongside Manzarek inwards the summertime of 1965. Although the vocal was attempted twice during the sessions for the band's debut, both versions were deemed unsatisfactory. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive"'s defining features were its slightly off-beat musical rhythm together with Krieger's bottleneck guitar, which exercise an eerie sound.
The LP's outset single, "People Are Strange", was composed inwards early on 1967 afterward Krieger, drummer John Densmore, together with a depressed Morrison had walked to the operate past times of Laurel Canyon. Densmore recalled the song's writing procedure inwards his mass Riders on the Storm. Densmore together with Krieger, who had thus been roommates, were visited past times a dejected Morrison, who was acting "deeply depressed." At the proposition of Densmore, they took a walk along Laurel Canyon. Morrison returned from the walk "euphoric" alongside the early on lyrics of "People Are Strange".
Although Morrison was the Doors' original lyricist, Robby Krieger wrote several of the groups hitting singles (the outset vocal the guitarist always wrote was "Light My Fire"), including the bluesy "Love Me Two Times". According to band members, the vocal was virtually a soldier/sailor on his in conclusion twenty-four lx minutes menstruation alongside his girl earlier transportation out, ostensibly to war. Manzarek described the vocal equally "Robby's non bad blues/rock classic virtually lust together with lost, or multiple orgasms, I'm non certain which." In 1997, Krieger stated to Guitar World's Alan Paul that the musical thought for "Love Me Two Times" came from a lick from a Danny Kalb album. Manzarek played the concluding version of this vocal on a harpsichord, non a clavichord. Manzarek described the musical instrument equally "a most elegant musical instrument that 1 does non usually associate alongside stone together with roll." It was edited to a 2:37 length together with released equally the 2nd unmarried (after "People Are Strange") from that album, together with reached No. 25 on the charts inwards the US. "Love Me Two Times" was considered to last somewhat risqué for radio airplay, beingness banned inwards New Haven for beingness "too controversial," much to the dismay of the band.
The album concludes alongside an eleven minute-long epic, "When the Music's Over."
The album comprehend of Strange Days, photographed past times Joel Brodsky, depicts a grouping of street performers inwards New York. The place of the photograph is at Sniffen Court, a residential alley off of East 36th Street betwixt Lexington together with Third Avenue inwards Manhattan. The availability of such performers pictured was low, thus Brodsky's assistant stood inwards equally a juggler piece a random cab driver was paid $5 to pose playing the trumpet. Twin dwarfs were hired, alongside 1 appearing on the front end comprehend together with 1 appearing on the dorsum cover, which is the other one-half of the same photograph on the front end cover. However, a grouping shot of the band does look on a poster inwards the background of both covers, bearing captions of the band together with album name. (The same photograph previously appeared on the dorsum comprehend of the band's debut album.) Because of the subtlety of the creative soul together with album title, most tape stores position stickers across the comprehend to assist customers position it to a greater extent than clearly.
Even darker than their purple-hued debut, the Doors' follow-up, Strange Days, unopen 1967 alongside an ominous flourish. Highlighted by together with large past times short, radio-friendly tunes such equally the bluesy "Love Me Two Times" together with the cabaret-style "People Are Strange" together with featuring a smattering of edgy recitations ("Horse Latitudes") together with smoky rockers ("My Eyes Have Seen You"), the album features a centerpiece that was some other ambitious extended track, "When the Music's Over." On it, Morrison railed at everything from organized religion to pollution, together with his rallying cry--"We desire the world, together with nosotros desire it now!"--became a telephone call upwardly to arms for the counterculture ascent upwardly roughly the band.
Track listing:
01 Strange Days 3:05
02 You're Lost Little Girl 3:01
03 Love Me Two Times 3:23
04 Unhappy Girl 2:00
05 Horse Latitudes 1:30
06 Moonlight Drive 3:00
07 People Are Strange 2:10
08 My Eyes Have Seen You 2:22
09 I Can't See Your Face In My Mind 3:18
10 When The Music's Over 11:00
Personnel:
Vocals – Jim Morrison
Guitar – Robby Krieger
Keyboards, Marimba – Ray Manzarek
Drums – John Densmore
Bass [Occasional] – Douglas Lubahn*
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