Initial release Upon its release,
Morrison Hotel was seen by many as a comeback for the Doors following the mixed critical reception of
The Soft Parade. Although the accompanying "You Make Me Real" / "Roadhouse Blues" single only peaked at No. 50 in May 1970 despite strong FM radio play of the latter song, the album was immediately certified gold by
RIAA in February 1970 (the band's fifth consecutive big album certification) before reaching No. 4 on the
Billboard album chart in March during a 27-week stay. Additionally, it became the band's highest-charting studio album in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 12.
Dave Marsh, the editor of
Creem magazine, called the album "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to... so far", while
Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date".
Circus praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good, hard, evil rock... and one of the best albums released this decade". Bruce Harris of
Jazz & Pop lauded it as "one of the major musical events of Rock '70". On the other hand,
Rolling Stone critic
Lester Bangs was mixed, who praised some of the tracks, especially the "powerful blast of raw
funk" opener "Roadhouse Blues" and "the buoyant catchiness" of "Land Ho!", but found the remainder of the album to be uneven and unsatisfying. During this period, the de facto blacklisting continued to persist in more socially conservative markets, particularly the
Deep South; consequently, the band's 1970 American tour itinerary was largely confined to the
Northeast,
West Coast and more progressive
Midwestern cities amid ongoing (albeit more sporadic) cancellations, including planned concerts in
Salt Lake City and at the
Jesuit-operated
Fairfield University.
Retrospective reviews In his 1981 retrospective review,
Robert Christgau rated
Morrison Hotel "B+". He expressed his preference of the A side (
Hard Rock Café) over the B side (
Morrison Hotel), both lyrically and musically. He noted that the "band is rocking tighter than it ever has, Robbie Krieger's phrasing keeps things moving, and Morrison's gliding vocal presence–arty and self-absorbed though it may be–provides focus."
The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave a perfect rating of five stars out of five, and considered it to be the Doors' "most cohesive record," adding that aside "from the throwaway grunter", "Maggie M'Gill", all the other songs were "masterful—and the band swings tougher and easier than they ever had before." In more recent reviews, Thom Jurek of
AllMusic expressed that the Doors employed blues and R&B "to some degree on all of their albums, but never as consistently, adeptly, or provocatively as they did on
Morrison Hotel, with absolutely stunning results." The 50th Anniversary Deluxe edition of
Morrison Hotel holds currently a 78/100
approval rating based on 5 critic reviews on
Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In 2020, it was named one of "The Best Box Sets of the Year" by
Rolling Stone. == Track listing ==