L.A. Woman

The Doors had achieved commercial and critical success by 1969, but for much of that year they were blacklisted from radio playlists and their concert bookings dwindled after singer Jim Morrison had been charged with profanity and indecent exposure at a concert in Miami, Florida. Morrison had mentioned leaving the group at the end of 1968, only to be convinced by keyboardist Ray Manzarek to stay on another six months. On September 20, 1970, Morrison was convicted for the Miami incident. In November 1970, shortly after Morrison's trial ended, the Doors entered Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles to record early versions of the songs "L.A. Woman", "Riders on the Storm" and "Love Her Madly". The simplified and straightforward style, progressing from Morrison Hotel, was well-received, noted by Jazz & Pop magazine as "a return to the tight fury of early Doors' music". The band conflicted with their record company, Elektra Records, who released the Doors' first compilation album, 13, to have a product for the Christmas market. It was released without the band's input, and featured a large image of a younger Morrison, upsetting him enough to threaten signing with another label. As their contract required one more album, the group were unable to follow through with the threat, so they continued rehearsing the new material. Record producer Paul A. Rothchild, who worked with the band on their first five albums, attended the early sessions but quit following friction with the band. This included his dissatisfaction with the song "Love Her Madly", which "drove [him] out of the studio." He felt that recording the composition was a step backwards artistically, calling it "cocktail music." Rothchild was frustrated that the group was slow in developing new material, especially as the band contained three songwriters. He was unable to persuade Morrison to consistently attend rehearsals. As Bruce Botnick revealed in the book Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre, another issue that led to Rothchild's leaving was the emotional devastation he felt at the death of Janis Joplin, having worked with her on Pearl. Rothchild left before any master takes were complete, recommending that the Doors co-produce L.A. Woman with Botnick, the sound engineer who had worked with Rothchild on the band's previous recordings. The artist Eve Babitz is cited as the woman who inspired the lyrics of the title song. == Recording ==

'' advertisement, May 1, 1971 The group and Botnick organized a makeshift recording studio at their private rehearsal space, the Doors' Workshop, a two-story building at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard. They could then record in a more comfortable and relaxed setting while avoiding the expenses of a professional studio. A mixing console previously owned by Elektra was installed upstairs in the Workshop, while studio monitors, microphones, and keyboards were set up downstairs. To compensate for the lack of an isolated vocal booth, Morrison recorded in the bathroom doorway, singing into the same microphone used on the Doors' final tour. According to Botnick, Morrison was easy to work with and spent long hours in the studio with little consumption of alcohol. For recording, Elvis Presley's bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno were brought in to provide additional backing. By all accounts, Morrison – a huge Presley fan – was excited by Scheff's participation. In addition, Benno was asked to participate as a result of his recent notoriety from working with Leon Russell. The songs were completed in a few takes on a professional-quality 8-track recorder,{{efn|With the exception of "Hyacinth House" which was recorded on a four track tape machine, as confirmed by guitarist Robby Krieger.{{cite web == Music ==

The band began recording without much material and needed to compose songs on the spot, either by jamming or talking through ideas. In a 1994 interview, guitarist Robby Krieger stated, "Rothchild was gone, which is one reason why we had so much fun. The warden was gone." He wrote the song, at his house, to alleviate his boredom during Morrison's trial. L.A. Woman closes its first side with the title track, the lengthiest song on the album. Thought of as Morrison's final goodbye to Los Angeles, it communicated his mixed feelings of passion and disdain for "the city of night". The lyrics feature an anagram for Jim Morrison: "Mr. Mojo Risin. Krieger's electric guitar effect at the introduction impersonates the sound of an accelerated automobile engine. Side two In addition to "The Changeling", the Doors chose to incorporate three other compositions written before 1971: "L' America", "Crawling King Snake", and "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)". "L'America" was intended for the soundtrack of director Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 counterculture film Zabriskie Point, but ultimately rejected. Manzarek recalled, "Antonioni was interested in using it in Zabriskie Point. So we played it for him, and it was so loud, it pinned him up against the wall. When it was over, he thanked us and fled. So he turned to Pink Floyd, as European filmmakers tend to do when they want rock & roll." The final track was "Riders on the Storm", a collective effort by the Doors. Based on the arrangement "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and the line "delicate riders of the storm", taken from Hart Crane's poem "Praise for an Urn", the track melded Morrison's hitchhiker imagery from his own poetry projects. The faint, ghostly backdrop heard throughout the song was the last recording of Morrison as a member of the Doors. == Live performances ==

After Morrison recorded poetry at Village Recorders on December 8, 1970, he felt encouraged to play some L.A. Woman material on tour. Midway through the set, a drunk Morrison began slurring the lyrics to "Light My Fire", interrupted with speeches and jokes. He sat in front of the drum platform in between Krieger and Manzarek's solos, but did not stand up to finish the song. After prompting by Densmore, he tried to sing, before bashing the mic stand into the stage until its wood splintered. The Doors agreed to stop touring and focus on completing L.A. Woman. For years, fans speculated over the possible recordings of the New Orleans concert. In 2011, George Friedman, a stage manager of the Warehouse, revealed he had a reel to reel recording of the gig secured in a safety deposit box. He explained he discovered the tapes "when Beaver Productions moved its offices out of the Warehouse, Uptown into a building at the Riverbend. The Doors tape, along with a stack of other Warehouse show tapes, were cast off and left behind as debris during the move". Despite the confirmation of their existence, there has yet to be an official release of the recordings. == Release and reception ==

L.A. Woman was released on April 19, 1971. It reached number nine on the Billboard 200, remaining on the charts for 36 weeks, and reached number 28 in the UK, spending four weeks on the UK Albums Charts. . Three months after release on July 3, Morrison was found dead. There had been discussions between Morrison and the others for future recording after he returned from Paris. The album was accompanied by the "Love Her Madly" single, which was released in March and charted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a stay of 11 weeks but failed to chart in the UK. An additional single, "Riders on the Storm", was edited and released in June, and reached number 14 on the Billboard chart, while managing to peak at number 22 in the UK chart. Reviewing in New Musical Express, critic Roy Carr called it "one of their best in sometime," praising it as having "great depth, vigour and presence." Melody Maker wrote an unfavorable review, praising the "effective electric piano" of "Riders on the Storm", but finding the rest of the album as just "staleness", and that it's "all so obvious that originality has left them". In ''Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Robert Christgau appreciated Morrison's sense of humor in some of the lyrics and believed "the band has never sounded better", although he was disappointed with "Been Down So Long" and "L'America". Sal Cinquemani, reviewing the album for Slant Magazine, considers L.A. Woman to be "the sound of a band in perfect harmony". He describes the Doors' material as "disturbing and cynical over the years, and these songs were no exception". PopMatterss Nathan Wisnicki said Morrison's lyrics were less pretentious than previous work because of L.A. Womans "more conventional blues". Stephen Dalton of Classic Rock, reviewing the 40th Anniversary Edition of the album, remarks how "the original L.A. Woman still stands proud, an all-time classic journey into bright shining darkness." When the list was revised in 2012, to accommodate a number of albums released since 2003, the album was repositioned at number 364. Both Ultimate Classic Rock and Stereogum named it the Doors' second best album, with the latter's Ryan Leas adding in the website, "It traveled the same raw blues-rock lane as its predecessor, but now the Doors sounded ragged, bleary. It's one of those early-'70s records that comes off like a beleaguered hangover from the end of the '60s." Online newspaper The Independent cited L.A. Woman the twelfth best album of 1971, while Ultimate Classic Rock included it among the "Top 100 '70s Rock Albums". Reissues and remasters In 1988, L.A. Woman was digitally remastered by Botnick and Paul A. Rothchild at Digital Magnetics, using the original master tapes. DCC Compact Classics reissued the album on 24kt gold CD in 1993 and on 180g vinyl in 1998, both versions were mastered by Steve Hoffman. It was remastered again in 1999 for The Complete Studio Recordings box set by Bernie Grundman and Botnick at Bernie Grundman Mastering, using 96khz/24bit technology; it was also released as a standalone CD release. This was followed by a 5.1 surround version of the album, released on DVD-Audio on December 19, 2000; the surround mix was created by Botnick from the original eight-track analog 1" master tapes. In 2006, all six of the Doors' albums with Morrison were remixed in stereo and 5.1 for the Perception box set. This edition of L.A. Woman includes two bonus tracks ("Orange County Suite" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further") and was made available with or without an accompanying DVD that features the 5.1 surround sound version of the album along with Doors' rehearsal footage. This remix series has been criticized because "the band chose to remix and tinker with [the albums], adding and cutting from a few tracks and including unused instrumental parts." In 2012, L.A. Woman was digitally remastered again as a part of "The Years of the Doors" series to commemorate its 40th Anniversary release. This edition was reissued in an expanded format on January 24, 2012 by Elektra and Rhino Records in CD and digital formats and it includes the 2006 stereo remix done and mastered by Botnick at Uniteye. It also features seven alternate versions of songs and two previously unreleased tracks, "She Smells So Nice" and "Rock Me". This remaster has been praised for leaving the original album "untouched". Analogue Productions also reissued the album on hybrid SACD (2013) and double 45 RPM vinyl (2012), both editions were mastered by Doug Sax and Sangwook Nam at The Mastering Lab; the CD layer of the Super Audio CD contains the original stereo mix while the SACD layer contains Botnick's 2006 5.1 surround mix. To commemorate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino released a three-CD/one-LP set on December 3, 2021. It was remastered by Botnick using the Plangent Process and includes the original stereo mix and two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes. L.A. Woman Sessions special edition Rhino released on April 23, 2022 (as a RSD exclusive) the studio outtakes from the 50th Anniversary three-CD/one-LP set as a special edition quadruple vinyl entitled L.A. Woman Sessions. == Track listing ==

Original album All songs written by the Doors, except where noted. Details are taken from the 1971 Elektra Records album and may differ from other sources. }} (48:25) }} Reissues ===L.A. Woman Sessions (2022 RSD special edition quadruple vinyl)=== == Personnel ==

Details are taken from the 2007 Rhino Records CD remaster liner notes with producer Bruce Botnick's accompanying essay, and may differ from other sources. The Doors • Jim Morrisonvocals • Robby Kriegerguitar • Ray Manzarekpiano, organ;{{efn|including Hammond organ on "The Changeling",{{cite book • John Densmoredrums (with brushes on "Cars Hiss by My Window"), tambourine on "Love Her Madly" and "Been Down So Long"{{cite book |first=Heinz |last=Gerstenmeyer |title=The Doors - Sounds for Your Soul - Die Musik Der Doors Additional musicians • Jerry Scheffbass • Marc Bennorhythm guitar on "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss by My Window", "L.A. Woman" and "Crawling King Snake" Technical • Bruce Botnickproduction • The Doorsproduction • Carl Cossickalbum concept and design • Wendell Hamickcover photography == Charts ==