Strange Days (album)

Strange Days
Studio album by the Doors
Released September 25, 1967 (1967-09-25)
Recorded May–August 1967
Studio Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock
Length 35:25
Label Elektra
Producer Paul A. Rothchild
the Doors chronology
The Doors
(1967)		 Strange Days
(1967)		 Waiting for the Sun
(1968)
Singles from Strange Days
  1. "People Are Strange"
    Released: September 1967
  2. "Love Me Two Times"
    Released: November 1967

Strange Days is the second studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released in September 1967. It was a commercial success, initially earning a gold record and reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album also yielded two top 30 hit singles, "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times", and eventually a platinum certification.

Recording

Strange Days was recorded between May and August 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, the same studio as their first LP, only this time using a professional 8-track recording machine. Unlike on their debut, which had been recorded in six days, the extra time allowed the band to experiment in the studio, often augmenting their already otherworldly sound with unusual instrumentation and sonic manipulation. According to Jerry Hopkins' Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, the title track was one of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer in rock, while on the Morrison poem "Horse Latitudes" engineer Bruce Botnick took the white noise of a tape recorder, varied the speed by hand-winding it, and got something that sounded like wind, with the four band members all playing musical instruments in unusual ways - plucking the strings of a piano, for instance - and the organic sounds were tampered with electronically to create different times and effects.[1]

Composition

Much like their debut album, Strange Days features several moody, authentically odd songs, although some critics feel it does not quite match up to its stellar predecessor. In his AllMusic review of the album, Richie Unterberger notes, "Many of the songs on Strange Days had been written around the same time as the ones that appeared on The Doors, and with hindsight one has the sense that the best of the batch had already been cherry picked for the debut album. For that reason, the band's second effort isn't as consistently stunning as their debut, though overall it's a very successful continuation of the themes of their classic album." Two of the songs contained on the album had been demoed in 1965 at Trans World Pacific Studios before Krieger joined the group: "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "Moonlight Drive".[2] A second recording of "Moonlight Drive" was made in late 1966, but this version was deemed unsatisfactory. Though a conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive"'s defining features was its slightly off-beat rhythm and Krieger's 'Bottle-neck' guitar, which creates an eerie sound.[3]

The LP's first single, "People Are Strange", was composed in early 1967 after Krieger, drummer John Densmore, and a depressed Morrison had walked to the top of Laurel Canyon.[4] Densmore recalled the song's writing process in his book Riders on the Storm.[5] Densmore and Krieger, who had then been roommates, were visited by a dejected Morrison, who was acting "deeply depressed."[5] At the suggestion of Densmore, they took a walk along Laurel Canyon. Morrison returned from the walk "euphoric" with the early lyrics of "People Are Strange".[5]

Although Morrison was the Doors' primary lyricist, Robby Krieger wrote several of the groups hit singles (the first song the guitarist ever wrote was "Light My Fire"), including the bluesy "Love Me Two Times". According to band members, the song was about a soldier/sailor on his last day with his girlfriend before shipping out, ostensibly to war. Manzarek described the song as "Robby's great blues/rock classic about lust and lost, or multiple orgasms, I'm not sure which."[6] In 1997, Krieger stated to Guitar World's Alan Paul that the musical idea for "Love Me Two Times" came from a lick from a Danny Kalb album. Manzarek played the final version of this song on a harpsichord, not a clavichord.[6] Manzarek described the instrument as "a most elegant instrument that one does not normally associate with rock and roll."[6] It was edited to a 2:37 length and released as the second single (after "People Are Strange") from that album, and reached number 25 on the charts in the US.[7] "Love Me Two Times" was considered to be somewhat risqué for radio airplay, being banned in New Haven for being "too controversial," much to the dismay of the band.[5]

Artwork

The album cover of Strange Days, photographed by Joel Brodsky, depicts a group of street performers in New York. The location of the photograph is at Sniffen Court, a residential alley off of East 36th Street between Lexington and Third Avenue in Manhattan. The availability of such performers pictured was low, so Brodsky's assistant stood in as a juggler while a random cab driver was paid $5 to pose playing the trumpet. Twin dwarfs were hired, with one appearing on the front cover and one appearing on the back cover, which is the other half of the same photo on the front cover. However, a group shot of the band does appear on a poster in the background of both covers, bearing captions of the band and album name. (The same photograph previously appeared on the back cover of the band's debut album.) Because of the subtlety of the artist and album title, most record stores put stickers across the cover to help customers identify it more clearly.[8]

Release

Strange Days was released on September 25, 1967, by Elektra Records. It reached No. 3 in the US in November 1967, while the Doors' debut was still sitting in the top ten over ten months since its release. Despite its success, the album's producer Paul Rothchild considered it a commercial failure: "We all thought it was the best album. Significantly, it was also the one with the weakest sales. We were confident it was going to be bigger than anything The Beatles had done. But there was no single. The record died on us."[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Down Beat[11]
MusicHound3.5/5[12]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]
Slant Magazine[15]
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music[16]

Music critic Robert Christgau called the album "muscular but misshapen" in a May 1968 column for Esquire, but went on to write that The Doors had come "from nowhere to reign as America's heaviest group".[17] Critics still rank the album highly; in 2003, Strange Days ranked at number 407 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2007, Rolling Stone included it on their list "The 40 Essential Albums of 1967".[18]

Track listing

All tracks written by The Doors (Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore)[19][20].

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Strange Days"  3:11
2."You're Lost Little Girl"  3:03
3."Love Me Two Times"  3:18
4."Unhappy Girl"  2:02
5."Horse Latitudes"  1:37
6."Moonlight Drive"  3:05
Side B
No.TitleLength
7."People Are Strange"  2:13
8."My Eyes Have Seen You"  2:32
9."I Can't See Your Face in My Mind"  3:26
10."When the Music's Over"  10:58

Personnel

The Doors

Additional musicians

Technical

Chart positions

Album

Chart (1967) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[21] 3

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1967 "People Are Strange"
B-side: "Unhappy Girl"		 Pop Singles 12[21]
1967 "Love Me Two Times"
B-side: "Moonlight Drive"		 Pop Singles 25[21]

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Canada (Music Canada)[22] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[23] 2× Gold 200,000*
Germany (BVMI)[24] Gold 250,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[26] Platinum 1,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Hopkins & Sugarman 1980, p. 128.
  2. ↑ Maginnis, Tom. "Moonlight Drive - The Doors". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ The Doors. eM Publications. p. 231.
  4. ↑ Hoskyns, Barney (2007). Strange Day. Rhino Entertainment Company. p. 7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Densmore, John (Nov 4, 2009). Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307429025.
  6. 1 2 3 Manzarek, Ray (Oct 15, 1999). Light My Fire. Penguin. p. 258. ISBN 9780698151017.
  7. ↑ "((( The Doors > Awards )))". AllMusic. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Classic Album Covers : Strange Days – The Doors". Never Mind the Bus Pass. February 2, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Bam Interview – Paul Rothchild". waiting-forthe-sun.net. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  10. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "Strange Days – The Doors | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  11. 1 2 "The Doors – Strange Days CD Album". CD Universe/Muze. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  12. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 358. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  13. ↑ "[Strange Days review]". Rolling Stone. November 23, 1967. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ "The Doors: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  15. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (April 18, 2007). "The Doors: Strange Days | Album Review | Slant Magazine". Slant. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  16. ↑ "The Doors Strange Days". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  17. ↑ Christgau, Robert (May 1968). "Columns". Esquire. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Rolling Stone : Photos : The 40 Essential Albums of 1967 :". Rolling Stone. 2007. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Strange Days". aln2.albumlinernotes. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  20. ↑ "The Doors - Strange Days". Discogs. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  21. 1 2 3 "The Doors – Chart history" Billboard 200 for The Doors. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – The Doors – Strange Days". Music Canada.
  23. ↑ "French album certifications – Doors – Strange Days" (in French). InfoDisc. Select DOORS and click OK
  24. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Doors; 'Strange Days')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  25. ↑ "British album certifications – Doors – Strange Days". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Strange Days in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  26. ↑ "American album certifications – The Doors – Strange Days". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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