I must be the only person who, when faced with this reissue on the record shop, cried out "At long last, they've finally released them!" I'm talking of course of the last two studio albums by The Doors - or, to be more accurate, the last studio albums bearing the Doors' name (but, for some reason, not the familiar logo). Long unavailable and never properly released on CD, these albums don't have the best reputation: They've been vilified and accused of exploiting and disgracing the band's legacy. At their time they didn't do too bad commercially: "Other Voices" reached No.31 and "Full Circle" went to No.68. Of course they were both recorded and released within 1 year of Morrison's death, which means the public eye was on them more than any time since the infamous Miami incident. But soon they disappeared under the outrage for the sacrilege of attempting to go on without their leader. To be fair, Doors members haven't defended their work too vigorously, either. I've acquired the "Other Voices" album on second hand vinyl around 25 years ago and was pretty familiar with its content, so I went straight for "Full Circle". I've downloaded it on MP3, but never quite delved into it since I'm not a big fan of MP3s: Music is not meant to be played on the laptop or mobile, people, snap out of it! Anyway, "Full Circle" is looser and jazzier from its predecessor which seems to have been written with Morrison in mind. The CD opens with “Get Up And Dance”, a funky number with handclaps and female backing vocals. Now, given the right material, Ray Manzarek can be a passable singer but not here. Worse crimes have been committed by white guys trying to sound funky, but only by a narrow margin. Robbie Krieger's "4 Billion Souls" is a jaunty honky-tonk song about ecological destruction, and sounds a bit like the Doors circa Soft Parade, what with the guitar/organ interplay. Jim would have nailed it but, as it becomes painfully clear, neither Ray nor Robbie are singers. "Verdillac" is funky, playful and imaginative jazz-rock and sounds pretty much like Frank Zappa - vocals and nonsensical lyrics included. Other new elements include a great saxophone solo and Latin percussion."Hardwood Floor" is a pretty standard blues/country ditty, with neat harmonica and female backing vocals. Likewise “Good Rockin'” is a pretty standard Rock'n'roll/R&B number, albeit executed with panache and perfect for Ray's voice who's rather good at simple bluesy stuff. “Mosquito” is the weirdest cut on the record: It starts off as a parody of Mexican music with Robbie singing stupid lyrics like "No me moleste mosquito/just let me eat my burrito" in his Speedy Gonzalez voice. Then suddenly he abandons the Latin shtick and delivers his best guitar solo ever while the band falls into a nice jazz-rock groove. I don't know what to make of it, but many people consider it the highpoint of the album and certainly Krieger's (and Densmore's) playing here is phenomenal. "The Piano Bird" is another standout, a gentle song with airy flute. Ray's singing is non-intrusive - which, for him, is as good as it gets. It's about a pianist and a bird playing melodies to each other. Disney stuff - can you imagine Jim Morrison singing something like that? "It Slipped my Mind" reminds me of all the bluesy songs on "Morrison Hotel". Robbie plays some good guitar and his singing isn't embarrassing, so all's good. Ray's "The Peking King And The New York Queen" sounds like a preview from his "Golden Scarab" album. Unfortunately the pretentious lyrics suck, singing's below par and female backing vocals are ill-judged. The reissue appends a rare B-side called "Treetrunk", a sympathetic piano boogie. The remaining Doors eventually toured with this material and gained some good reviews. In the past their concerts were hit or miss depending on Morrison's state. Without him, their onstage chemistry and almost telepathic communication took over. Unfortunately, when it comes to the records, the lack of inspiration is evident: The music is too indulgent, lyrics verge between the uninterested and plain bad, and singing lacks passion and conviction. They must have known that, but they enjoyed playing with each other too much to stop. Spurned by the good reaction to their concerts, they decamped to England and started jamming with various singers, trying to find a solution to their problem. They considered Kevin Coyne and The Audience's Howard Werth, God knows why. I mean they're very intellectual but also very British, and their voices are hardly suitable for The Doors' repertory... Iggy Pop was also proposed, one of a few singers that could match Morrison's explosiveness onstage. Iggy was a big Doors fan but I doubt they'd ever want to mess with him: he was even more uncontrollable than Morrison and with none his poetic streak. They tried to send word out to Paul Rodgers -now that would have been interesting- but couldn't get in contact with him (no mobiles back then). He probably would have said no anyway, like he did with Blackmore's proposal to join Deep Purple around the same time. It would have been an interesting union for sure, after all Rodgers' a world class vocalist, but it still wouldn't be The Doors just like Queen with Paul Rodgers weren't really Queen (still, if he could do a passable job replacing the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury, imagine what he'd do with The Doors' bluesier catalogue). Anyway, Manzarek despaired and went back to the U.S. to be near his pregnant wife. Krieger and Densmore teamed up with Jess Roden, whose voice is quite similar to Rodgers', and made a very good album with him as The Butts Band (Is it too much to ask for a proper CD reissue? Please?). Years later they toured under the name Doors of the 21st Century with The Cult's Ian Astbury as singer. Many snubbed them of course, but it's their loss: In addition to being the natural curators of the Doors legacy, Robbie and Ray are two great musicians with intuitive communication and this album is another testament to that. It's true that they never achieved greatness without Morrison, but it's my belief (though we'll never know for sure) that he would also never reach the same heights if it wasn't for them.
**** for Verdilac, the Piano Bird
*** for Get Up And Dance, Hardwood Floor, Good Rockin', The Mosquito, It Slipped My Mind
** for 4 Billion Souls, The Peking King And The New York Queen, Treetrunk
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