THE DOORS FIRST ALBUM

On this day 50 years ago, and for the next eight days after that, The Doors recorded their first album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood. That’s where the rock group laid down their distinctive sound on 4-track tape with producer Paul Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick. Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore, and Larry Knechtel all played on the record. Jim Morrison had is own track.

The Doors is a pioneer of psychedelic rock and one of the most acclaimed recordings in all of popular music. Look for a first U.S. gold Elektra label stereo LP pressing (with no “RE” in the dead wax) for the best audio presentation. Play it late at night, and it will light your fire.

The song “The End” was featured in the 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now with Martin Sheen as the lead actor and Dennis Hopper as the photographer. It, like The Doors, has been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Uh, yeah – they’re like one of the very best films and records ever made.

(Photo: Still from film)