The time to hesitate is through

The Doors - The Doors - 1967

One of the things that stands out for me while listening to music in chronological order, is how the late 60s can be divided into the more psychedelic and trippy sound on the one hand, and the more folksy, flower-power on the other.
And then, there's The Doors.
Revisiting this one, I realise I can't really fit them into either category, and that they were a thing apart. Definitely, they were more on the psychedelic side of things, but they were too blues/rock to fit nicely there. But the vibe i get mostly from them is that their songs had an incredible amount of mood and atmosphere to them. More than any other band I can think of off the top of my head.
And this is all because of Jim Morrison's vocals. I personally always loved his voice, which makes sense because I tend to favour ranges like his, which feel more comfortable within the baritone / low tenor range. But what I hadn't actually realised probably until now is how much of the mood of the songs he could convey because of the differences in the style of singing. This album has a lot of examples, from the melodious and soothing "The Crystal Ship", to the unhinged rocking aggressiveness of "Break on Through" and the menace and fury of "The End", the sheer sensuality of "Light my Fire", and the playful nature of "Alabama Song".
This is a brilliant album, and I had actually forgotten how good most of the songs are, not just the singles and the most famous ones. It's funny how we start listening to the "greatest hits" more and more and forget the less popular ones. But songs like "I Looked at you", "Soul Kitchen", "End of the Night", or "Twentieth Century Fox" are just as good as any of the hits.

• This is probably one of the few rock bands not to have a bass player. Ray Manzarek played a keyboard bass, and only two songs ("Back Door Man" and "Soul Kitchen") have a real bass, played by guitarist Bobby Krieger. 
• Manzarek played a lot of different keyboards here, apart from the aforementioned keyboard bass, he played piano, organ, and an instrument called "marxophone", which is a kind of zither. Of course, Manzarek was a huge part in the Doors' sound and atmosphere.
• The first time I ever saw a video by The Doors, was "Light my Fire". Watching the Lizard King was almost hypnotic (I was 14 or 15 at the time, so quite easily impressionable, perhaps). It's still today one of my favourite songs.
• Just yesterday, I read that Jim Morrison's father strongly advised him to quit his musical endeavours after listening to this album. 
• Of course, this album also contains "The End", the song chosen by Francis Ford Coppola for the opening and ending scenes of the brilliant "Apocalypse Now". The lines "Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain / and all the children are insane" always make me think of Colonel Kurtz. 

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow - 1967

As I said before, most of the music during the late 60s can be divided into the crazier, more psychedelic style, and the more folk-rock oriented. 

For some reason, I seemed to remember this one as being much more psychedelic than it is. Well, I actually seemed to remember it being psychedelic, and for the most part it isn't at all. 

Other than the brilliant "White Rabbit", this is pretty much a folk album. Which, I think, makes it sound dated to me. In a way, the "trippier" songs were always more experimental and out there and you can see their influence in music for years. But that's not the case with folk.

Mind you, I can understand that this is actually a very good album, just not my cup of tea, so to speak. 

• Of course, "White Rabbit" makes the whole album worth it. It's one of my favourite songs of all times. The fact that I love both "Alice" books by Lewis Carroll helps, but it's also the exotic rhythm of the song and the absolutely brilliant performance by Grace Slick.
• "Somebody to Love" is another great song here. It's the rockiest tune in the album, and it's quite relentless and fun. 

Bonus tracks

• Here's the opening scene of Apocalypse Now to the sound of "The End". It's one of the greatest movie openings in history.

• And here is a remixed version of "White Rabbit". The video is computer generated and it uses Google's DeepDream algorithm. It is the trippiest thing I have seen in a long time. Seriously, this can really do things with your head. 

Random thoughts

• Jim Morrison's death was surrounded in mystery and doubt. For the record, I've always liked to think that he didn't actually die that fateful night in Paris, that he just disappeared and changed his life completely. 
• The video of "White Rabbit" is flagged by YouTube as not appropriate for all audiences. It's very tame. I guess it's because of the drug allusions in the lyrics.
• For the nerdier ones (or just the more curious ones) out there, you can read about how the DeepDeam video was made here: http://www.chillheimer.de/white-rabbit/ . It is a brilliant project!