Waiting for the Sun & The Soft Parade

Having heard and bought each Doors album in order as they were released, the Soft Parade was seemingly yet another slight change in style and direction, but one I loved too. Waiting for the Sun was actually more disappointing with Hello I Love you sounding like a pop radio sell-out at first. The whole album seemed more fractured (as we found out it was, years later, with all the song and session issues), and Soft Parade was actually more of a return to form to my 17 year old ears. Tho I grew to love WFTS and Soft Parade, the first two albums set the bar pretty unattainably high. The first two Doors albums were for me so far and away their best that it was hard for me to not compare them to each new release.

Soft Parade at least had that signature long song we craved that WFTS lacked. I love both WFTH and Soft Parade now--all six are part of the Doors' legacy, each playing an equal part in some of the best music ever recorded.

If you have never listened to them in the order they were released, try a serious session with the mind set of one who is hearing them back in the day, as they were released. Pretty ear opening and amazing. The growth of many artists back then in the course of just 3 or four years is mind boggling, compared to today. Especially as an artist today is lucky to release two albums in four years, instead of six!

 

...and I recommend doing so listening to the 45s as well, with their correct mixes. Particularly for The Soft Parade, it puts a very different perspective on it as five of the album's nine tracks came out on 45 before the album did.

 

Yes, The River Knows is perhaps my favourite Doors song. Mystical, tragic and beautiful.

 

I think Waiting For The Sun is the dark horse of the Door's catalog. It's often been well commented on how difficult it was to record, Jim's awful state of mind and health, and the failure to get Celebration Of The Lizard down on tape adequately. But I think it is very fine because of those things. Their material was thin at that point. They really did have to reach hard to come up with something. It just sounds a bit different than the first two. Gone are the easy sounding hits. In its place are the weird songs that served as the connective tissue on all the other albums. This is an LP made up of Crystal Ships and Soul Kitchens. There's not many big hits here, but what they dug out and spent hours and hours in the studio polishing has a certain dark shine. It also reflects the times in which it was recorded. This is definitely an artifact from 1968.

On the other hand, I've never been able to get into the Soft Parade.

 

NOT TO TOUCH THE EARTH really is an amazing pop song. Nothing like it in popular music. The deranged carnival music set to some very dark lyrics and how it feels like it gets more and more intense and suffocating as it goes along. Man, that song alone puts them in their own, untouchable category.

 

Always liked both of these albums. In particular, Soft Parade is something I listen to quite frequently.

 

Mine too - on vinyl when I was 14.

 

I love the song, too, but it never really gets going like the live versions, especially with Robby's guitar and Jim's sometime out-of-breath vocal.

 

Waiting for the Sun is always one of those what coulda been albums for me. Not getting a finished "Celebration of the Lizard" just makes it less for me. It would've linked up nicely with the first two epic album closers. That said, still a solid album.

 

I've listened to The Soft Parade far more often than L.A. Woman over the decades.

 

Really? Jeez, I don't agree, the studio recording is plenty ferocious in my opinion

 

I saw The Doors live in Chicago in Nov. 1968, after releasing Waiting for the Sun album earlier that summer.
I thought it was a good concert (my first ever concert) and they played the entire Celebration of the Lizard King, which was great to hear, So that album (even though Lizard wasn't on it) became a Doors favorite for me.

 

Yeah, when I first became a Doors' fan, I actually bought Absolutely Live before Waiting For The Sun. And, on "The Celebration Of The Lizard", "Not To Touch The Earth" (I didn't know at the time it was actually a separate song) was easily my favorite part/section. It really gets going; Robby rocks and Jim actually sounds like he is running. I liked the effect. Then, when I finally heard "Not To Touch The Earth" on Waiting For The Sun, it sounded subdued; it lacked the intensity of the live version. I still love the song though, and it might be my favorite song on Waiting For The Sun.

 

Every song on "Soft Parade" except for the title cut and "Shaman's Blues" were released as singles. Robbie's songs were all A-sides and Jim's songs were all B-sides, which is understandable. Morrison's songs on that album pretty much fell into three categories:

Songs with three chords (Shaman's Blues)
Songs with two chords (Easy Ride)
Songs with one chord (Do It)

 

I like playing all 6 Doors studio albums in a row. It's like one big album, one big story full of all sorts of different moments.

 

I imagine that your post is tongue-in-cheek...

...but Easy Ride has plenty of chords and Do It has tonnes. It also changes key at least once, from memory.

 

Waiting for the Sun is one of my favorite albums. Not to touch the earth is one of the underrated jewels of their catalogue. Soft Parade I’ve never been able to get into

 

I love them both. Incredible music on both albums.
Shaman's Blues is worth the price of admission on TSP.

Someone mentioned Hello I Love You as being a pop radio sell out. Perhaps so, but what a great sell out.
A perfect song for a guy coming of age at the time it was released. " Do you hope to make her see you fool...do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel"

 

How we made the Doors' Hello, I Love You

 

Yes. If that song is selling out, then they (and all pop artists in general) should be proud!

I've always loved the bouncy yet provacative vibe of the song. A perfect lead-off track on what is my favorite album by the band. The way it gives way to the summery "Love Street" is one of the great moments in the Doors discography. But what do I know. I'm just a lover of 60's music that is, well...very sixties.

 

Crafting a great pop song and selling out are two different things IMO. A rock song by a rock band can be a sellout if it’s written without cleverness or originality.

 

I have the Doors singles cd's that came out a little while ago. All original single mixes. Not positive but I think it has Hello I Love You in mono.

 

Yes. I always find "sell out" to be one of those falsely used fictionalized terms to begin with. Much like how the word "filler" is used. Both inevitably get used as negatives to describe songs that the lone listener in question typically doesn't like, when every song a pop artist writes could technically be called a "sell out". Or "filler" as well. Where is the book that defines any kind of universal line? And even if a definition were made up, why would it be a negative for the listener or the artist?

I know of no pop artist under a profit-aspired label that has ever made music which they hoped would be un-big or unsuccessful. Not just in the appreciative or meaningful sense, but monetarily.

 

Both have some great songs and some serious duds. I'd say Waiting for the Sun is a pretty decent listen, but I rarely revisit The Soft Parade. I will say that my all time favorite Doors song, Five to One, is on Waiting for the Sun.

 

I find Soft Parade miles better than WFTS.

WFTS is a band needing a boost, something that the string/horn arrangements on Soft Parade provided. I know it's a controversial opinion in Doors circles but I'm standing by it. The addition of strings and horns rejuvenated their sound and complimented the songs.