The Doors – Strange Days (1967)

Strange Days is the title of the second studio album by American classic rock, psychedelic rock, and blues rock band The Doors which was released through Elektra Records in September, 1967. The album was released eight months after the band’s successful debut self-titled LP, the record represents a musical mixture of both old and new material that the group had been working on for some time during the early part of 1967. It was recorded between February and August, 1967. It went on to be quite a significant entry within the US Billboard 200, reaching the third position in the aforementioned American musical top. Two hit singles and rock anthems of the late 1960s were released from the album, more specifically the songs ‘People Are Strange’ and ‘Love Me Two Times’. Stylistically, the album’s sound is a mixture of psychedelic rock, acid rock, and psychedelic pop. The photograph for the frontal cover artwork was taken on Sniffen Court, Manhattan, New York City.

Despite the fact that the album turned to be a commercial success and scored several good to very good reviews, producer Paul Rothchild was quite disappointed with it. He stated the following in this regard:

‘Strange Days was the best album … It said everything we were trying to say musically and it contains some of Jim’s best poetry … We were confident it was going to be bigger than anything the Beatles have ever done. But there was no single. The record died on us. It never really conquered like it should have.’ Source: Weidman, Richie (2011). The Doors FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Kings of Acid Rock. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-61713-017-5. (via the English-language version of Wikipedia)

In critical regards, Strange Days received 3.5 out of 5 stars by AllMusic, the same score by Classic Rock magazine, 3 out of 5 stars by Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 8 out of 10 stars by The Great Rock Discography, 3.5 out of 5 stars by MusicHound Rock, 5 out of 5 stars by Music Story, or 4.5 out of 5 stars by Slant Magazine. The original tracklist of the album is as follows (side one containing 6 songs while side two the remainder):

1. Strange Days
2. You’re Lost Little Girl
3. Love Me Two Times
4. Unhappy Girl
5. Horse Latitudes
6. Moonlight Drive
7. People Are People
8. My Eyes Have Seen You
9. I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind
10. When the Music’s Over

The 40th anniversary edition of the album also included two bonus tracks, namely a shorter version of People Are Strange and Love Me Two Times (take 3). The recording personnel (i.e. the band members) were the following ones:

• Jim Douglas Morrison – poetry and lead vocals
• Raymond ‘Ray’ Daniel Manzarek – keyboards
• Robby Krieger – electric guitar
• John Densmore – drums
• Doug Lubahn (session musician) – bass (except for the tracks 4, 5, and 10)

The technical personnel was as follows:

• Paul A. Rothchild was the producer;
• Bruce Botnick was in charge of audio engineering;
• Joel Brodsky was in charge of the cover photography;
• William S. Harvey did the cover concept and was in charge of the art direction;
• Paul Beaver programmed a Moog synthesizer for the song Strange Days.

In conceptual regards, the themes explored through the surreal lyrics of the songs of the album range from chaos to melancholy, dreamy romance, confusion, alienation (or the feeling of being estranged), longing for a distant lover, memory, or existential dread. Historically speaking, the time during which the album was recorded was, sadly, part of a period which was quite a challenging, polarised, and turbulent one in the history of the United States as it was marked by social unrest and turmoil as well as by certain crises and major geopolitical negative events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis early on in 1962, the tragic and sad assassination of former president J.F. Kennedy in 1963, or the gruesome Vietnam War. At the same time, there were widespread anti-war protests going on and the American counterculture of the 1960s flourished especially during the late part of the decade. Last but not least, the 1960s were marked by the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson until January, 1969. And many days of that decade were indeed quite strange ones, especially for the emerging hippie community who was staunchly anti-war (and rightfully so). Then as now there have been strange days… or, to put it in the words of the lyrics, ‘strange days have found us‘.

Below you can listen to the entire tracklist of the album embedded song by song via YouTube in a single video. Thank you very much for your time, attention, and readership! It means a lot to me and you are very appreciated! All the best, peace, and rock on! 🙂 🤘

Documentation sources and external links:

• The album’s page on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
• The full album on www.youtube.com
• The album’s page on www.spotify.com
• The album’s page on www.discogs.com
• A review of the album published in Rolling Stone Magazine on www.thedoors.com (the band’s official website)