Strange Days

This is one of those rare works where both the music and the lyrics stay powerful from the first track to the last. We hear several wonderful pieces familiar to the casual Doors listener like "Love Me Two Times," and "Moonlight Drive."

But the rest of the album isn't just filler. This is one tight and clear selection of tunes that all had potential to be hits. "Horse Latitudes" is a brief but chilling narration by Jim Morrison, and "My Eyes Have Seen You" is --in my opinion-- the most overlooked songs in the Doors repetoire. This song has a surreal flowing beat and dreamy lyrics that gives that personifies that psychedelic flavor that The Doors are known for.

Many feel the songs on "Strange Days" are some of The Doors' darkest imagery. I can understand why they feel that way; but there is such a gentle flow to the music that I actually find soothing, with "Horse Latitudes" being the only pure haunting Guajardian piece on the album. This album is surreal in parts and sweet in others. This CD is one of the most complete albums I have ever heard.


Faces Come Out Of The Rain When You're Strange   February 26, 2006
El Lagarto (Ambler, PA)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

Probably the best Doors CD available, remarkably fresh considering it was recorded nearly 40 years ago. Following up their debut album, Strange Days is moody, atmospheric, dark, and very well crafted. Morrison, vocals, and Manzarek, keyboards are really in synch here. The singing is wonderfully unpredictable, Morrison never seems to know what he'll do next. The lyrics are intentionally off base, sometimes bizarre, and the keyboards keep the groove together while the narrative twists and turns. Particularly welcome is the guitar playing of Robby Krieger, laying down that trademark, spacey, West coast sound - you can almost see the plumes of incense. Densmore is not a flashy drummer, but he's right where he needs to be, this is not stadium rock, it's actually closer to chamber music in sensibility. There are those who will not connect with Horse Latitudes, to them we simply say, at the time it was considered hip to mix poetry and music into a froth. For the rest, nothing but winners. The title track belongs in any best of the Doors grouping as do the spooky You're Lost Little Girl and the anthemic People Are Strange. Love Me Two Times definitely kicks, right there beside My Eyes Have Seen You. So many of these tracks build wonderfully, like Moonlight Drive which starts dreamy and ends with Morrison screaming in sinewy seduction. Of the closer what could possibly be said except, When The Review's Over, Turn Off The Lights, Turn Off The Lights.


A few gems but also leftovers on the second Doors album   October 7, 2004
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
15 out of 23 found this review helpful

"Strange Days" is just what you would expect to find in terms of a second album from a new group that has just put out a smash debut album. The self-titled first album of the Doors culled the group's best songs from their repertoire. Most of the songs here were written around the same time and if you had to reshuffle the tracks from the first pair of albums to make the debut effort even better you are talking about the title track, "Love Me Two Times" and "People Are Strange." The music is still the distinctive combination of psychedelic instrumentation and unconventional arrangements with the poetic visions of Jim Morrison, but the results are just not quite as great as that first outing.

The opening track is interesting because in addition to Ray Manzarek's organ, Robbie Krieger's guitar, and John Densmore's drum, they have actually added a session musician, Doug Lubhan, to play bass. Meanwhile, Morrison sings about how "Strange days have found us/Strange days have tracked us down/They're going to destroy/Our casual joys/We shall go on playing/Or find a new town." There is a point there and the youth culture and the Sixties, but I find it hard to believe most of the people listening to this album in 1967 were thinking deep thoughts. "Love Me Two Times" is the big blues-rocker on the album, distinguished by Kreiger's captivating guitar riff and the great harpsichord solo from Manzarek. I know Morrison was the photogenic front man for the Doors, Manzarek and Kreiger were just as responsible for the group's unique sound.

"Love Me Two Times" was a minor hit single off of the album, but its ascendancy was derailed when Morrison was arrested at a gig in New Haven, Connecticut. The first single released from the album was "People Are Strange," a rather simple song with Morrison singing about how "People are strange when you're a stranger/Faces look ugly when you're alone," starting off against Krieger's guitar playing before adding a bit of honkey tonk piano. Again there is a notion of Morrison singing about being outcasts and embracing the notion. The difference is this time the music stays out of the way so the lyrics stand out more.

Of the rest of the tracks on "Strange Days" the best are the weird "You're Lost Little Girl" and the funky "Moonlight Drive," which may well be the oldest Doors song around and which again features Manzarak's keyboard playing. "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind" are nothing special and then the album ends with the 11-minute "When the Music's Over." This was a big number when the group played live (the alternative last song to "The End"), but it loses something in the studio. There is a solid beginning and end, but in the middle everybody gets to improvise while Morrison screams about ecological issues. However, the jamming tends to detract from the song as a political statement. All things considered, "Strange Days" would probably be considered a better album if we did not compare it to "The Doors."


Timeless Music.   June 7, 2002
Mr. Fellini (El Paso, Texas United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

"Strange Days" is one of the great rock albums of all time. It is The Doors' second best album and fittingly, it was released right after their greatest LP of all time, their debut effort "The Doors." It features some of the band's most timeless music and a few of their most popular songs. If "The Doors" contained the exhilarating fever and emotion of the band as seen in songs like "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire," then "Strange Days" is a trip down the darker realms of poetry and melody that have made the band so enduring to this day. The opening song, "Strange Days," is visceral, hypnotic and contains some of Jim Morrison's darkest, strangest and disturbing lyrics and vocals. The echo effect and Ray Manzarek's organ give the song an atmospheric quality that makes this one of the band's all-time greatest tracks. This is also the record that contains "Moonlight Drive," the song Manzarek says Morrison first sang to him on a California beach and convinced him of their musical possibilities. It is a dreamy tune, with wonderful, poetic lyrics and Robby Krieger playing some of his trademark slide guitar. One of the gems here is undeniably "People Are Strange," it is one of The Doors' most popular songs and surely one of their best. It is wonderfully melodic and alluring and perfectly sets the mood for what it is about. Today, even more than in the 60s, it perfectly captures the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Recently Goth bands like Nosferatu and more alternative artists like Stina Nordenstam have recorded this song, but it is never more captivating or even disturbing than when Morrison is singing it. Another classic here is "Love Me Two Times." It is one of the band's best blues songs and one of their funnest jams with some of Robby Krieger's best lyrics and inventive guitar playing. Aerosmith has done a roaring cover but this is THE version of course. The masterpiece though, is "When The Music's Over." This song is a true rock epic, it expanded The Doors' experimentation with extended tracks as they did with "The End" and is just as captivating as that other classic. "When The Music's Over" is visceral and Morrison really comes off here in his poet, prophet, genius persona. Here we find the immortal yell: "We want the world and we want it...NOW!" "Strange Days" is an example of truly timeless modern music, it shows why The Doors transcend cultures and generations. It embodies why this band remains one of the most influential bands in not just rock but popular culture as a whole as well. It contains the melodies that have sprouted current movements like the Goth Rock groups and Industrial bands. Jim Morrison never lived to see the impact he left on rock music for all time, but he left us songs that are truly classical in that they will endure and keep touching people. Here is one of the masterpieces of theatric, artistic and visceral music.


Beautiful, Dark Psychedelia   April 23, 2006
Nick Mackler (Canada)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

The Doors had already achieved mainstream success with their smash hit album "The Doors", and from the hype that came of that exceptional studio album, they knew their follow-up album would have to be commercially appealling. "Strange Days", while producing several radio hits, can ultimately be seen as the band's most eerie, psychedelic work.

While their radio hits like "Moonlight Drive" had soothing, delecate melodies, other classics like "People are Strange" and the self titled track swift through dark, fluid rhythms, while Morrison's voice sounds gorgeously sinister. "Love Me Two Times" is The Doors at their bluesy best, with phenomenal guitar riffs from Krieger driving this song the whole way. "You're Lost Little Girl" features a haunting vocal from Morrison and a fluorescent melody behind him. "Unhappy Girl" experiments with entirely different musical sounds, and is a refreshing song. "My Eyes Have Seen You" is an upbeat number, with Manzarek's aggressive, lively organ being the backbone of the track. "I Can't See Your Face on my Mind" is another dark composition with another lovely, almost intoxicating melody. "Strange Days" closes in a similar vein compared to their debut. It finishes with the longest song on the album, an epic work entitled "When The Music's Over". The composition moves along steadily off Krieger's clean guitar sound and the energetic organ work from Manzarek. Morrison also incorporates his unique, thunderous vocal.

Overall, "Strange Days" is definitely not a Doors album to be overlooked, featuring some of their darkest compositions and eerie melodies. Jim Morrison's poetry is perfectly conveyed in these songs, and his moving vocals only enhance the listening experience. This album produced a number of Doors classics, and is the band at their most psychelelic. Highly recommended to all fans of the great 60s band.