The Doors’ Jim Morrison-Era Albums Now Available In Dolby Atmos
From today, all of the six studio albums The Doors recorded with the classic line-up – The Doors, Strange Days, Waiting For The Sun, The Soft Parade, Morrison Hotel and L.A Woman – are now available through in Dolby Atmos mixes on all eligible digital platforms.
Featuring the band’s classic signature hit, Light My Fire and other touchstone tracks such as The Crystal Ship, Break On Through (To The Other Side) and The End, The Doors’ self-titled debut album was first released by Elektra Records in January 1967. After the success of the single, the album went supernova, reaching No.2 in the US, where it sat behind only The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It would eventually go quadruple-platinum in the US and play a big part in setting The Doors’ legend in stone.
Released just nine months later, the band’s second album, Strange Days rocketed to No.3 on the Billboard 200, with help from its two attendant hit singles, People Are Strange and the infectiously bluesy Love Me Two Times. Consolidating on the advances the band had already made with their stellar debut, the album stayed on the charts for the best part of a year, and the critics also luxuriated in its quality, with US rock critic Robert Christgau declaring that The Doors “had come from nowhere to reign as America’s heaviest group.”
The band’s third album, Waiting For The Sun, arrived during the summer of 1968, at a time when The Doors’ popularity was arguably at its peak. The album shot to No. 1 and also included the Billboard Hot 100-topping Hello I Love You in addition to key tracks including The Unknown Soldier and Five To One. In its aftermath, The Doors played some of their most prestigious shows at venues such as The Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Madison Square Garden and they expanded their palette of sound on their fourth album, The Soft Parade, which featured lavish orchestral arrangements.
Stripping things back, The Doors returned with a lean, hungry blues-rock sound on 1970’s Morrison Hotel: a critical success which included fan favourites such as Roadhouse Blues, Peace Frog and Ship Of Fools. This return to form continued with 1971’s L.A. Woman, which featured classic tracks such as the brilliant, brooding Riders On The Storm, the Top 20 hit Love Her Madly and the epic, seven-minute titular song. L.A. Woman should really have been the start of a whole new chapter for The Doors, but it proved to be the band’s swansong with frontman Jim Morrison, who died in Paris, during an extended European sojourn during the summer of 1971.
A pioneering immersive sound technology, Dolby Atmos goes beyond the ordinary listening experience, fully immersing the listener so that every detail of the music is revealed with unparalleled clarity and depth bringing new depths to one of rock’s greatest catalogues of era-defining songs.
Listen to The Doors in Dolby Atmos here.