The Doors were--and are--one of rock's greatest bands, with a unique sound all of their own. Flamboyant frontman Jim Morrison may have been the face & image of the group, but these guys always worked together like a classy four-headed machine to produce some of rock's greatest music. Picking a favorite Doors album is hard---even the criticized "Soft Parade" album has got some terrific Doors gems on it. But 1968's "Waiting For The Sun" is my personal favorite from The Doors. It's a great Doors classic that sees the band masterfully walking the tightrope between the hard rockers and the softer ballads. For their third album, singer Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger & drummer John Densmore decided to go for an earthier, softer sound on some of the tracks, which lends this Doors album an extra kind of beauty. Even Jim Morrison himself sounds more down-to-earth on this album, as his vocals on the first two Doors albums were very echoey, making him sound like he was a disembodied spirit, or recording his vocals inside a cave. Not that there's anything wrong with that---I love "The Doors" & "Strange Days"--- but Jim sounded on those first two albums like he was always floating in the clouds above his three musical co-horts. But on "Waiting For The Sun," Jim's voice is warmer, not so echoey, and on definite equal footing in the mix with his bandmates, which is a plus.Great Doors songs are everywhere on "Waiting For The Sun"---the huge hit "Hello I Love You," the beautiful "Love Street," the bizarre "Not To Touch The Earth" (an extract from an even longer Doors composition, "The Return Of The Lizard King," found on the live "In Concert" CD), the haunting "My Wild Love," and other Doors classics like "The Unknown Soldier," "Spanish Caravan," and the terrific rocker, "Five To One." Say what you want about Jim Morrison's strange lyrics & poetry, but give the man some credit---this guy definitely had a way with words, AND he had a monster voice & presence to match. He was the quintessential rock singer, and he is greatly missed. Ray Manzarek can stroke the keyboards like no one else on Earth (and NO ONE plays the organ as brilliantly as he does). Robby Krieger is a mean guitarist, serving up some incredibly memorable licks, and John Densmore is one of rock's finest drummers, whether slamming his drumkit like a man posessed, or just kicking back with a steady beat. I suppose "Waiting For The Sun" is also my favorite Doors album because it captures the band right smack in the middle of their lifespan, with two albums behind them and three more to go, and with so much life left in them as a great musical force. They rocked all the way to the end, in fact, right up until Morrison took his leave of planet Earth. But "Waiting For The Sun" is, I think, the band's masterpiece. It's an amazing Doors album filled with variety, feeling, and tremendous power. Pick it up! :-)

"Waiting for the Sun," all things considered, represents the softer side of the doors. Just come the difference in tone of both the music and the lyrics of "Light My Fire," the first song most people remember hearing by the Doors, and "Hello, I Love You," the hit single off of this third album. For the most part "Waiting for the Sun" was something of a disappointment after the first two albums, but whereas "The Doors" hit #2 on the Billboard charts and "Strange Days" made it to #3, this one made it all the way to #1. Go figure, boys and girls. But in the end this might be a lesser album by the Doors but it still has its moments.

The word that really describes the difference between this album and the rest of the Doors' oeuvre is, believe or not, "mellow." Listen to the rock ballads "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes the River Knows" and you will quickly get the point. Jim Morrison's lyrics for "Love Street" are pretty autobiographical in terms of his budding romance with Pamela Courson and fans can still check out some of the locations alluded to in the song, which is a lot less expensive than going on a pilgrimage to Paris to see Morrison's grave.

But while mellow might be a dominant element it is the eerie sounding song "The Unknown Solider," with its anti-war lyrics, that is the standout piece on the album. I am always amazed this song is only 3:10 long because it has so many parts that you think it goes on longer: Ray Manzarack provides a spooky organ intro (the man is one of my top three organ players of all-time in rock 'n' roll), the first verse has jazz elements, there is a firing squad in the middle, then the verse repeats in more of a rock style, and the song ends with the sounds of celebration. This was not a prominent anti-war song, but it is hard to find one this literate or musically ambitious.

"Hello, I Love You" was the hit single, but I always found it rather bland for a Doors song and at odds with pretty much everything else they did. The explanation is that this song actually predates their self-titled debut album, so there is a reason it sounds so outdated and out of place (face it, this is a pop song). I like Robby Krieger's flamenco guitar on "Spanish Caravan" and that song a lot more. "Not to Touch the Earth" is part of the legendary uncompleted work "The Celebration of the Lizard," and the final track "Five to One," driven by John Densmore's drumming, has some interesting lyrics attacking the flower children for failing to organize into a political power. With the heavy guitar and organ playing this last song is decidedly not in the mellow mode. The mix is a bit unsettling, but just proves the point that there is always something worth listening to on a Door's album.

I was Doors fan in the 1980s. I liked their debut, Strange Days, LA Woman, Morrison Hotel etc. But when I brought this album home (on vinyl no less) and played it, I was speechless. It was terrible. Gone was the old slightly menacing Doors and here was the middle of the road lounge act Doors. The change from dark and mysterious to sugar coated twee was shocking. The electric organ now sounded horrible, they were already rehashing Break On Through and they seemingly had forgotten how to get their instruments in harmony with each other. And they totally ripped off The Kinks with Hello I Love You. I initially thought that maybe I was just not in a receptive mood for the music so I gave it a rest and came back to it a few days later. It still sounded dreadful. I've listened to this album a fair amount in the intervening 20 years and I *still* think it's one of the worst albums ever made.

Forget St Anger, Van Halen III or other "infamous" albums. Waiting For The Sun is truly the worst album by a major band!

I used to listen to The Doors religiously, but I strayed away for many years. I decided to buy this one since it's the only one I hadn't owned previously, and because I wanted to own Love Street and Spanish Caravan on cd. It's the most laid back of all the Doors albums, and that's fine with me. I guess my musical tastes have mellowed with age. My Wild Love is sort of a krishna-like chant thing, and it's grown on me. You can't go wrong with The Doors, and considering the insane state of the world, their message remains relevant. A great cd to mellow out with, for sure.

While at the time this album received mixed reviews from critics, specifically charging the Doors with going soft, it is easier to evaluate this album and its short comings 30+ years after its release. The album was originally to be titled "The Celebration of the Lizard" but was dropped due to the band not being able to nail the extended poem in the studio. Celebration was to be Morrison's masterpiece, and take up an entire side of the album. It is only represented on "Waiting For The Sun" with the climax of the piece, "Not To Touch The Earth". When the band was unable to include Celebration, panic must have ensued. This album has fragments of greatness such as "Not To Touch The Earth", "Unknown Soldier", "Spanish Caravan", "Summer's Almost Gone", and "Five To One", but unlike their previous 2 albums, this record contains some weak cuts as well. "Yes, The River Knows" and "Wintertime Love", both penned by Robbie Krieger, would probably not have been included on this album if Celebration and the title cut (which appeared later on Morrison Hotel)were polished for release. This is not a cheap shot at Robbie; after all, he also penned "Light My Fire", which can be considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and stepped up for this album when the band was frantic for material. Unfortunately, Morrison sounds dead while singing these 2 tunes by Robbie, an early indication of The Soft Parade album, when Morrison disliked Robbie's tunes to the point that songwriting credits were for the first time broken between the two; that way, the people wouldn't think Morrison was behind the lyrics of "Touch Me", and "Tell All The People".

On their first 2 albums, the guys took us to a different realm; there were no weak cuts; they both had a distinct beginning and end, leading us the entire way through the trip. This album gets us to the point that we want them to take control and lead us through, but it falls just short. Morrison doesn't fully show-up to guide us through heaven and hell as he had before. Similar to a frustrating acid experience at its peak, showing us the door to pure bliss but can't quite push us through to get us there.

Bottom line, this is not a full Doors album, it is half an album with filler. While there are throw-away tracks, I've given it 4 stars because in comparison to their first 2 albums, it's easy to criticize, but in comparison to albums by others, it is exceptional, which is a complement to Jim, Ray, Robbie, and John.