Although the Doors fourth album "The Soft Parade" (1969) had sold well and produced the smash hit "Touch Me," both fans and critics alike felt as though the band sold out. Compared to "The Doors" and "Strange Days" (both 1967) the band's more recent work had been viewed as overtly commercial. In the eyes of the Doors faithful, both "Waiting for the Sun" (1968) and "The Soft Parade" seemed to pale in comparison to the Doors first two albums. "The Soft Parade" in particular, with its strings and pop compositions, seemed to rub Doors fans and critics the wrong way. The negative feedback, however, ultimately worked to the Doors advantage. In response to the negative buzz, the Doors released what would ultimately be hailed as one of their finest albums "Morrison Hotel" (1970).

"Morrison Hotel" is neither a return to the sound of the Doors early albums nor is it a follow-up to the styling of its immediate predecessor "The Soft Parade." Rather, "Morrison Hotel" opens a new chapter in the Doors history all together. Gone were the psychedelic trimmings of the first two albums. Gone was the commercialism of the last two. "Morrison Hotel" is distinctly stripped down, and edgier. It was akin to what Credence Clearwater Revival were doing at the time. All in all, "Morrison Hotel" is an album of unadulterated, meat-and-potatoes, no-nonsense, blues-tinged, rock n' roll.

Although "Morrison Hotel" embraces a new sound, all the elements of the Doors are firmly in place; Jim Morrison's soulful baritone, John Densmore's jazzy percussion, Robbie Krieger's bluesy guitar, all the while peppered with Ray Manzarek's wholly unique signature organ and piano. So while "Morrison Hotel" sees the Doors exploring new ground, they do so in a way that doesn't forget what made the Doors, the Doors.

Some of Morrison's best poetry is on "Morrison Hotel." While all his work is good, with "Morrison Hotel," he was just starting to blossom as a writer and was becoming more refined.

In some respects, "Morrison Hotel" is a precursor or sister album to its more renowned follow-up, "LA Woman" (1971). Both albums are cut from the same cloth in the sense that they are both blues-tinged hard-rock, but "Morrison Hotel," while hardly cheerful, is distinctly less dark, perhaps because the listener knows that Morrison's death is not imminent.

The straight-forward "Roadhouse Blues" was the most rocking song the Doors recorded since "Break on though (to the other Side) from the Doors debut. John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful (though not credited by name) adds the perfect touch of harmonica to give the song a gritty edge. "Waiting for the Sun," which was originally penned for the album by that name, begins slowly and serene, with an underlining pressure slowly building up beneath the surface, as forceful keyboards pierce their way though from time to time. Then, as the chorus sets in, the song yields to Morrison, demanding to know "what went wrong." The upbeat "You Make Me Real," while not bad, lacks the grit of the rest of "Morrison Hotel," and is not one of the albums better songs. The highly underrated melodic "Peace Fog" gets the album back on track and features one of Krieger's best solos. The serene "Blue Sunday" is simply enchanting, and Morrison had never given a more soulful delivery (although by now his voice was not what it had been). Cut from the same cloth, the jazzy "Ship of Fools" and the bluesier "Land Ho!" acts effectively as a semi-medley. On the low-key, serene, "The Spy," one really believes that Morrison is omni-present, as he states he is. The easygoing "Queen of the Highway" follows nicely, keeping up the momentum. "Indian Summer" is simply one of the most beautiful Doors compositions ever. More than just another balled, Morrison never sounded so vulnerable or sincere. Though Morrison's voice is nearly shot for the closing "Maggie Mc'Gill," this bluesy rocker makes for a good finale.

Unfortunately for Morrison and the band as a whole, by the recording of "Morrison Hotel," Morrison's heavy drinking and drugs were beginning to take a toll on his voice. While his voice isn't a ghost of its former glory as it is in the follow-up "LA Woman," Morrison does sound strained.

Upon its release, "Morrison Hotel" was greeted with a warm reception among fans and critics alike, and the album was praised as the groups' best work since "Strange Days." While "Morrison Hotel" is held in high regard today, it is unfortunately sometimes overlooked due to the fact that fans and critics alike tend to cite the Doors first two albums, and Morrison's swan song, "LA Woman" as the bands best work. And while "Morrison Hotel" boasts such classics as "Roadhouse Blues" and "Waiting for the Sun," many other songs like "Indian Summer" and "The Spy" are overlooked and remain lost treasures.

Some critics will tell you only die-hard fans need to buy the Doors studio albums and that the casual fan is best served sticking to a "best of" CD. If you are on a budget, sure, otherwise, go ahead and buy all six classic Doors albums. While a hits album is good, each Doors album has its own unique flavor and flow, and one is best served experiencing the album as a whole, rather than just getting the highlights from a "greatest hits" or a "best of." If you followed the advice of critics who will tell you "all you need is a `best of'" you'd miss out in many of their best songs, like the aforementioned "Indian Summer" and "The Spy."

The Doors make yet another classic hard rock album here. They were getting pressured by new groups like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the revamped Mach II Deep Purple. The Doors started moving away from the acid rock sound into bluesy hard rock in the vein of mid 70's Stones. Morrison is at his peak, and his lower voice is a nice change of pace from the other shreiking hard rock singers of his day... Check out this album, you can't lose.

After the critical brickbats that greeted "The Soft Parade" (1969), Jim Morrison and company made a smashing return to form with their most cohesive album. "Morrison Hotel" (1970) has no misfires. "Roadhouse Blues," "You Make Me Real" and "Peace Frog" are among the hard-rock highlights - punctuated by effective ballads such as "Blue Sunday" and "Indian Summer." The Doors would take their blues-oriented sound even further on "L.A. Woman" (1971), but "Morrison Hotel" evokes the perfect bar-band atmosphere.

What a great album. Only an innovative band like The Doors could successfully mix Rolling Stones-style barroom blues-rock with beautiful, haunting poetry. The result is Morrison Hotel, The Doors' fifth and best album. It is at times raunchy, boisterous rock, and other times mysterious and poetic. Morrison and Kreiger have composed some mighty fine songs on this one (as always).

Musically, the band is top notch. Jim Morrison's vocals adapt beautifully from style to style, Robbie continues to show us why he's one of the best guitarists in rock, John's drumming is solid, and Manzarek's keyboards are particularly noteworthy. Especially worthy of mentioning is the bass playing. Ray Neopolitan, The Doors' session bassist on Morrison Hotel, lays down some fantastic bass grooves.

The Doors, unlike the Stones, give you great lyrics in addition to great music. The influence of this album can be plainly heard in the Rolling Stones' 1971 Sticky Fingers album. Morrison Hotel is truly an underrated classic of rock and roll.

After a couple of albums that were more noted for hit singles that smacked too much of pop music for their fans, namely 1968's "Waiting for the Sun" with "Hello, I Love You" and 1969's "The Soft Parade" with "Touch Me," the Doors got back to their roots with "Morrison Hotel." This is clear from the opening track on this 1970 album, the rock 'n' booze anthem "Roadhouse Blues," which blasts this album into the stratosphere. Robbie Krieger's opening riff sets the tone and Ray Manzarek pounds away on the piano to establish the mood, with the whole thing capped off by Jim Morrison's vocalized howls. You can hear live versions of "Roadhouse Blues," but unfortunately none of them were ever performed in the perfect locale, which would have been a bar. But you can imagine how great it would sound to hear this one blasting the top off of some juke joint.

There are not any hit singles on the group's fifth studio album, which is undoubtedly why it went over better with the fans of the Doors, even if it only made it to #4 on the Billboard album charts. To help validate the blues the Doors brought in the great sessions jazz guitarist Ray Neopolitan, albeit as a bass player (the Doors never really bothered with one). The requisite touch of the exotic can be found in songs like "Waiting for the Sun," "Queen of the Highway," and "Indian Summer." Morrison, who was noticeably disengaged in terms of both his lyrics and his singing on previous albums, is back to waxing poetic big time, as evidenced by "Ship of Fools," which mixes nihilistic imagery with prospects for hope. Again, Morrison is found commenting on the counterculture, singing about how "Everyone was hanging out/Hanging up and hanging down/Hanging in and holding fast." Musically the instrumental break is where the group gets to indulge in some showmanship where the emphasis is decidedly on jazz and no longer on pop.

The other great track is "Peace Frog," which comments on the "Blood in the streets," but is more notable for Morrison's musings on an episode from his childhood in some of his most searing imagery (e.g., "Indians scattered on dawn's highway, bleeding to death") and poetic (e.g., "Blood is the rose of mysterious union"). Again, Krieger and Manzarek provide the appropriate musical accompaniment to the verbal images of cultural unrest as the end of the turbulent Sixties being thrown out by Morrison. The Doors often commented on what was happening in the streets without ever offering a solution, and this song is one of their best efforts in that regard. One final track of note remains, and that would be the slow blues tune "The Spy," simply because its music, if not its lyrics (e.g., "I know the word that you long to hear/I know your deepest, secret fear"), anticipates the last great Doors song to come on their final album, "L.A. Woman."