55 Years Ago Today – Revisiting The Doors’ Eponymous Debut LP
- by Doug Collette
Released in January of 1967 (1/4/67), the Doors’ self-titled debut album predates other monumental titles of the year—The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Jefferson Airplane‘s Surrealistic Pillow, Cream‘s Disraeli Gears, and Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced?—and effectively helped set the stage for a cultural/societal upheaval at this point in just its nascent stages.
The Doors is widely regarded as one of the greatest debut albums in rock history and while it is certainly an excellent record—especially given how comparatively quickly it was recorded by Bruce Botnick, with Paul A. Rothchild as producer– fifty-five years of hindsight confirms the LP has its weak points.
Still, there’s no denying the highlights. In fact, it’s the very contrast between the peaks and valleys that certify The Doors as an extraordinary work.
