Morrison Hotel was the Doors' stunning (yes stunning) reentrance into hardcore Doors fans' libraries. Judging by this sudden change into flat out blues, they weren't too pleased with the style of The Soft Parade. But this album was definitely something to be proud of (though pride is the essence of evil). The album starts off with the edgy Roadhouse Blues, which is probably one of the heaviest Doors' songs ever, along with Break on Through from the album The Doors. This album really shows the Doors' range of talent, with the second to last song Indian Summer, probably the mellowest Doors song ever. Even though I tend to like heavier songs, Indian Summer is one of my favorite songs on the album. Also a good song is Peace Frog, with basically every line starting with the word Blood. "Blood in the street, it's up to my ankles. Blood in the street, it's up to my knee. Blood in the streets in the town of Chicago. Blood on the rise it's following me." What a pleasant song! Two other songs to take note of are Ship of Fools and Land Ho!, both which give you the feeling of sailing the ocean blue. The main guitar riff for Land Ho! is a fast, distorted, bluesy riff that will quickly catch your attention; Ship of Fools reaches back to their first album. In each and every aspect, this album is one of the best albums of all time. I give Morrison Hotel 4 3/4 handclaps out of 5.
Roadhouse Blues
A great blues song with a catchy guitar rhythm, and great vocals to accompany the band. I usually get bored with greatest hits songs, but this one doesn't ever get boring.
Waiting for the Sun
Oddly enough, the title track for the album Waiting for the Sun is on Morrison Hotel. Maybe they had this written, but it wasn't good enough yet, or it didn't fit the mood of the album in the state it was in. Either way, two albums later, the bum bum ba... ba dum bum, bum bum ba... ba dum bum is pounding on your ear drums.
You Make Me Real
Hey, isn't this a Lennon song? It sure sounds like one. No, seriously. It sounds like Little Richard or something, but in a good way. It has a great keyboard "riff", or whatever it's called for keyboard.
Peace Frog
Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven. That's really a line in the song, but is that an insult, a compliment, or simply a reference that fits well in the song? I'm not sure, but this is a pretty psycadelic (or however it's spelled) Doors song.
Blue Sunday
One of the mellower songs on the album, but it's still good. He hits some pretty low notes, especially on "sunday". Not much more to say, nothing special lyrically or anything.
Ship of Fools
As I said, this reaches back to The Doors, the first album. You feel like you're on a big galleon or something, and everything's all salty and you can feel the waves pounding the side of the ship.
Land Ho!
2 years after Yellow Submarine, the Doors decide to get into the action. The whole story of it sounds like the plot of Yellow Submarine (the Yellow Submarine song itself, not the entire Yellow Submarine movie).
The Spy
Kinda slow, but not like Blue Sunday or Indian Summer. It still has some distortion and everything. He's a spy in the house of love, and he knows your deepest secret fears. Neat.
Queen of the Highway
She was a princess, queen of the highway. I'm not sure if that means she's some big fat crossdressing truck driver, and I'm guessing that's not what Jim was implying. An alternate version can be found on the Essential Rarities, and it's cool to compare what they almost put on the album and what they did put on the album.
Indian Summer
The mellowest Doors song you'll ever hear, yet strangely soothing and relaxing and comforting. This song really makes you sad that Jim died (in a bathtub no less). It is a good song, even if it is slow.
Maggie M'Gill
An edgy song that sounds strange coming right after Indian Summer's tranquility. It has a whiny guitar in it that sounds like the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band intro, and at certain points, the guitars seem to interact with each other in the right and left speakers. It's a song about a girl who got no will from her dad so she went to Tangie Town, where the people really like to get it on. Also, her mommy and daddy met in the back of a "rock n roll car". A cool, very bluesy way to finish of the Doors' Morrison Hotel.
This was Kal from Matt-O-Mac, writing seemingly endlessly about things you may not care about.
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