In late 1970 and early 1971, when Jim Morrison and his band members recorded their sixth and final studio album "La Women" in their West Hollywood rehearsal space, the singer was overwhelmed by alcohol: I was drunk almost every night, but when I got up in the morning, I was sober, and then strolled along Santa Monica Avenue to participate in the meeting of the day.

"When he was too drunk, he became a bit like—" Morrison’s Doors guitarist Robby Krieger recalled over the phone at his home in Benedict Canyon, in "La Women "During the meeting. "It's getting harder and harder to get close to him. He will have his drinking buddies, and we always try to prevent them from being together." Krieger's new memoir "Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors" "It didn't criticize Morrison's dark side, nor did it diminish the light of his creation.

"Los Angeles Women" is the subject of a reissue by Rhino Records. The physical set called "LA Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" includes the original co-producer Bruce Botnick's re-production of the album, fascinating studio recordings of two albums, a large number of lining notes, and the original stereo mix. A copy of a vinyl record with sound.

It is not a foregone conclusion that Morrison, Krieger, drummer John Densmore and keyboardist Lehman Zarek successfully created "La Women". After all, Morrison was the kind of person who, after entering the Empire State Building in 1969 and boarding a crowded elevator, “sweeped through all the buttons and annoyed all the other passengers, and then they had to wait when the elevator stopped at each Floor," Krieger wrote in his memoirs.

But the musicians are rehearsing, and Morrison is writing, Krieger said. "Jim will live in this dilapidated motel called Alta Cienega, just across the street. It’s good because sometimes it’s not easy for Jim to appear in the recording. This time, because he is too close, he is usually The first one arrived."

By then, he had become a qualified rock star. Every early album of The Doors, including their eponymous debut album in early 1967 and their fall follow-up album "Strange Days", has become a platinum record, although before their third album "Waiting for the Sun" None of them made it to the first place. And the hit song "Hello, I love you" in 1968.

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The early days at Whisky A Go Go were initially tentative. By the time Doors released "Morrison Hotel" in the early 1970s, Morrison and his band members had been touring non-stop. Morrison's twisted and explosive performance made headlines, more wild than the performance of his pop-oriented Los Angeles counterparts Bird, Jonny Mitchell, or Mom and Dad. (When he became Iggy Pop, young fan James Osterberg got inspiration from Morrison at a concert at Doors.)

In 1970, Morrison appeared more and more on stage in the band’s two-dozen performances, where Gate played their hit songs with the blues classics, including Junior Parker’s "Mystery Train" and Willie Dixon’s "Backdoor" and John Lee Hook's "Crawling King Snake", they will eventually record for "LA Woman".

"Jim likes to sing the blues, especially when he is drunk," Botnick said when calling from his studio in Ojai.

On the catastrophic December 12th, 1970, during a tour in New Orleans—Morrison’s last concert—because of the lengthy discussion between Morrison’s narcissistic songs, the other members of the band gave up Once, he told a misogyny joke about a blind man passing by a fish market, and then swaggered into a boring, restless crowd. During their stay in Dallas the night before in New Orleans, they released their new song "Riders on the Storm" at the time, which sounded great. "We thought,'Wow, we are going to be a cool rock and jazz band,'" Densmore said. "Then the next night Jim was drunk. I hate erosion."

The drummer published "Explorer: Meeting with Outstanding Musicians (and Other Artists)" last year, hoping that they can get together when they return to Los Angeles and find a way to help Morrison. "I thought,'F- buddy, what if we can't get an album or two from Jim? Maybe we will save his life.'"

Their long-term producer, Paul A. Rothchild (Paul A. Rothchild) was mourning the death of close friend Janis Joplin in October (he oversaw her album "Pearls") and he Produced door's most popular songs, including "Light My Fire", "People are Strange" and "Love Me Twice". He was originally scheduled to return to the "Los Angeles Women", but dropped out before the meeting actually started. Included in the takeaways and demonstrations are recordings of early attempts at "Storm Rider", which is said to have prompted Rothschild to regard the song and the direction of the band as "cocktail jazz."

However, Krieger disputed Rothschild's resignation. "The real reason is that he just killed Janis and then she died. He had a feeling that if he made our album, something might happen." Rothschild, Krieger continued, "I don't want to be called the person who created someone and then they died."

In order to record in a comfortable place instead of their usual sunset sound, Botnick and the band set up a studio in their rehearsal space, called Door Studio, located at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard.

Morrison's return from the tour meant that his supporters reappeared. In his 1998 memoir "Igniting My Fire: Life at My Door," Manzarek described these hangers as "fallen men, fallen generations of indentured servants, slime balls, and Hollywood junk."

"On Sunday, when we got off work, he would go to the bar, get drunk, and crash," Manzarek wrote.

Nevertheless, somehow, from this chaos came a great song about Los Angeles.

"'LA Woman' is divided into three parts because we didn't figure it out all at once," Botnick recalled the process. "This is a very complicated song, and it takes a bit of work to make it sound uncomplicated." The new 50th Anniversary Edition includes all 40 minutes of "LA Woman" recorded by the band.

"That album was the first time we really wrote a song together as a band," Krieger said, noting that in order to liberate ourselves musically, they hired bassist Jerry Scheff (he was at the TCB of Elvis Presley at the time). Band) and rhythm guitarist Mark Benno. For the title song, “I can play my lead freely without having to mix it later,” Krieger explained. "Jim is singing in the bathroom, and he can hear everyone."

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What Morrison wrote and sang tried to capture the essence of Los Angeles through an extended metaphor:

I see your hair is full of fire on the burning hill. If they say I never loved you, you know they are a liar driving on your highway. The police roaming in the midnight alleys. The police are in the car. The topless bar has never seen a woman. So lonely.

For Botnick, “The'so lonely woman' is Los Angeles. It shows his vision of the city and his way of life in it, all the way to the bungalows in Hollywood.”

"The wonderful thing about Jim in "LA Women"," Densmore said, "it was him who wrote down our town's thoughts as a woman. "I see your hair burning and the mountains full of fire. "...That's our fire."

For an epic period of seven minutes, the band seemed to meander along Mulholland at midnight. When the singer sang "Mr. Mojo Risin'"-the anagram of "Jim Morrison"-the band moved into the bedroom.

"'Mr. Mojo Risin' is a sexual term," Densmore said, "so I suggest that we slowly increase the tempo, a bit like an orgasm." The goal is to restore the speed to the same speed as when the song started. "I think I'm a bit too much," Densmore said with a smile.

However, the real revelation in the demo was how sober and excited Morrison sounded. He jokingly began to sing the theme song for the Western TV show "Skin" between his roles in the unforgettable "Storm Rider". "I don't obey orders. I'm just a stupid singer," he said again.

For Krieger, hearing these clips remind people of the way in which the musical connection is expressed. "There is a kind of magic in this," he said. "The others are very similar, but the magic does not exist. It shows you how lucky it is to capture it."

They are not always so lucky on the album, it is still a polarizing listening, and it is often found that Morrison adopts the manner of a prowler contaminated by cigarettes, boasting and moaning by simply writing blues lyrics. To capture the Los Angeles tenor of the Manson family era, the inner sleeve of this album includes an image of a naked, lifeless woman pinned to a telephone pole. Elektra Records, the record company of The Doors, also used this illustration for the creepy Sunset Boulevard billboard. The marketing campaign worked. "Los Angeles Woman" sold more than 2 million copies.

Critic Roy Carr commented on the new Music Express when it was released, calling it "one of their best ever works" and praising it with a clear irony: "The accusation about it being boring, boring, and monotonous. , In most cases is unfounded, because many clips of this album have a strong sense of depth, vitality and presence." "Rolling Stone Records Guide" gave this album five stars.

However, Morrison has many critics. The most memorable thing is that the critic Lester Bangs (Lester Bangs) in a 1981 article titled "Jim Morrison: Pozo Dionysus ten years later" discussed His charm.

"One thing Morrison can never deny," Bunce wrote, "is at his best (and maybe his worst, or whatever), he has his own style, just as he was The poet is in his best state of fear, desire and insanity, so he is also the best clown."

By 1971, Morrison didn't seem to care much about his public image. A few years ago, he almost gave up on music and turned to poetry and self-published books as James Douglas Morrison (James Douglas Morrison). (His portfolio was recently published by Harper Design.) As the "La Women" recording conference proceeded, Morrison decided to fly to Paris to stay with his girlfriend Pamela Coulson for a long time.

After the album was released in April 1971, Densmore received a sudden call from Morrison. "He looked a little crazy, and I thought,'Ah, f-,'" Densmore said. "But I like that he called me to learn about the performance of'LA Woman', I was very excited to tell him that'Love Her Madly' is very popular."

Densmore told Morrison that "Riders on the Storm" will be the next single. "He said,'That's great,' and he will come back eventually."

Morrison died on July 3, 1971 from heart failure in the bathtub of his and Coulson apartment at 17 Beautreillis Street.

In the decades after Morrison's death, Densmore said he was often asked whether he thought Morrison could have avoided his fate and became clean and sober if he hadn't gone to Paris.

"I used to say,'No, he is a kamikaze berserker,'" the drummer said. "But I have changed that answer. This is a different time. Drug abuse clinics are not cool. Now, angry and creative people like Jim are clean and sober. So why not? Jim is very smart."

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Randall Roberts reports on Los Angeles music culture. Since joining The Times in 2010, he has held various roles including music editor and pop music critic. Currently a full-time writer, he has explored the multi-level history of Los Angeles music, from Rosecrans and Sunset to Ventura Boulevard. His 2020 project on the early Southern California phonograph industry helped determine the first ever commercial record produced in Los Angeles.

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