what is the best doors album

[Kleine Scheiße]

1. soft parade - 10/10
2. an american prayer - 9.7/10
3. l.a. woman - 9.3/10
4. the doors - 9.1/10
5. waiting for the sun - 7.8/10
6. strange days - 7.6/10
7. morrison hotel - 7.3/10
8. other voices - 7.0/10
9. full circle - 5.5/10

haven't heard absolutely live

[Meclazine for Israel]

The first album is invariably the best.

[DaleCooper]

Either The Doors or LA Woman.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

L.A. Woman (chosen kind of on a whim), followed in my book by Strange Days (which is probably my more long-standing favorite).

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1. soft parade - 10/10
2. an american prayer - 9.7/10
3. l.a. woman - 9.3/10
4. the doors - 9.1/10
5. waiting for the sun - 7.8/10
6. strange days - 7.6/10
7. morrison hotel - 7.3/10
8. other voices - 7.0/10
9. full circle - 5.5/10

haven't heard absolutely live

Pure f#cking blasphemy.

[Kleine Scheiße]

1. soft parade - 10/10
2. an american prayer - 9.7/10
3. l.a. woman - 9.3/10
4. the doors - 9.1/10
5. waiting for the sun - 7.8/10
6. strange days - 7.6/10
7. morrison hotel - 7.3/10
8. other voices - 7.0/10
9. full circle - 5.5/10

haven't heard absolutely live

Pure f#cking blasphemy.

prayer-petitioner detected

[Cassius]

I actually rather enjoy the post-Morrison ones.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Oh god. I do know where to begin, but wow. This is gonna be difficult. Anything without Morrison is out. I’m not a live music fan either, so that knocks 4 out. Admittedly, I haven’t listened to the last 4 on principle. I might make time to though just to see if there’s anything good there.

1. The Doors. I’ll be cliche and go with their eponymous first album. There’s just so many good songs there. It might not have my favorite Doors songs, but when combined, it has the best set.

2. Strange Days: The last several songs are great. Moonlight Drive is the original Doors song that brought Ray Manzarek. I Can’t See Your Face in my Mind is good. When the Music is Over is one of their great, long songs in the same vein as The End and LA Woman (the song).

3. L.A. Woman: The album’s eponymous song is my absolute favorite Doors song. Love Her Madly and L’America are good. Riders on the Storm is great too. With L.A. Woman, you get two great long songs where their weirdness really shines.

4. Waiting for the Sun: There’s good ones here, but nothing that truly stands out. It’s like placing fourth in the Olympics. Sure, you don’t have a medal, but you’re still fourth place in the world. Oddly enough given my rating, it’s the one that I have the entire album of on my phone. A bunch of 8s out of 10, which is still very good in my book.

5. Morrison Hotel: Peace Frog, Roadhouse Blues, and Waiting for the Sun are good, the rest are meh.

6. The Soft Parade: Can’t say I’m a fan of most anything here. Touch Me is the only one really worth listening to imo.
7-10 in any order on general principle: Absolutely Live, Other Voices, Full Circle, and An American Prayer

I will say that Weird Al’s Craigslist is an honorary Doors song. He even got Ray Manzarek to do the keyboards. The musical style is a perfect match (thanks in part to Manzarek). But it’s not just the music. It’s the rather smashed together stanzas that don’t really flow together that really shows that Weird Al understands The Doors.

[Kleine Scheiße]

6. The Soft Parade: Can’t say I’m a fan of most anything here. Touch Me is the only one really worth listening to imo.

come on, really? shaman's blues? the title track? tell all the people? i mean i understand how someone could rank it in the lower tier considering just how amazingly consistent the doors' discography really is but to say touch me is the only highlight kind of sounds to me like deliberately missing the point, tbh

i agree with many of your other takes including the weird al thing

[Independents for Nihilism]

6. The Soft Parade: Can’t say I’m a fan of most anything here. Touch Me is the only one really worth listening to imo.

come on, really? shaman's blues? the title track? tell all the people? i mean i understand how someone could rank it in the lower tier considering just how amazingly consistent the doors' discography really is but to say touch me is the only highlight kind of sounds to me like deliberately missing the point, tbh

i agree with many of your other takes including the weird al thing

The title track on Soft Parade always felt like a drunken imitation of The End or When The Music's Over to me. It's been a very long time since I've listened to the rest of the album but my impression is of forgettable mid-period stuff along with Waiting for the Sun (the album not the song).

As for me, I'm the lone vote for Morrison Hotel so far. It's probably not as good technically as their eponymous album, Strange Days or LA Woman but I love it all the same, and it feels like a perfect balance between blues and psychedelic. Peace Frog -> Blue Sunday is an all-time highlight.

[vitoNova]

It appears I'm the only one who voted An American Prayer thus far because "Ghost Song" is my favorite Doors song of all time.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

6. The Soft Parade: Can’t say I’m a fan of most anything here. Touch Me is the only one really worth listening to imo.

come on, really? shaman's blues? the title track? tell all the people? i mean i understand how someone could rank it in the lower tier considering just how amazingly consistent the doors' discography really is but to say touch me is the only highlight kind of sounds to me like deliberately missing the point, tbh

i agree with many of your other takes including the weird al thing

I gave the first five albums (trying to find an original copy of LA Woman since Youtube Music just has the 50th anniversary edition) a relisten. From Soft Parade, I did like Wishful Sinful and Tell All the People. I’d probably move it into a tie with Morrison Hotel.