Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Doors, Elektra Records and Rhino Records have re-released the entire discography of the band, remixed with superior sound, bonus tracks, and jam-packed booklets filled with photos, lyrics, essays, and other good stuff. Remixed by original engineer Bruce Botnick, Waiting For the Sun, the bands third album that hit the scene back in 1968, is full of life and sonic clarity here on this reissue.
Jim Morrison's vocals have a poetic quality on the grand and majestic "Love Street" complemented wonderfully by Ray Manzarek's organ and electric piano, while the hit single "Hello I Love You" features some rampaging heavy rock guitar riffs from Robbie Krieger and an instantly memorable chorus. "Not Too Touch the Earth" is a psychedelic/prog rock gem, with chilling vocals from Morrison and wild guitar & keyboard duels from Krieger and Manzarek. If you read the booklet, it's interesting to note that this song was originally entended to be the middle section to "Celebration of the Lizard", which was to be the closing epic on the album along the lines of "The End" and "When the Music's Over". As it turns out, that song never made the album, but more on that later.
60's psychedelia just drips from the atmospheric "Summer's Almost Gone", highlighted by Krieger's looping slide guitar, and "The Unknown Soldier" is just a quality organ driven rock tune, with catchy hooks sung by Morrison. Krieger's flamenco guitar chops are all the rage on "Spanish Caravan", as he majestically carries this song while Morrison delivers his haunting poetry. The ominous chants of "My Wild Love" make for great "head" music, and "Five to One" is a menacing hard rock piece with stabbing guitar licks, beefy organ, and forceful drum work from John Densmore. Morrison sounds especially evil on this one.
As for the bonus tracks, there are three different takes on "Not To Touch the Earth", a haunting instrumental take on "Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor", which was recorded during the original sessions but never finished until 1999, and the demo version of "Celebration Of The Lizard", all 17 minutes of it. This one will be of great interest for Doors fans, and contains plenty of oddball Morrison poetry, creepy and angry vocals, and lots of organ and guitar passages. It's a shame it was left off the original album, but here it is in all its raw, emotional, and experimental glory. While Waiting For the Sun might overall not be quite on the same level as the bands debut or Strange Days, it comes damn close. With the inclusion of "Celebration of the Lizard" here, it makes this "probably need to have" reissue a "must have" reissue.
Track Listing
1. Hello, I Love You
2. Love Street
3. Not To Touch The Earth
4. Summer's Almost Gone
5. Wintertime Love
6. The Unknown Soldier
7. Spanish Caravan
8. My Wild Love
9. We Could Be So Good Together
10. Yes, The River Knows
11. Five To One
12. Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor (Bonus)
13. Not To Touch The Earth (Dialogue) (Bonus)
14. Not To Touch The Earth (Take 1) (Bonus)
15. Not To Touch The Earth (Take 2) (Bonus)
16. Celebration Of The Lizard (An Experiment/work In Progress) (Bonus )
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