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Reviewing the first three Doors albums was a pleasure, they seemed to get better or at least progress and evolve into a better version of themselves with each record. Unfortunately now I am here at The Soft Parade album. On their first three albums, the band willingly shared the writing credits equally for every song, here in The Soft Parade it seems that they wished to lay blame and point fingers by crediting the songs to either guitarist Robbie Krieger or vocalist Jim Morrison. The liner notes in the CD states that by this point the band had run out of songs that were written during the early days of the band, and were now forced to write songs while in the studio. As producer, Paul Rothchild was inspired to make the album as cohesive as he could. His insistence of orchestras and brass instruments on a number of the songs feel like an audible diversion rather than a natural progression of the band’s sound.  

Tell All the People opens with a big brass section with Ray Manzarek’s piano taking a backseat, and I can’t even hear Robbie’s guitar, is he even playing on this song? Jim Morrison’s interpretation of Robbie Krieger’s lyrics results in a sound not unlike The Carpenters. The message of the song is just as silly as Listen to the Flower People from the fictitious Spinal Tap, except nowhere near as good. So far The Doors had always had real strong opening cuts on their albums, but this just feels embarrassing. Robbie Krieger accidentally struck gold with the very catchy Touch Me, a song that was another huge hit for the band. It gave them another top ten hit, despite the orchestra and the sheer polished lightness of the song. Paul Rothchild was fought to the very end about having all of this brass instruments and orchestra on the songs, but I feel that the saxophone solo by Curtis Amy really makes the song shine.

Jim Morrison’s first song to appear on The Soft Parade is Shaman’s Blues. It sounds as if it should be the ultimate theme song for the lizard king singer/poet, but unfortunately it’s disjointed lyrics and musical limpness just don’t live up to its title. Do It, a track written by Morrison and Krieger, with it’s lack of lyrics and simple riffs have the smelly stench of something written on the spot in the studio, yet having said that, it does have a grittiness to it that is missed on this LP so far. Easy Ride has a country/blues feel that may have been the inspiration for the theme song for the TV game show Family Feud.

Wild Child was the first track recorded for The Soft Parade, and is probably the closest to the classic Doors sound. The song sounds as if it was written by one poem of Jim’s instead of pieced together from fragments as sometimes it is. It has a feeling of coherency and Jim’s vocal sounds the best on this song so far. Perhaps the album suffered due to the fact that studio time had been booked between gigs. After the March gig in Miami Florida where Morrison had got arrested after supposedly flashing his schmeckle to the audience, there may have been a mountain of stress on the band that had affected the creation of The Soft Parade. Runnin’ Blue is an odd, out-of-the-blue track for The Doors. It starts off as a tribute to Otis Redding, who died in December of 1967, and it’s not a bad song, that is until Robbie Krieger’s Dylan like vocals come in. The song has the feeling as being split up into two songs, one that Morrison sings, which is a good track in the vein of Touch Me, but when Krieger takes over lead vocals over a blue-grass up tempo number, and the both are fused together by a jazz middle eight. The song should have been split into two separate songs, Krieger’s crazy voice would have added an authentic feel to it.

Krieger’s Wishful Sinful is pure throwaway, although the middle eight instrumental has an Arabian feel, which is momentarily inspiring. The title track is Morrison’s The Soft Parade, something like three poems fused together by some schizophrenic melodies. The epic length, the spoken word and the different melodies and musical pieces remind me what they wanted to do with the lost track The Celebration of the Lizard King. The abrupt disco/Latino beat during the third and fourth verses take me by surprise. Right where Morrison informs the listener that “this is the best part of the trip” he ain’t lying. I love the ever slow build-up of the song as the soft parade ♫is getting harder♫. Morrison again effortlessly brings you on his emotional rollercoaster where people just want a nice quiet street to play in, to where their ♫calling on the dogs♫. The Soft Parade may start with a hiccup, but it ends in genius.

The bonus tracks are surprisingly good on The Soft Parade, especially after listening to The Soft Parade. On the first three albums we had bonus tracks of songs that ended up on a Doors album sooner or later, but Who Scared You is a totally new track for people like me. The song is pure blues, a track written by Morrison and Krieger. There are two versions of Whiskey, Mystics and Men, another song that had never appeared on a Doors album before. These two tracks would have made The Soft Parade so much better, but less unified. Push, Push is a jam session where the boys give us an instrumental except for some yips, and ♫Push, Push♫ lyrics, that sounds like a Jose Feliciano song. The Touch Me (Dialogue) where John Densmore is making sure his snare is still in a good place after he accidentally bumped it is a waste of time, and the Take Three version sounds almost identical to the song we hear on track two. I was hoping for a stripped down version without the orchestra, too bad for me.  

It should be considered good news that we can hear the good songs on any Doors compilation album, so we don't need to buy this one. For over forty years now, The Soft Parade has been labeled and sugar-coated as an experimental album, but let’s be real. This is what it is, a limp effort.


The Doors
The Soft Parade
Length:  53:47 minutes
Released: July 18th 1969   
Rating: 2 stars
 the Songs:
1. Tell All the People
2. Touch Me
3. Shaman’s Blues
4. Do It
5. Easy Ride
6. Wild Child
7. Runnin’ Blue
8. Wishful Sinful
9. The Soft Parade
10.  Who Scared You?  (Bonus track)
11. Whiskey, Mystics and Men (Version 1) (Previously unissued)
12. Whiskey, Mystics and Men (Version 2) (Previously unissued)
13. Push, Push (Previously unissued) (bonus Track)
14. Touch Me (Dialogue)
15. Touch Me (Take 3)

Recommended: No