The Fat Angel Sings

“Morrison Hotel” (sometimes referred to as Hard Rock Café from the title of the first side of the LP, with the second side titled “Morrison Hotel” is the fifth studio album by the American psychedelic rock band The Doors, recorded from between August 1966 and November 1969 and released by Elektra in February 1970. The group went back to basics and back to their roots. On this album, there is a slight steer towards the  blues sound, which would be fully explored by the band on their next album, “L.A. Woman“.

Between Jim’ Morrison’s, tour-killing obscenity charge (stemming from a Miami concert where he may or may not have exposed himself on stage), declining sales, and the negative reviews given to their previous two albums, many people gave up on The Doors.  but “Morrison Hotel” , with its tougher, back-to-basics sound, reestablished them as America’s greatest rock & roll band. It became a Top 5 album, but it’s only single, “You Make Me Real,” didn’t even make the Top 40. Still, “Roadhouse Blues” (the single’s b-side), “Peace Frog,” and “Waiting For The Sun” have since become some of The Doors’ best-known songs.

The cover photo was taken at the actual Morrison Hotel located at 1246 South Hope Street in Los Angeles. The band asked the owners if they could photograph the hotel and they declined, so the band went inside when nobody was looking and took the photograph anyway.  The desk Clerk wouldn’t let the Doors shoot their cover shot in the Lobby, but when he stepped out for his break photographer Henry Diltz stayed outside the hotel, snapping away while the band rushed inside and gathered behind the hotel’s now famous window. The rear cover features a photograph of the Hard Rock Café on 300 East 5th Street, Los Angeles.  The founders of the later and otherwise unrelated Hard Rock Cafe chain used the name, having seen it on the Doors’ album. The original cafe is no longer open. After they wrapped up their hit-and-run cover shoot, The Doors hit LA’s skid row to grab a drink. They settled in to a dive called the Hard Rock Café, where Diltz took the photo for the album’s back cover. After the album came out, two guys called to ask if they could use the name of the bar for a new restaurant they were opening in London, paving the way for hundreds of restaurants, hotels and casinos. When it was originally released on vinyl, side one of Morrison Hotel was labeled Hard Rock Cafe. Side two was Morrison Hotel.

One of Morrison Hotel’s most revered cuts was actually supposed to be the title track to an earlier album. “The artwork was done, but the song wasn’t ready,” said keyboardist Ray Manzarek. It took a year, but they finally got “Waiting For The Sun” right.

You’d think having your hotel on the cover of a seminal rock album would inspire you to fix up the place and raise the rent, but the owners of the Morrison were among LA’s most notorious slum-lords. By the time the hotel was shut down, they’d been convicted on 21 counts of violating fire, safety and health codes, with the city citing vermin infestations, broken heaters, lead poisoning, and raw sewage leaks among the offenses.

Even though no major hit singles were drawn from the album, “Morrison Hotel” re-established the Doors as favorites of the critics, peaking at No. 4 on the US album chart. The album also became the band’s highest charting studio album in the UK,

For the 40th anniversary the album was re-released in completely remixed and remastered form. This practice extended to incorporating vocal and instrumental components which were not part of the original album. According to Ray Manzarek, “There are background vocals by Jim Morrison, piano parts of mine that weren’t used and guitar stingers and solos by Robby Krieger that never made the original recordings that can now be heard for the first time.

Lonnie Mack, who plays bass on “Roadhouse Blues” was better known as a top-shelf blues guitarist. In fact, Stevie Ray Vaughan said that, as a kid, he practiced guitar to one of Lonnie’s albums so many times his dad destroyed it.
The stripped-back recording sessions toughened up and focused The Doors on stage as well as in the studio. Before it was even released, “Roadhouse Blues” became a fixture in their set lists and many fans still consider it their best live cut.