Notes

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Despite the fact that Jim Morrison cast a long shadow, it must be remembered that the Doors were first and foremost a band. After Morrison's passing in Paris in the summer of 1971, the group received a generous offer from Elektra president Jac Holzman to continue their recording career. Most fans of the group wondered if the band would even have any appeal without Morrison. Would they still be powerful? Would they progress? Well, the answer is yes and no. The Doors did a very smart thing on this record — they didn't try to replace or approximate Morrison. The result is a less serious but still focused album that, in hindsight, has real appeal. "Ships W/Sails" basically takes off where "Riders on the Storm" left off: its Afro-Cuban groove is an absolute gas, and shows that three remaining Doors were indeed progressing as musicians. The vocals on the album, while not disastrous, certainly don't have the impact that the band had with Morrison. The Doors knew this, and only tried to make an honest statement of where they were as musicians and not a social force. On this level, the effort succeeds admirably.