Strange Days (The Doors album)
Strange Days is the second studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released on September 25, 1967, by Elektra Records. After the successful release of The Doors, the band started experimenting with new and old material as well in early 1967 for this second record. Upon release, Strange Days reached number three on the US Billboard 200, and eventually earned RIAA platinum certification. It contains the two Top 30 hit singles, "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times". Despite the album's failure to match the success of its predecessor, according to author David V. Moskowitz it was "arguably the one the band itself most appreciated musically and creatively". Recording and concept Strange Days was recorded during tour breaks between May and August 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood (the same studio as their first LP). In contrast to the 1966 sessions, producer Paul A. Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick employed a then cutting-edge 8-track recording machine. The protracted sessions allowed the band to experiment in the studio and further augment their sound with unusual instrumentation and sonic manipulation. According to Botnick, this approach was inspired by the band obtaining an advance copy of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and "absolutely flipping out" at what they heard. Botnick said that, following the Beatles' example, the Doors were determined to pursue "new techniques of recording. No holds barred." Unlike The Doors, Strange Days incorporates various instruments, ranging from marimba to Moog synthesizer, which has been described as one of the first uses of the synth in rock music history. The contribution of the synthesizer was programmed with the help of Paul Beaver and played by lead singer Jim Morrison. Session musician Doug Lubahn occasionally played bass during the recording of the album. The band explored musique concrète techniques during the album's recording sessions. While recording "Unhappy Girl" for example, keyboardist Ray Manzarek played his keyboard introduction backwards, and the corresponding overdubs were later made. On the track "Horse Latitudes", Botnick took the white noise of a tape recorder and varied the speed by hand-winding it (resulting in a sound akin to wind) as the four band members played a variety of instruments in unusual ways. Further varispeed was then employed to create different timbres and effects. Composition Strange Days has been described alternately by music critics as acid rock, psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, or simply psychedelia; Barney Hoskyns labeled it as "post-psychedelic pop". Several of the album's songs had been written around the same time as the ones that appeared on The Doors. Two ("My Eyes Have Seen You" and "Moonlight Drive") had been demoed in 1965 at Trans World Pacific Studios before Robby Krieger joined the group; indeed, the latter had been conceived by Morrison prior to his fateful reunion with Manzarek in the summer of 1965. Although the song was attempted twice during the sessions for the band's debut, both versions were deemed unsatisfactory. A conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive" features a defining