The Doors: L.A. Woman

It’s an Atypical Tuesday and our unusually packaged album is The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” – the band’s last LP recorded with singer Jim Morrison before his untimely death in 1971. When released, the original version of the album had a die cut cover that had curved corners and a cut out window.

In the window, a monochromatic photo of the band appeared on a clear sheet of plastic. An inner sleeve gave the impression that the image was printed on the yellow insert. The design, however, had some flaws. When stored with other albums, the album next to front cover often got caught in the die cut window. This eventually took its toll on the cover by damaging the window’s outside frame.

Not only did the album sport a unique cover, it also took the Doors back to a blues influenced sound. The album charted at #9 and was lowest charting of The Doors’ six Top Ten albums; however, it was their second best selling album behind the band’s debut album. “L.A. Women” is certified as double platinum for the sale of two million copies.

With the exception of some keyboard overdubs, the album was recorded live in the studio – which necessitated the addition of two session players: Jerry Scheff on bass and Marc Benno on rhythm guitar. The album’s two best known cuts, “Riders on the Storm” and “Love Her Madly,” were both issued as singles and charted at #14 and #11 respectfully.

Many of “L.A. Woman’s” cuts also received additional album radio play and these included the title cut, “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat),” “Crawling King Snake,” and today’s featured song “Cars Hiss By My Window.”