L.A. Woman

There's something about the way Jim Morrison's voice unfolds on L.A. Woman that grabs you immediately. It's not just the raw energy, but how they recorded it. To achieve that particular resonance in his vocals, Morrison would go into the bathroom of the makeshift studio on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Imagine, between sips of beer during sessions, searching for that deeper sound. The song, which gives the 1971 album its title, is the last one they recorded with him before his passing, and that intensity is palpable. The final part, that kind of coda, is where Morrison plays with "Mr. Mojo Risin'," an anagram of his own name, repeating it with a force that leaves you breathless.

The recording of L.A. Woman, between December 1970 and January 1971, featured the collaboration of Marc Benno on rhythm guitar and Jerry Scheff on electric bass. The song's original length, close to eight minutes, along with the complexity of its vocal chords, made it a challenge to perform live. In fact, they only played it in full once in concert, at their second-to-last show in Dallas. The way Morrison sang it, at full volume, even in the coda, combined with the effects of alcohol and tobacco on his voice, gave the performance a unique quality, a power few could match. The album L.A. Woman, released by Elektra Records in April 1971, departed from the usual production of Paul A. Rothchild, who left the band due to differences in the quality of the studio takes. Instead, the band worked with sound engineer Bruce Botnick. Before the album came out, Love Her Madly was released as a single in March 1971, managing to enter the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.