Thursday, October 3, 2019

Spare Creativity #1: January 1968 - July 1968: Just Made It Up As He Went Along

Pictured above: The Doors, 1968

By the end of 1967, the Doors had become a legendary band, hailing from Los Angeles, with Jim Morrison’s poetic lyrics, John Densmore’s rhythmic drumming, Robby Krieger’s powerful guitar work, and Ray Manzarek’s signature keyboard style all helping to create such a powerful unit.

Though usually causing legal trouble (with Jim’s erratic behavior on stage), the band managed to gain a following with two classic albums (their self-titled and Strange Days). By 1968, the band were at work on their third album (working title being Waiting for the Sun), with Jim penning what would be considered his magnum opus The Celebration of the Lizard. Despite for the first few days then band seemed to have good faith in the track, morale decreased more and more as they focus too much on the minute details, making the track as a whole lose overall cohesiveness.

“No offense to Jim, but I feel like even he didn’t get what this whole Lizard shit was about, and just made it up as he went along”
Paul A. Rothchild, 1973

At first the band were thinking of just cutting the piece all together, when Jim gave a good case for it, that the band should take a risk on the new and experimental as to not grow stale, and if it wasn’t received well, they could always go back to what they were doing beforehand. With that, the band continued on working on the piece, and they finish recording on May 1968, with the album being released on July 3, 1968 to polarizing reviews.



The Celebration of the Lizard


Side A:
- 01. Five to One (4:26) [1]
- 02. Love Street (2:52) [1]
- 03. We Could Be So Good Together (2:24) [1]
- 04. Yes, The River Knows (2:38) [1]
- 05. My Wild Love (2:52) [1]
- 06. The Unknown Soldier (3:25) [1]
- 07. Spanish Caravan (2:59) [1]

Side B:
- 08. Wintertime Love (1:54) [1]
- 09. Summer’s Almost Gone (3:22) [1]
- 10. Hello, I Love You (2:16) [1]
- 11. The Celebration of The Lizard (14:54) [2]

Released: July 3, 1968
Track sources:
[1] - Waiting For The Sun, 1968
[2] - Mix by The_Lifehouse



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A brief explanation for this blog.

This is an archive of the first draft of my music-focused alternate timeline history Something Creative , with every unpublished post republ...