In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

awww, i like that harmonica solo. it fits right in with the '80s bar-band (...meets new wave, obviously) vibe of the whole thing. and, conveniently, it comes at the end, giving DJs the option to cut out of it anytime they want. this is a four-minute song that could easily play on the radio as a three-minute song.

this sounds to me like new wave night at the stone pony in asbury park, or whatever the equivalent of that was in ohio, and it's totally fun, but also grown-up and pissed-off and defiant in a way that so much of that stuff was not. the key line is "i got a kid/i'm 33, baby," which i remember coming across as shocking and brave and cool when i first heard it. "33" might as well have been "63." and "got a kid" was not something i was used to pop stars screaming about in 1984.

that "little bit softer now" segment, on the other hand -- that sounded very very 1984.

That line was so unusual for a long time I was positive it said "I've gotta get a .33" as in Chrissy's got a gun.

Oh, wow, I blew right by it thinking she said ''I'm not a kid, I'm 33,'' which is still defiant enough but definitely not as distinctive.

Suppose I should give this one at least one more listen with an ear out for the lyrics...it occurs to me that I didn't really take in the plot at all!

"Standing in the middle of life with my PANTS behind me" is what I heard 30 years ago

^^I still hear that line as 'Pants', tbph.

Me too

Chrissie Hynde's most Elvis Costello-y song, I think. "I can't get from the cab to the curb without some little jerk on my back" could've come right off of Armed Forces.

I used to think that line was about carrying her baby on her back.

The baby on my back
The buh buh buh buh baby on my back back back back

i love that line, that line plus rrrrrNEEOWWWWWW make the song for me.

it occurs to me that I didn't really take in the plot at all!

i sometimes don't take in the plot until i've been listening to a song for years!

you can't really call yourself a classic rock station, or a classic rock thread, or a classic rock anything, if you don't play the doors at least once every couple hours. so we return to the scene of this thread's opening band, and dr. casino's opening disappointment, for a rather different doors song, which i'm reasonably sure is the first doors song i ever liked.

SONG #18: THE DOORS "TOUCH ME"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UEVyIyibD8

suggested awkward segue for the dj of the strange classic rock station that is this thread:

"speaking of the pretenders, use your arms, use your legs, use your fingers, use your, your, your imagination ... and touch me babe!"

get a new skank!

STRONGER THAN DIRT!

Touch Me is one of the few Doors songs I still tolerate but doesn't stand a chance against Peace Frog.

otm

Great karaoke song.

Touch Me: Man, there's a title that, coming in cold, I really don't want to hear Jim Morrison saying a lot - I get skeeved out by "Love Me Two Times." Let's see.

Well, at least this is peppy! More British Invasiony or something. Ugh Morrison, I just - oh wow, the horns all over this! Wandering way over into Johnny Rivers/Tom Jones territory. This arrangement is ready-made for the 'live' TV performance with stark black backdrop, smeary color and bad studio lights.

This is basically fine as this kinda stuff goes but - and maybe this is just my suspicion of the Doors coming through - it does feel like a cover or demo of a song that someone else has the definitive version of. Morrison's big booming approach to the vocals is really distracting - it's amazing how much better the song got the moment he walks away from the mic for this big instrumental breakdown, which gradually takes us from Vegas to Freak-town, I like that move. "Stumble in front?" Oh, I see. That's...cute I guess? (The phrase for me links up more with the Samurai Pizza Cats theme song than the cleanser slogan.)

Second listen, yeah, Morrison's the weakest thing about this, or maybe it's just that his voice is kinda too similar in tone to everything else, thick and doughy and glued-together. This is where my weaknesses as a rock critic really show through though: I know something about the rhythm section isn't working here, but is it that the bassist sucks? The drummer sucks? Or is the drummer just badly-recorded? There's a missing snap, crackle and/or pop here, though I imagine if one is a Doors fan, the boozy and lugubrious haze is part of the point. Not exactly for me, but at least interesting.

Y'know, it's kinda amazing, we owned the Greatest Hits record, and it lived in my room for a while, and I still don't think I've ever heard this before. Pretty sure I cherry-picked it for "Riders on the Storm" and nothing else - I was an unadventurous listener I reckon. I don't think I got into "Break On Through" until I borrowed the Forrest Gump soundtrack from my high school bus-mate, which would explain how I escaped its immediate follow-up on the Greatest Hits LP, "Roadhouse Blues."

OTM these guys are the worst

I think the bass player (not a full-time Door, probably Harvey Brooks) is more comfortable with the shuffle feel of the rhythm than John Densmore, who changes his feel throughout, rushing sometimes and slowing down at others.

First heard Touch Me when it was included on a mixtape from my longtime high school girlfriend as an indication that we were FRICKIN' FINALLY going to get to have sex. Anyway, I never told her this (because I was v. much in love with her and wouldn't want to hurt her feelings), but I thought the song was unbelievably cheesy and for just a minute there it almost gave me second thoughts.

okay, that story makes me feel my time listening to The Doors was not wasted

it's kind of cool they were trying something different on that album, but those horn arrangements highlight all that is cheesiest about the band

The drummer sucks?

Yes.

Or is the drummer just badly-recorded?

Also this.

i always think of the recording scene from the movie whenever I hear this song now

WHY DON'T YOU SUCK A FART OUT OF MY ASSHOLE YOU FASCIST SLAVEDRIVER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TioucxNAuzg

let's not talk about why i'm thinking of the movie at all (secret answer: i kind of love it)

movie is better than the band!

and that scene is hilar

I was trying to find the scene, maybe it's soon after that, where he sings the 'cmon cmon now fuck me babe, can't you see that I want you to give me head' or something?

maybe I imagined that though? It's been years since I last saw it. hmmm maybe time for a reviewing

Y'all are making me weirdly interested in seeing the movie. That, and realizing Kyle MacLachlan's in it.

The movie is the only thing I ever liked about the Doors, even as a rebellious 70s rock teen I was like "turn them the fuck off"

i loved the Doors in high school, gorged on the movie repeatedly well into college

I still have a nostalgia for The Doors and there are things that I definitely love about them but in my adulthood it's not hard to see how terribly lolsome they are

anyway I recommend the movie. also it's a nice change from Olly Stone beating you over the head with one of his other 10 hobbyhorses at the time so

My best friend back then's litmus test for sleeping with a guy - if he liked the Doors, no way

They're one of those acts I think that could seem like a really good idea at a very specific point in time, and to me seem like they should have no traction outside of that scene. Yet some subset of the youth continue to discover them, I think. Wonder what they would have turned into had they survived the early 70s. I bet they could have made at least an "interesting" disco record.

Kyle's wig in the Doors = A+. Also PAUL WILLIAMS as Andy Warhol's sidekick and Cripsin Glover as Andy Warhol. So many awesome things in that movie... (and yes VG that scene/line is in there, but I think it's something he adlibs during a live show before getting arrested?)

it is weird how much I love that movie given that I have absolutely zero interest in the actual band

xpost if by "a very specific point in time" you mean "never" then well, yeah

My best friend back then's litmus test for sleeping with a guy - if he liked the Doors, no way

― Sandy, Wednesday, July 16, 2014 4:38 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha when I was in college, we had a similar litmus test - if a guy had Jim Morrison's book of poetry and acted like that meant something interesting, no way.

my wife still has Morrison's books (plural!) on our library shelves

they are kinda funny in a ridiculous way tbh

the poet/shaman/Lizard King stuff will never not be funny, but the debut and L.A. Woman both stand up well against other albums from those years

Strange Days is the best imo.

The best Doors albums are the live ones from 1970 that they've been putting out in recent years. Fucking hilarious. (That said, I actually like The Doors, Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman quite a bit. But I don't listen to them often.)

I made the blue cars go away.

Strange Days is great

Honestly it wasn't the poetry books themselves so much as it was the dude's tendency to think that owning/liking those books made him deep/thoughtful ESPECIALLY if those were the only poetry books he owned or even could name.

kinda like, instead of leather pants

The best Doors albums are the live ones from 1970 that they've been putting out in recent years. Fucking hilarious. (That said, I actually like The Doors, Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman quite a bit. But I don't listen to them often.)

― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, July 16, 2014 12:02 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I loved them as a kid but went through a long period of my twenties/early 30s hating them. Now, I back to thinking they are awesome, in no small part due to hearing the live records from 1970, which are so bizarre and sleazy and great.

I really love all the albums.

Wandering way over into Johnny Rivers/Tom Jones territory

basically the reason i like the song.

also, my best friend has a theory that any song with the phrase "come on, come on" in it is automatically great.