Morrison Hotel is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Doors. It was released by Elektra Records in February 1970. The album is split into two sides with the separate titles “Hard Rock Cafe” and “Morrison Hotel” and is largely seen as the Doors’ return to the mainstream.

Morrison Hotel was a return to basics largely stemming from the group’s frustration with the prolonged recording sessions for The Soft Parade, which took nine months to make and cost an astronomical $86,000, far more than any previous Doors recording, as well as the album’s poor reception.

Morrison Hotel features a slight blues-inflected sound that the band would continue to fully develop on their next album, L.A. Woman.

Recording began in November 1969 and was completed in January 1970, with the exception of “Indian Summer”, which had been recorded in August 1966, and “Waiting For The Sun”, which was recorded in March 1968 during the recording of their third album. “Queen Of The Highway” was recorded in a more jazzy rendition, with Harvey Brooks on bass, during the recording sessions for The Soft Parade, while “You Make Me Real”, originally heard at a live performance by the group at the Aquarius Theater in 1969, was one of Morrison’s most recent compositions, dating back to 1966.

Although Morrison Hotel does not contain any major hits, it does feature some of the band’s most popular songs, such as “Roadhouse Blues” and “Peace Frog”, which were staples of classic rock radio at the time. The recording of “Roadhouse Blues” took place over two days, November 4–5, 1969, with Paul Rothchild striving for perfection in the production.

The recordings featured blues guitarist Lonnie Mack on bass and former Lovin’ Spoonful member John Sebastian on harmonica, appearing under the pseudonym G. Puglese. Also during the recordings, Ray Manzarek swapped out his Wurlitzer electric piano for a piano used by the Beach Boys on their album “Good Vibrations”.

The cover photo was taken by Henry Diltz at the Morrison Hotel on South Hope Street, Los Angeles. The band did not obtain permission for the photoshoot, which they did by tricking an employee into leaving his seat so the photo could be taken. The back cover of the album features a photo of the Hard Rock Café at nearby 300 East 5th Street.

Dave Marsh, editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: “It’s the most terrifying rock and roll I’ve ever heard, when they’re good, they’re simply invincible and this is the best album I’ve heard so far”, while Rock Magazine called it “without a doubt their most promising and best album to date”. Also, the rock magazine Circus considered it “perhaps the best album yet from The Doors and one of the best albums released in the decade of good, hard and devilish rock … “.

Through this excellent album I select, what else, “Roadhouse Blues”.

Tracklist

One: Hard Rock Cafe

1. Roadhouse Blues 4:04
2. Waiting For The Sun 3:58
3. You Make Me Real 2:50
4. Peace Frog 2:52
5. Blue Sunday 2:08
6. Ship Of Fools 3:06

Two: Morrison Hotel

1. Land Ho! 4:08
2. The Spy 4:15
3. Queen Of The Highway 2:47
4. Indian Summer 2:33
5. Maggie M’Gill 4:24