Rhino - Elektra

The rock’n’roll history books have often considered The Soft Parade to be The Doors’ worst album. Fifty years after its release on the 18th of July 1969, a re-evaluation of the Californians’ fourth opus establishes itself. Exactly a year after Waiting for the Sun, The Doors changed their modus operandi with an album which was viscerally less rock’n’roll. Unmanageable, completely obsessed with his poetry, more and more dependant on alcohol and always seemingly on the brink of leaving the band (held back in extremis by the keyboard player Ray Manzarek), Jim Morrison only wrote half of the tracks on this album. The guitarist Robbie Krieger stepped up to the mark and took the helm writing-wise, as well as developing the band’s instrumentation. Headed by Paul Harris, brass and strings make an unexpected appearance in the band’s sound. Notes of jazz dilute the pure rock sound and bring a more bluesy texture, as well as some pop and even some lounge-style sequences. An eclectic mix which is slightly confusing to begin with, but it stops The Doors’ unique singularity from dwindling. The melodies on The Soft Parade are peraps not of the same calibre as those on the three previous albums, but at an era when the competition was also experimenting with some stranger sounds, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore prove that they too can steer rock music into uncharted territories. This 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition offers a new remastered version from producer Bruce Botnick, as well as bonus tracks like Who Scared You, as well as some unedited tracks, like demo versions of Doors Only, versions without brass or strings of Tell All the People, Touch Me, Wishful Sinful and Runnin’ Blue. Finally, among all these exciting new features of this 2019 edition, some interesting new guitar sections added by Krieger to Touch Me, Wishful Sinful and Runnin’ Blue. All in all, enough unedited material to please fans and better understand this musical mystery. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

Instrumental and vocal firepower, the considerable ears of engineer Greg Ladanyi, and some magical mixing at the Sound Factory in Hollywood, combined to create the best known album of Jackson Browne's long career, reissued here in gloriously detailed and dynamically thrilling high resolution sound. Russ Kunkel's drum break at the climatic shift of the title track. David Lindley's mournful fiddle in "The Road." Rosemary Butler's soaring vocal solo in "Stay." A song list heavy with covers. Jackson Browne on piano. An extraordinary example of utterly masterful sequencing. Sometimes a band is in such a groove that it demands to be captured live. But making a live album that reflects being on the road, recorded literally on the road? Cutting tracks in a Holiday Inn room in Edwardsville, IL, or on a moving tour bus, complete with grinding gears? Even today with all the digital advances in home recording gear, it still seems like a disaster in the making. In addition, none of the material had ever appeared on a Browne studio record. A shambling cover of Rev. Gary Davis's "Cocaine" and a rendition of Maurice Williams' (The Zodiacs) "Stay"—with David Lindley memorably singing the falsetto part—are both knockouts. "You Love the Thunder," recorded live in Holmdel, NJ, is a classic Jackson Browne love song, one of the last before he turned to political themes. And then there’s the album's heart: the epic Lowell George/Browne/Valerie Carter collaboration, "Love Needs a Heart." It's the one tune worth having the entire record for: "Love needs a heart/And I need to find/If love needs a heart like mine." As this fresh remastering proves again, Browne and his merry band of SoCal pros better known as The Section drew a masterpiece out of the hat with Running on Empty. © Robert Baird / Qobuz

In 1967 the world hadn’t fully digested the Doors’ astounding first album that they had already released Strange Days. Strange like these compositions that sounded like no other. Staggering, often dreamlike themes. And while Jim Morrison sang that people were strange, the same could be said about his Doors: incessant changes in rhythm, lyrics going back and forth between social critic and complete madness, and huge gaps between total trance and cabaret ballads… Months went by and Morrison was growing more and more out of control. In early 1968, the Doors nevertheless started working on their Waiting for the Sun. There are many anecdotes about these most chaotic weeks. Yet, upon its release in July, in the midst of the Vietnam War, fans appropriated pacifist anthem The Unknown Soldier and perky Hello, I Love You that opens this third album and propelled it to the top of the charts. Well aware of their leader’s unstable state, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore remained focused to create original and inspired parts. A notch below the two previous albums, Waiting for the Sun however approaches psychedelic music with the same unwavering originality. The use of acoustic instruments and refinement of some arrangements confirm the uniqueness of this band, even though it was on the verge of imploding…In celebration of the album’s 50th anniversary, this deluxe edition offers a new version of the album’s stereo mix, remastered by Bruce Botnick, the Doors’ long-time sound engineer and producer. Without omitting 14 bonus tracks: nine come from recently discovered rough mixes and five originate from a concert in Copenhagen in December 1968. The new stereo mix for Waiting for the Sun, remastered by Botnick, gives a new dimension to songs like The Unknown Soldier and Spanish Caravan. As for the rough mixes, his opinion is clear: “I prefer some of these rough mixes to the finals, as they represent all of the elements and additional background vocals, different sensibilities on balances, and some intangible roughness, all of which are quite attractive and refreshing”. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

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Judee Sill has never found the mainstream recognition to the height of her talent. It didn’t prevent her to influence Warren Zevon, Andy Partridge from XTC, Liz Phair, Beth Orton, Bill Callahan, Bonnie Prince Billy and many others. The life of this American born in 1944 in Los Angeles wasn’t the easiest. A rebellious teen, she tried heroin, committed a few armed robberies and ended up in correctional. A relatively violent period that allowed her to discover, when she was a church organist, her musical sensitivity, notably toward gospel. In parallel with her LSD trips, she joined a jazz trio and married pianist Robert Maurice “Bob” Harris. Their marriage will be orchestrated by drugs and addictions. The adventures continued for Sill in 1966. She spent time in prison again then learned about the sudden death of her brother Dennis. All these turbulent incidents incited her to get to work and compose her songs. She went on tour with Graham Nash and David Crosby, for whom she often was the opening act and released in 1971 a first eponymous album on David Geffen’s label. A second would follow, two years later, called Heart Food. Unfortunately, her career never really took off. She progressively fell into oblivion and died of an overdose in 1979. A life and a fate that really don’t seem to apply to her as soon as you listen to her. Everything in Judee Sill is in complete opposition to the violence that has filled her life. A pure and angelic voice. A face that advocates innocence. On a divine folk, she sings about love, hope and rebirth with sophisticated genius. Master of sweet lullabies, she slides with ease on poetic phrasings and shares with tender and warm kisses her cosmic aspirations. Songs of Rapture and Redemption: Rarities & Live is a collection of 19 tracks containing demos and brand new recordings as well as remastered arrangements. Sill indulges in clarifications in numerous lives and provokes immediate shivers on the demo of The Kiss. Torn between folk and gospel, Songs of Rapture and Redemption: Rarities & Live is a rare piece whose titles had moved her producer Henry Lewy in the early days of the singer’s career. Almost 40 years after her death, we discover once again her concert performances at the Boston Music Hall and notably one of her greatest songs, made popular by the Turtles, Lady-O. © Clara Bismuth/Qobuz

When Heartbeat City was released in March 1984, the Cars were already the proud owners of a few platinum-selling albums thanks to a rather original musical identity for their time. Acting as the missing link between the Ramones and Elvis Costello with a touch of Roxy Music, Ric Ocasek & Co. provided an ode to pop-punk music from their very first album in 1978. A sort of new wave made in America respectful of the rock’n’roll of yesteryear… The year 1984 also marked the birth of a new TV channel that would revolutionise pop and rock music by becoming an eminently influential media for music videos. The Cars were savvy enough to jump on this video bandwagon and their fifth album was strongly supported by MTV that played You Might Think and Magic on repeat, their two hit anthems that reached the top of rock charts. Undeniably talented for melodies that hit the spot and catchy choruses (their ballad Drive is a formidably languid slow), Ocasek once again releases a beautiful bubble-gum soundtrack of 1980s America. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

When Heartbeat City was released in March 1984, the Cars were already the proud owners of a few platinum-selling albums thanks to a rather original musical identity for their time. Acting as the missing link between the Ramones and Elvis Costello with a touch of Roxy Music, Ric Ocasek & Co. provided an ode to pop-punk music from their very first album in 1978. A sort of new wave made in America respectful of the rock’n’roll of yesteryear… The year 1984 also marked the birth of a new TV channel that would revolutionise pop and rock music by becoming an eminently influential media for music videos. The Cars were savvy enough to jump on this video bandwagon and their fifth album was strongly supported by MTV that played You Might Think and Magic on repeat, their two hit anthems that reached the top of rock charts. Undeniably talented for melodies that hit the spot and catchy choruses (their ballad Drive is a formidably languid slow), Ocasek once again releases a beautiful bubble-gum soundtrack of 1980s America. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz