Waiting For The Sun (studio album) by The Doors

Average album and little wonder "Celebration of the Lizard" was left off the album.

I bought the new version of "Waiting for the Sun" to get a studio-version of the legendary unreleased song "Celebration of the Lizard". Obviously the strongest part of the song is, what was released on the original album as "Not to Touch the Earth", and the track is what it says, "a work in progress". Still interesting moments. The other takes of "Not to Touch the Earth" which are included as bonus-tracks have made me realize how good a song this really is.

What surprised me the most when I listened through the album was that I thought it sounded different. Was it really that long since I last heard it? I did not realize that the album had been both remastered and remixed. I guess it will take some time to get used to these new "versions" - but the sound is really crisp and clear, and if I want to hear the old mixes I can always return to the originals.
The original album contains some the Doors' most poetic and melodic moments like "Yes, The River Knows", the exquisite "Love Street" , which is one of the highlights of the album. The moving "Summer`s Almost Gone". "Wintertime Love" and "Spanish Caravan" are other highlights.
"Not to Touch the Earth" and "Five to One" : Classic Doors !!! The hit singles "Hello I Love You" and "The Unknown Soldier" may not have aged as well as the rest of the album`s songs. Except of course the weak "My Wild Love" which probably always will annoy me.

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From VictorVale 12/18/2022 13:55

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Underrated position in The Doors catalogue, even if not the most consistent it is incredible and the high points make it a worthy listen, also one of my favorites by them - Five To One lands on this record.

From Brad1770 11/18/2021 03:54

Recording for this album began in 1967 before it eventually came out around the middle of 1968 and despite mixed critical appraisal would become the bands only number one album as well as giving them a second number one single with “Hello, I Love You”

‘Waiting For The Sun’ has always been a Doors catalogue favourite of mine with a bevy of iconic tracks form top to bottom with the afore mentioned “Hello, I Love You”, “Not to Touch the Earth" which was originally a 17 minute epic that would fill side two but eventually scrapped and closes with Morrisons iconic maxim, "I am the Lizard King/ I can do anything”. Then you have the superb “Summer’s Almost Gone” directly followed by the whimsical “Wintertime Love” (get it ?) which has always been one of my personal Doors deep cuts favourite. Then closing out Side one is the powerful and angry anti Vietnam war track “The Unknown Soldier” (do yourself a favour and jump on YouTube and look up The Doors Unknown Soldier 16mm film and get a load of their movie to support the track, its pretty intense for 1968 and includes Jim Morrison being tied up and shot and vomiting blood , and considering Jimbo’s alcohol consumption by this point who knows it might have been real blood). That’s a nearly perfect Side one with points deducted for the underwhelming “Love Street”

Side two opens with “Spanish Caravan” where Robbie shows off his excellent guitar chops in all their technical wonder. From here things dip with “My Wild Love” and “Yes the River Knows” bookending “We Could Be So Good Together”. If the album had finished here it would have been a major bummer, instead The Doors do it again for the third consecutive album by saving the best track to be the album closer following ‘The Doors’ (1967) & “The End” and ‘Strange Days’ (1967) & “When the Musics Over” by giving us the incredible “Five to One”

‘Waiting For The Sun’ is far from perfect but sits comfortably as one of The Doors best studio albums

A very up and down album with some amazing highs and some pretty poor low points. When it is at its best it is a mix of fantastic vocals and great instrumentation. The music is beautiful yet experimental and the piano work is a real highlight for me. However, when it is bad it just sounds really awful with the vocals sounding like they are from a completely different singer and the music sounds off and unnatural. This is best displayed on My Wild Love. Overall, I would say there are more highs than lows and so it makes the whole record a pretty good album but not one of their best.

This album is often seen as one of the weaker releases from the Doors, it's not as derided as much as the below par Soft Parade of course but still it's never ranked in the same league as the first 2 or the last 2. Although I kind of agree with this, looking at the track listing now, it does look like a very strong collection of songs with the sole exception of My Wild Love. I suppose this proves the quality of work the Doors produced.

From seb7 01/26/2021 18:58

a couple amazing tracks, with some forgettable ones. Still a doors album!

El disco más subvalorado en la historia del rock. A mi gusto dentro de los 10 mejores de la historia, y en este año sólo superados por white album de los beatles.
Este es un disco que nos muestra a un Jim Morrison en su faceta más chamánica, justo antes de su decadencia por el alcohol, y justo después de la famaque produjo dos álbumes anteriores publicados ambos en el mismo año 67.
Se nota acá el paso por sus experiencias en rituales chamanícos y sus experiencias del consumo de drogas alucinógenas, no exactamente en los temas singles (Hello I love You, The unknow soldier y Five to One) en donde se muestra más la faceta crítica con que venían molestando a la sociedad, como en temas como Break on Through o The end; sino en temas como Not to touch the earth (que es realmente un trance ritual), "My wild love" (Una especie de danza india a capella) y "Yes, the river knows" en donde otorga voz al río y por lo tanto vida, (en la cosmovición de los pueblos originarios generalmente se le otorga vida a los elementos de la naturaleza) con un teclado muy influenciado a mi parecer por la música indígena. Tremendo disco
Para mi el número 5 en toda la historia del rock...

When a band chooses to take its name from an Aldous Huxley book which describes a state of altered awareness, you might hope that their music is going to captivate and be original. This album certainly ticks those boxes. The sound encompasses many of the core ingredients of psychedelia. Unusually, the band never had a bass player, unless you watch their live archives, you may never realise this. Bass parts were played on keyboards and talking of keyboards, this is a band that forged their sound using the Vox Continental, a keyboard with a very unique sound which is particulary showcased on 'We Could Be So Good Together'. Great album!