Waiting For The Sun (50th Anniversary Expanded Edition) ［CD+MQA-CD］

60年代カリフォルニアのカリスマ・バンドである無双の存在、ドアーズの50周年記念作品第四弾!1968年7月に発表した、彼らにとって初の全米ナンバー1アルバム『WAITING FOR THE SUN(邦題: 太陽を待ちながら)』の50周年記念エクスパンデッド・エディション! こちらは、オリジナルの新リマスター音源に加え、全曲未発表となるラフ・ミックスやライヴ音源を収録したボーナス・ディスク付2枚組CD!

The Doors' 1967 albums had raised expectations so high that their third effort was greeted as a major disappointment. With a few exceptions, the material was much mellower, and while this yielded some fine melodic ballad rock in "Love Street," "Wintertime Love," "Summer's Almost Gone," and "Yes, the River Knows," there was no denying that the songwriting was not as impressive as it had been on the first two records. On the other hand, there were first-rate tunes such as the spooky "The Unknown Soldier," with antiwar lyrics as uncompromisingly forceful as anything the band did, and the compulsively riff-driven "Hello, I Love You," which nonetheless bore an uncomfortably close resemblance to the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night." The flamenco guitar of "Spanish Caravan," the all-out weirdness of "Not to Touch the Earth" (which was a snippet of a legendary abandoned opus, "The Celebration of the Lizard"), and the menacing closer "Five to One" were also interesting. In fact, time's been fairly kind to the record, which is quite enjoyable and diverse, just not as powerful a full-length statement as the group's best albums. ~ Richie Unterberger