The Soft Parade, The Doors' fourth album from 1969, was not particularly beloved on release and failed to make the UK album charts. It was departure from what had gone before: a much pop-oriented sound, tons of brass and strings piled onto the songs, half of which were written by guitar player Robbie Krieger.
I have a lot of love for the album, in particular some of the out-and-out pop songs like Tell All The People and Wishful Sinful. A particular favourite is Touch Me, which remains one of my favourite Doors songs, full stop. The song is guaranteed to lift my spirits from the opening seconds of Ray Manzarek's insistent bass-and-piano keyboard stabs.
I bought the Dance On Fire VHS compilation in the late 1980s, which was the first time I got to see The Doors' performance of Touch Me on US TV, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on 6th December 1968. It's a wonderful display, opening with a close-up hands shot of Manzarek's keyboard playing, before the reveal of the band with brass ensemble, with (I assume) saxophonist Curtis Amy on a plinth above them all, braced for the climatic solo. Morrison seems at turns focused and out of it and may well have been both at various points during the performance, but is a compelling watch, which makes the frequent cutaways to less engaging musical stances a little strange.
The bit that everyone seems to notice and remember though is that Robby Krieger is sporting a black eye. There have been many myths over the years about how he got it, the most popular (but incorrect) story being that he was on the receiving end of Jim Morrison's fist. Krieger understandably waited until the publication of his memoir before finally putting those myths to bed, but it fed into the mystique of the band and Morrison's reputation as a wild man, on the edge.
Touch Me is a reminder that The Doors were also capable of incredibly beautiful moments, too. And yes, pop songs. And why not?
Today's song title was completely at random but resonates in a different, less positive way with The Oscars earlier this week. I didn't watch it, I haven't for many years, but of course I've seen the clip since. What a strange world we live in.
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