“STRANGE DAYS”, FROM THE EARLY VERSION TO THE LP MASTERPIECE

 

The earliest live recording of the Doors is "London Fog 1966", a performance recorded in May 1966 at the small Los Angeles venue of the same name. At the time, the California group was still unknown and making its way on the local scene.

Soon after, a favorable twist of fate due in part to Arthur Lee (the Love's leader), would allow them to record their first LP (released in January 1967). Among various Blues and Rhythm and Blues covers, also appearing at the “London Fog” is "Strange Days," an original composition by the Doors themselves.

This song would later be recorded in the spring-summer of 1967 for the band's second LP, "Strange Days" (released in September of the same year). Therefore, we have the chance to compare the two versions, set apart by exactly one year.

The first in chronological order (the one performed at the “London Fog” in May 1966) should be considered in its fundamental characteristic: the considerable innovation it represents from the music’s history point of view. In fact, having been written in the early months of 1966, this tune immediately stands out for the originality of its arrangement and melody.

The Doors demonstrate here that they were moving artistically into the still almost unexplored terrain of psychedelia, which was taking its first steps at that time.

This innovative song would have to wait another year to be officially fixed on vinyl; however, the London Fog document shows how the four musicians were already tuned in to those psychedelic vibes that would characterize Rock music over the following years.

Suffice it to say that one of the first fully psychedelic hit songs is "Rain" by the Beatles, which was released in May 1966, the very same period as the “London Fog” recording of "Strange Days".

Similar rare examples of psychedelic innovation can be found by listening to "The Velvet Underground And Nico", the first LP by the band of the same name recorded in the spring-summer 1966, or "The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators" an album also recorded in the spring-summer ’66.

The arrangement of this early version of “Strange Days” is dominated by John Densmore's drums and the ringing sound of a tambourine (presumably played by Jim Morrison). The resulting rhythm is highly original for the time, suggesting the band's ability to seek brand new rhythmic solutions.

Ray Manzarek's electric organ and Robby Krieger's guitar intertwine tightly, creating shifting and fascinating textures of sound. So, the two instruments are essential in giving the song the psychedelic atmosphere that we can already appreciate in this concert.

The album version is recorded about a year later, by which time psychedelia dominated the public's musical tastes as well as the musicians' forms of expression. Here the Doors apply different studio effects and distortions to each of the instruments, leaving only the drums virtually unchanged from the piece we heard at the “London Fog”.

However, the overall structure of "Strange Days" at the London Fog remains intact on the vinyl, with the same visionary lyrics and the identical vocal line. This circumstance confirms the disruptive innovative charge of a composition that turns out to be innovative even a year after it was originally written and arranged.