THE DOORS - L.A. WOMAN

Right up there in my top albums of all time and probably always in my top three (as I have said before) the titular track would probably be my all time driving song and possibly my all time favourite song dependent on my mood at any given moment. This swan song of an album came out three months before Jim's death and I was still in shock over here in the UK but buying this in it's original cover became a salving source of comfort and somehow loads of us didn't believe he could be dead. Of course the legends and myths survive but it is fairly commonly accepted that Jim whilst enjoying a prolonged sojourn in Paris with 'wife' No 1 Pamela Courson may have mistaken a wrap of her heroin for cocaine and snorted just too much. Pam had a habit which she continually tied to hide from Jim as he disliked the drug and enjoyed this powders that went better with alcohol. Heroin and alcohol do not mix and cause many to overdose or rather in combination they shut down the lungs and respiration is threatened. Not drinking as heavily as he had perhaps, he was happy in France and had recorded a session of poetry but after a night out with friends Gilles Yepremian, Hervé Muller and Alain Ronay he had been drinking beer with he returned to their apartment and snorting a line got into a bath which is where Pam found him dead the following day. 
Pamela herself died of a heroin overdose in 1974 unable to continue she had been haunted by Jim's death ever since.

On this day in music history: April 29, 1971 - “L.A. Woman”, the sixth studio album by The Doors is released. Produced by The Doors and Bruce Botnick, it is recorded at The Doors Workshop in Los Angeles, CA from December 1970 - January 1971. After the departure of their producer Paul A. Rothchild (leaving after having differences with the band over musical direction), The Doors along with recording engineer Bruce Botnick handle the production duties on their sixth studio release. Unlike past albums, much of “L.A. Woman” is recorded live with few overdubs. They will be augmented by bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno. It is the bands last album with lead singer Jim Morrison who dies three months after its release. The first press run of the LP features a die cut cover (with rounded corners similar to a photographic slide) with a portrait of the band printed on transparent yellow acetate plastic with the title and band name embossed on the front. Subsequent re-pressings of the LP are printed on standard cardboard stock without the die cutting and plastic window. It spins off two singles including “Love Her Madly” (#11 Pop) and “Riders On The Storm” (#14 Pop). To commemorate the albums’ fortieth anniversary, it is remixed, remastered and reissued as a double CD set. On the first disc, some tracks are extended, running past the fade out point of the original mixes. The second disc includes alternate versions of several songs and previously unreleased tracks. The album is also reissued in 2009 as a 180 gram vinyl LP, restoring the original cover artwork featured on the initial pressing. “L.A. Woman” peaks at number nine on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 2x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

another from Jeff Harris' wonderful music blog