L.A. Woman

In November 1970 the Doors went into Sunset Sound to record early versions of L.A. Woman, Riders on the Storm and Love Her Madly. Rothchild, who had produced their first five albums, attended the early sessions and quit after friction with the band. He called Love Her Madly cocktail music. He recommended that the Doors co-produce with Botnick. They set up a makeshift studio at their rehearsal space, the Doors' Workshop, with a console that had belonged to Elektra installed upstairs. Morrison sang from the bathroom doorway, into the microphone used on the last tour. Elvis Presley's bassist Jerry Scheff and the rhythm guitarist Marc Benno were brought in. The album was finished in six days on an eight-track recorder, and the last session was dubbed blues day, covering Crawling King Snake, Cars Hiss by My Window and L.A. Woman. Botnick said the idea was to go back to their early roots and get everything live in the studio with as few overdubs as possible. Krieger said that with Rothchild gone the warden was gone, which is one reason they had so much fun. Mixing at Poppi Studios in West Hollywood was done after Morrison had moved to Paris.

It reached number nine on the Billboard 200 and 28 in Britain. Love Her Madly, released as a single in March 1971, reached number 11 on the Hot 100, and Riders on the Storm reached 14 in June. Morrison died two and a half months after the album came out. Robert Meltzer of Rolling Stone called it the Doors' greatest album in May 1971, and David Quantick of the BBC wrote in 2012 that it was, perhaps surprisingly, one of their best. Melody Maker's review was unfavorable. In 2012 the album was reissued for its 40th anniversary with two previously unreleased tracks, She Smells So Nice and Rock Me.