Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola

Few movies have generated an opinion as unanimous as Apocalypse Now: everybody loves this movies, but few people really know why. Anti-war people like Apocalypse Now because they think it has an anti-war message, while other people think its plot is basically a glorification of violence. In fact, Apocalypse Now is an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It is unclear what is Coppola's intended message with this movie, but I'd like to think that he's only trying to portray war "as it is": soldiers executing orders and just trying to go back home. Remarkably, international politics is mostly absent in the original movie (the 2001 Redux does include discussions on politics and colonialism).

Another remarkable thing of Apocalypse Now is its music: The Doors, the Rolling Stones and Wagner are the main stars.

I recommend Apocalypse Now because it's become a cultural icon, but I have to acknowledge that I still haven't digested it; I will probably have to watch it 2 or 3 times before I get the entire message. The "first act" is great, mixing Catch-22 like scenes with dark humor and (at the time) extremely violent scenes, all of which result in an excellent portrait of the ridiculousness of war. The "second act" is, I think, a failed psychological thriller: we still see an photographer (thoday, he'd be an NGO-kind-of guy) gone mad worshipping a serial killer, but there are some redundant silences and scenes.

The Soft Parade - The Doors

What was that promise that you made?

-"Touch Me"

The Soft Parade is The Doors' fourth studio album. It was received with harsh critiques. The album was pretty much written in the studio in its entirety, and was very experimental: "Runnin' Blue" breaks into barndance bluegrass in the chorus, "Touch Me" includes horns and strings.


But the problem with the album was not that it was experimental. The problem with The Soft Parade is that it showed the first signs of breakup. In the previous three albums, the songs are credited collectively, while the songs in The Soft Parade are credited to Morrison and Krieger (four singles were taken from The Soft Parade, all of them written by Krieger). And in fact, The Soft Parade sounds like two completely different albums, with intertwined songs. The songs written by Morrison reflect his search for his inner soul and basic instincts -also his problems with alcohol: "Shaman's Blues", "Easy Ride", and "Wild Child" are valuable thanks to the lyrics. Krieger's songs are more Beatles - like (which is probably why they were issued as singles).


I don't think any of the songs are that great, but the band recorded "Push Push" at the same time. That is the appropriate song to close this post:

Strange Days - The Doors

"True sailing is dead"

-The Doors, "Horse Latitudes"

Strange Days contains two of The Doors' most famous tracks: "Love Me Two Times", and "People Are Strange". From that perspective,  this is a good introduction to the band for young listeners.


Second, This is also the band's "must have" album if you have to pick only one of their six studio productions. Strange Days is remarkable from a purely technical perspective: it was the band's first album recorded on an 8-track 1 " recorder. The Doors was also the first band to use this technology, so the entire production sounds and feels experimental up until today. The technological advantages provided by the 8-track recorder not only enhanced the quality of the album, but also enabled the band to experiment with other things: the sound of "Horse Latitudes", for instance, was achieved by using hand-sped pink-nois tape loops played into the studio's  echo chamber.  Morrison used a Telefunken U47 microphone, which is the same model used by consolidated artists like Elvis of Sinatra (whom Morrison actually admired).


Strange Days is also remarkable from the lyrics' perspective. "Moonlight Drive" combines love, darkness, and happy tabs, in an interesting way. "When the Music's Over" is one testimony of Morrison's improvisation capabilities, as well as a great closing to the entire album.

EKS74007 - The Doors

"Try to set the night on fire"

-The Doors (Light My Fire)

If it were not for The Doors, rock and roll in the sixties would have been a British (probably just English) cultural product.

Their first album also provided American bands with a distinctive identity, quite different from what British bands were doing.

EKS74007 is an album to enjoy. Just "take it as it comes."