Soft Parade
After considerably broadening their sound onWaiting for the Sun, the Doors decided to continue pushing the envelope with their next release. Incorporating brass, strings, and even a full orchestra,The Soft Paradeis easily the most challenging album in the Doors' catalog--if not the most accomplished. Though the hit "Touch Me" and other tracks ("Shaman's Blues," "Wild Child") hearken back to the band's edgier self, the title track is a multipart rock suite that evokes some of the psychedelic era's worst excesses.Robby Krieger's "Wishful Sinful" serves up some uncharacteristic melancholy, but elsewhere there's a sense that some of the "experiments" here just might be filler.--Jerry McCulley