An American Prayer is the ninth and final studio album by the American rock band the Doors. Following the death of Jim Morrison and the band's break-up, the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to set several of Morrison's spoken word recordings to music. The album features Morrison posthumously, who employs spoken-word poetry.[3]
The Doors formed in 1965 and released six studio albums before singer/lyricist Jim Morrison's death in 1971. The remaining members (keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore) recorded two additional albums as trio, but broke up in 1973.
The trio reconvened in 1978 to record music accompaniment for readings of poetry Morrison originally recorded in 1969 and 1970.[4] Other pieces of music and spoken word recorded by the Doors and Morrison were also used in the audio collage, such as dialogue from Morrison's film HWY: An American Pastoral and snippets from jam sessions.
Prior to leaving for Paris where he died, Morrison had approached composer Lalo Schifrin as a possible contributor for the music tracks meant to accompany the poetry, with no participation from any of the other Doors members. Additionally, Morrison had developed some conception of the album cover art work by January 1971, and was in correspondence with artist T. E. Breitenbach to design this cover in the form of a triptych.[5]
The album includes a composite live version of "Roadhouse Blues", splicing together performances at New York City's Felt Forum and Detroit's Cobo Hall, both captured during the Doors' 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour. This version of the song later appeared on the In Concert compilation.
Despite managing a RIAAplatinum certification in the US, the album received mixed reviews and still divides critics. When the album was originally released, longtime Doors' producer Paul A. Rothchild labeled the album a "rape of Jim Morrison." Rothchild claimed that he had heard all of the reels of master tapes from both the 1969 and the 1970 poetry sessions, insisting that the three remaining Doors failed to realize Morrison's original intent for an audio presentation of the poetry.[10]
John Haeny (who recorded the original session tapes with Morrison in 1970 and safeguarded them before the project was resurrected as An American Prayer) insisted that the album "was made by those people who were closest to Jim, both personally and artistically" and "everyone had the best intentions," stating: "Jim would be pleased. Jim would have understood our motivation and appreciated our dedication and heartfelt handling of his work."[5]
^Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 358. ISBN1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
