The Soft Parade (1969)

The Soft Parade (1969)

The Soft Parade is easily the weakest of the six albums the Doors made while Morrison was alive, but it’s not quite as much of a failure as it’s often been perceived. One of the obvious bright spots is “Touch Me,” one of the Doors’ effortless pop songs. “The Soft Parade” is the weirdest of their epic-length album closers, with its final five minutes sounding like the kind of thing that should’ve soundtracked a lot of weird druggy late-’60s parties in the woods, or something. “Runnin’ Blue” sounds like a mess because of that Dylan parody of a chorus, but aside from that, Morrison sounds pretty great over the blaring brass embellishments. Moments like that and “Touch Me” are examples of when The Soft Parade worked, because they’re the ones where the Doors’ temporary experimentation with a ton of orchestration clicked. Elsewhere, all the string parts can get a little over the top, as if the band’s trying to distract you from the fact that the album is primarily composed of songs that would be second- or third-tier material on any of the other Doors record. The Soft Parade is an interesting detour in the Doors’ catalogue because of all that, but there’s also something about all the orchestration that just doesn’t line up with the core spirit of the band; it’s not that it sounds forced, just unnecessary and ineffective. Soon enough, they would reboot with Morrison Hotel.