10 Underrated Albums By Legendary Bands
9. The Soft Parade - The Doors
It's pretty easy to put a golden halo over The Doors' body of work. Throughout their tenure with Jim Morrison, the band more or less perfected the psychedelic rock sound, which made for some unreal moments once they took to the stage. As the band started to experiment with different styles though, the hard rock crowd seemed to get a bit turned off.
That being said, the Soft Parade actually holds up as one of the more consistent releases in the band's catalog. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek's suggestion to bring in horns and strings made for some beautiful blends of sound on tracks like "Tell All the People", while Morrison was able to flex his vocal chops to channel crooners like Frank Sinatra.
Though this record has a reputation of being "the Doors album that sounds different," the same psychedelic haze that the band were known for is still present on tracks like "Wild Child". Even the title track's long dirge feels like a more palatable version of some of the band's older freakouts like "The End" or "When the Music's Over". There may be some more essential Doors albums out there, but this one deserves more than just a passing glance.