An American Prayer

An American Prayer (released 1978) is the ninth and final studio album by the American rock band the Doors. Following the 1971 death of the band's vocalist Jim Morrison and the band's breakup in 1973, the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to record music to accompany recordings of Morrison reading his poetry.<ref name="AllMusic">Template:Cite web</ref> It was the only album by the Doors to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word" category.<ref name="Weidman"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Keyboardist Ray Manzarek perceived An American Prayer as being divided into five parts, with the first covering Morrison's childhood, the second covering his high school years, the third concerning "the young poet, stoned on a rooftop with acid dreams", the fourth covering his musical career and finally the fifth being a "final summation in a way, of the man's entire life and his philosophy."<ref name="Weidman"/>

Background

A 1970 privately printed version of the An American Prayer poetry book

The Doors formed in 1965 and released six studio albums before singer/lyricist Jim Morrison's death in July 1971. The surviving band members (keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore) recorded two additional albums as a trio, but broke up in 1973.<ref name="AllMusic"/>

Morrison had originally recorded some of his poetry between 1969 and 1970;<ref name=rhino/> the first sessions took place in either Elektra's recording studios or Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California,<ref name="Davis">Template:Cite book</ref> while the last recordings were made in Village Recorders, West Los Angeles.<ref name=CD>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> The first session included poems like "Bird of Prey", "Under Waterfall" and "Orange County",<ref name="Davis"/> sung a cappella by Morrison with the latter cut featuring piano played by him.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> By January 1971, after the completion of these recordings, Morrison had developed some concepts for the album cover art, and was in correspondence with artist T. E. Breitenbach to design this cover in the form of a triptych.<ref name="Pinkney">Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to leaving for Paris in March 1971, Morrison had also approached composer Lalo Schifrin as a possible collaborator on the music to accompany the poetry, instead of the other members of the Doors.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1978, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore reunited to record the music for An American Prayer.<ref name=rhino>Template:Cite web</ref> On November 19, 1978, in the Los Angeles Times, Ray Manzarek explained, "We did this album to show the side of Jim which has been underrated all these years."<ref name="Weidman">Template:Cite book</ref> Morrison's friend Frank Lisciandro served as one of the co-producers of the album, while Pamela Courson's father "Corky" Courson was also involved in the record.<ref name=youtube>Template:Cite video</ref> According to the book Break on Through, when recording the music, the three Doors members decided to produce a different musical style from Morrison's original vision of orchestral music on the project.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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, snippets from jam sessions,<ref name="Davis"/> excerpts from interviews,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and featuring sections from "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)"<ref name="Davis"/> and "Riders on the Storm".<ref name=CD/> Densmore devised an early use of synthesized drums for the former.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Artwork

Artist T. E. Breitenbach with The Jim Morrison Triptych that was supposed to be the cover art of An American Prayer.

After Morrison had done his recordings, he asked American artist T. E. Breitenbach to design the cover for the album.<ref name="Pinkney"/> He sent him a letter about his suggestions for the concept: Template:Blockquote After Morrison's death however, the album's producers were unaware of his intention to use the painting,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and used for the front and back cover photos taken by Edmund Teske and Joel Brodsky respectively.<ref name=CD/> The existence of this lost painting collaboration came to light decades later, when the artist himself posted it on his website.<ref name=tebreitenbach/>

Release and reception

Template:Music ratings An American Prayer was released on November 17, 1978, as "a Jim Morrison Album" with "Music by the Doors".<ref name="Weidman"/> It initially sold approximately 250,000 copies, making it the best-selling spoken word album at the time.<ref name="Weidman"/> According to John Haeny, it later exceeded the one million copies sold.<ref name="Haeny"/> The album included a composite live version of "Roadhouse Blues", which received some radio airplay on rock radio stations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album peaked at number 54 on the US charts.<ref name="Weidman"/> It was also nominated for the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Despite receiving a RIAA platinum certification in the US, An American Prayer received mixed reviews and still divides critics. When the album was originally released, longtime Doors' producer Paul A. Rothchild castigated it as a "RAPE of Jim Morrison."<ref name=RothchildWFTS>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Rothchild claimed that he had heard all of the reels of master tapes from both the 1969 and the 1970 poetry sessions, and insisted that the three remaining Doors failed to realize Morrison's original intent for an audio presentation of the poetry.<ref name=RothchildWFTS/> In a review published in Creem magazine in January 1979, musician Patti Smith felt that the record had some "certain flaws", but commended the fact that it "documents a fragment of the passion of Jim Morrison", adding that, "An American Prayer has been pieced together delicately with obsessive devotion."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> John Haeny (who recorded the original session tapes with Morrison in 1970) wrote in a 2013 essay: "I want people to understand that this album was made by those people who were closest to Jim, both personally and artistically. Everyone had the best intentions" and that, "I believe Jim would be pleased. Jim would have understood our motivation and appreciated our dedication and heartfelt handling of his work."<ref name="Haeny">Template:Cite web</ref>

In his 1981 review, Robert Christgau rated An American Prayer "C" (which is about average on his scale). He praised the music accompaniment by the surviving members, but criticized Morrison as "a bad poet".<ref name="CG"/> Rolling Stone described the record as "intriguing" but "suitable mainly for Morrison fanatics."<ref name=rollingstone/> On the occasion of the 1995 reissue release, Entertainment Weekly journalist David Browne similarly wrote that An American Prayer is "primarily for those who place great weight on Jim Morrison."<ref name="Browne"/> More recently, Vik Iyengar of AllMusic found the album "interesting", but concluded that it's "not for everyone, but is a must-own for Doors completists and fans of Jim Morrison's poetry."<ref name="Iyengar"/> Fellow AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald in contrast, lauded it as an "excellent and underrated" album.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Track listing

Poetry, lyrics and stories are written and recited by Jim Morrison; the music is composed by Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. Details are taken from the original 1978 US Elektra Records release.<ref name=liner>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Bonus tracks

Template:Track listing Source:<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Notes

• Morrison's vocals in "Bird of Prey" were later sampled for the 2000 Fatboy Slim song "Sunset (Bird of Prey)".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Morrison's shout, "Wake up!" in "Awake" was sampled in the 1991 Orbital song "Choice".
• Morrison's vocals from "Angels and Sailors" appeared on Bad Company's track "Ladies of Spain".

Personnel

Per the 2018 reissue liner notes:<ref name=CD/>

The Doors

• Jim Morrison – vocals and spoken words, drawings (printed on the gatefold sleeve)
• Ray Manzarek – keyboards, production, direction
• Robby Krieger – guitar, production, direction
• John Densmore – drums, production, direction

Additional personnel

• Arthur Barrow – synthesizer programming on "The Movie"
• Reinol Andino – percussion
• Bob Glaub – bass guitar (including on "Ghost Song")<ref>Template:Cite videoTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• Jerry Scheff – bass guitar on "Adagio"

Production

• John Haeny – production
• Frank Lisciandro – production,<ref name=youtube/> assistant engineering, inside photography, direction
• Babe Hill, Paul Black, Fritz Richmond, John Weaver, Cheech D'Amico, Ron Garrett, Rik Pekkonen, James Ledner – assistant engineering
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Bruce Botnick – remastering, engineering
• Paul A. Rothchild – 1995 remastering<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• John Van Hamersveld, Ron Coro, Johnny Lee – art direction
• Paul Ferrara – engineering, inside front cover photography
• Edmund Teske – front cover photography
• Joel Brodsky – back cover photography
• Art Kane – inside back cover photography

Charts

Album

Chart (1979)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref>	80
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	54

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (1995)	Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Deutsche Charts)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	79

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
1995	"The Ghost Song"	Australian Singles Chart	48<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1995	"The Ghost Song"	UK Singles Chart	98<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Outline of the Doors

External links

• Template:Discogs master