The third highest-rated Doors album on RateYourMusic? I guess there are some acclaimed albums I’ll never understand, and this may be one of them. To me, this is unequivocally the band’s worst, at least with Jim Morrison.

With L.A. Woman, the group goes back to their roots—or perhaps even deeper, as they nearly completely abandon their psychedelic influences that have been around since the debut in favor of going all out with a more predictable and general blues rock sound. If it weren’t for Manzarek’s keyboards showing up every now and then and Morrison’s distinctive voice, this would not even sound like a Doors album. It lacks their unique style that made the band special in the first place.

I’m not totally resistant to this style shift. “Love Her Madly” is a fantastic blues rock song and one of my favorites by the band, but the rest isn’t anywhere near that quality. And without the otherworldly psychedelia to take what would normally be average songs higher you get, well, an average album with a good single. And “Riders on the Storm,” a song that needs no introduction and serves as a reminder of how great the band were at their peak—all of which otherwise was before L.A. Woman. At least the album ends with a banging retrospective instead of an irrelevant, unimaginative whimper.

As a side-note, Morrison’s losing his voice and he sounds so raspy now that listening to this album actually makes me feel dehydrated.