Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist for The Doors, has died. Some people unfortunately don’t realize this, but The Doors weren’t all about Jim Morrison. He may have had the stage presence that really propelled the group to stardom, but guitarist Robby Krieger, Manzarek and drummer John Densmore were no slouches either. Their sound did more than just accompany Morrison’s vocals. They defined the way they sounded.

Manzarek was 74-years-old. "I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," Krieger commented on the news. "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

Here’s a look at some of my favorite tracks from the group’s history. They made six albums while Morrison was alive and another two after his death.


10. “Queen of the Highway” - Morrison Hotel
My absolute favorite Doors album is Morrison Hotel. Like many groups in 1969 and 1970, they realized that the psychedelic sound was wearing very thin by then, epitomized by the fact that The Soft Parade was a critical flop in 1968. For Morrison Hotel, the Doors went back to being a blues bar band. “Queen of the Highway” is the best example of this on the album. Manzarek’s playing on this track gives it a slick, groovy attitude.


9. “Wishful Sinful” - The Soft Parade
The Soft Parade is a failure on a multitude of levels, mostly because of the additional horns and strings. It works for the Bee Gees, but not with the Doors. “Wishful Sinful” is still a nice track on there, mostly thanks to Morrison’s vocals, even if the lyrics from Krige are pretty silly.


8. “Love Me Two Times” - Strange Days
I’m not a huge fan of their second album, but “Love Me Two Times” is a great song on there. That song, the title track and “People are Strange” are the stand-outs for me. I just feel like they were so dedicated to the idea of repeating the success of The Doors and it didn’t really work. (“When The Music’s Over” is vastly inferior to “The End.”)


7. “Twentieth Century Fox” - The Doors
Oh, this is a fantastic one. I love the keyboards on this one. It’s my guilty pleasure track from the first album. It just proves that every track on that album is a firecracker.


6. “Riders on the Storm” - L.A. Woman
My favorite Doors albums are the last two. “Riders on the Storm” is like a mix of the sound from the first album updated to 1971. It carries an epic feeling missing from many of the albums released after the first one.


5. “The End” - The Doors
“The End” can feel a little pretentious and silly, mostly because of how important the track has been to the movies. You can’t imagine Apocalypse Now without it. But an obsession with Morrison’s Oedipal lyrics will take your attention from the fantastic guitar work by Krieger in the track.


4. “Five To One” - Waiting for the Sun
Waiting for the Sun is easy to forget about it, since aside from “Hello I Love You,” there doesn’t seem to be much on it. A lot of the stuff that makes up its 32 minutes feels like throwaway material, but “Five To One” can hardly be called that. It’s an epic anti-war track that’s a four-and-a-half punch to the gut. Morrison was never better.


3. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” - The Doors
This was the first track on The Doors and quite a stunning one. It really introduces you to everything you need to know about the group. That organ intro from Manzarek is priceless.


2. “Love Her Madly” - L.A. Woman
This is actually my favorite Doors song. It’s credited the Kreiger, but it’s a mix of everything working right for the group. Morrison’s vocals are great, the honky-tonk piano from Manzarek is perfect and Krieger has a great solo. Densmore’s drums are lightning quick here, too. I put this song on repeat.


1. “Light My Fire” - The Doors
Even if the Doors never did anything else, “Light My Fire” would still go down as one of the great rock singles of all time. The version that did land on the 45 was way too short, but if it got you to buy The Doors, so you could experience the full version, then it did its job. This is the track where you really hear how important Manzarek was to the group’s sound.

image: Amazon