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Originally Posted by Disgruntled Youth
Waiting for the Sun would be second.
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Waiting For The Sun is a great record, but it often winds up lower on 'classic Doors LPs' lists because it sounds rather like an 'odds and sods' sort of collection, a compilation of outtakes and b-sides or what-have-you. This is probably because, according to legend, it's an amalgamation of 2 or 3 other projects which they were forced to abandon because of pushiness at the top of Elektra Records (something else they [unfortunately] shared with The Velvet Underground over on Verve Records). According to the stories I've heard/read, it was intended to be at least 2 other projects, and contains still another two or three tracks that were left over from the first two records (e.g., definitely 'Summer's Almost Gone'). One projected album was
American Nights, which would have contained stuff like 'Unknown Soldier', 'Five To One', 'We Could Be So Good Together', etc. The other projected album was
The Celebration of The Lizard, which would have featured just the one complete 35- to 40-minute version of their epic theatrical piece. It's lucky for Jethro Tull that this LP never materialised, otherwise Ian Anderson and company would not be taking credit for producing the first two 'single-number' rock albums (
Thick As A Brick and
A Passion Play from 1972). The compromise with Elektra involved printing the complete text to the epic number inside the gatefold sleeve, and including just the 'Not To Touch the Earth' segment on the record. Ironically, the
American Nights number that wound up being pulled to make room for the segment was the one which the album was to be retitled after: 'Waiting For the Sun'. That number, of course, wouldn't see the sun until the band's fifth album,
Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe in 1970!