An American Prayer

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For the song written by Bono, Dave Stewart, and Pharrell Williams, see American Prayer (Bono song).
An American Prayer
An American Prayer.jpeg
Studio album by Jim Morrison & The Doors
Released November 17, 1978 (1978-11-17)
Recorded March 1969 and December 1970 (spoken word)
1978 (music)
Genre Psychedelic rock, spoken word, poetry, funk rock, musique concrète
Length 38:28
Label Elektra/Asylum Records (1978 LP)
Rhino (1995 CD) [1]
Producer John Haeny,
Ray Manzarek,
Robby Krieger,
John Densmore,
Frank Lisciandro
Jim Morrison & The Doors chronology
Full Circle
(1972)Full Circle1972		 An American Prayer
(1978)		 Greatest Hits
(1980)Greatest Hits1980
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 2/5 stars[2]
MusicHound 2/5[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 2.5/5 stars[4]

An American Prayer is the ninth and final studio album by The Doors.[5] In 1978, seven years after lead singer Jim Morrison died and five years after the remaining members of the band broke up, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore reunited and recorded backing tracks over Morrison's poetry (originally recorded in 1969 and 1970). 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 and snippets from jam sessions.

The album received mixed reviews and still divides critics, yet it has managed a platinum certification in the US. When the album was originally released, longtime Doors' producer Paul Rothchild labeled the album a "rape of Jim Morrison".[6] Rothchild claimed that he had heard all of the reels of master tapes from both the 1969 and the 1970 poetry sessions, insisting that the three remaining Doors failed to realize Morrison's original intent for an audio presentation of the poetry. Morrison himself, prior to leaving for Paris, had approached composer Lalo Schifrin as a possible contributor for the music tracks meant to accompany the poetry, with no participation from any of the other Doors members. In addition, he had developed some conception of the album cover art work by January 1971, and was in correspondence with artist T. E. Breitenbach to design this cover in the form of a triptych (a three-paneled painting with various images embedded in each panel).

Track listing

Poetry, lyrics and stories by Jim Morrison; music by Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore.

Original release

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Awake
  1. Ghost Song
  2. Dawn's Highway
  3. Newborn Awakening"  
 7:10
2. "To Come of Age
  1. Black Polished Chrome
  2. Latino Chrome
  3. Angels and Sailors
  4. Stoned Immaculate"  
 8:41
3. "The Poets Dreams
  1. The Movie
  2. Curses, Invocations"  
 3:28
Side two
No. Title Length
4. "World On Fire
  1. American Night
  2. Roadhouse Blues
  3. Lament
  4. The Hitchhiker"  
 11:59
5. "An American Prayer"   6:52

DJ Promotional release (edited for broadcast)

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Awake"   0:35
2. "Ghost Song"   2:48
3. "Dawn's Highway"   1:25
4. "Newborn Awakening"   2:20
5. "Black Polished Chrome / Latino Chrome"   2:47
6. "Stoned Immaculate"   1:34
Side two
No. Title Length
7. "American Night"   0:40
8. "Roadhouse Blues (Live)"   4:55
9. "Astrology Rap"   0:44
10. "The World on Fire"   1:10
11. "The Hitchhiker"   2:10
12. "An American Prayer (Ghost Song II)
  1. The End – 1:38
  2. Albinoni: Adagio – 2:10"  
 3:00

1995 remastered edition

Awake
No. Title Length
1. "Awake"   0:36
2. "Ghost Song (edit)"   2:50
3. "Dawn's Highway"   1:21
4. "Newborn Awakening"   2:26
To Come of Age
No. Title Length
5. "To Come of Age"   1:01
6. "Black Polished Chrome"   1:07
7. "Latino Chrome"   2:14
8. "Angels and Sailors"   2:46
9. "Stoned Immaculate"   1:33
The Poet's Dream
No. Title Length
10. "The Movie"   1:35
11. "Curses, Invocations"   1:57
World on Fire
No. Title Length
12. "American Night"   0:28
13. "Roadhouse Blues"   5:53
14. "The World on Fire"   1:06
15. "Lament"   2:18
16. "The Hitchhiker"   2:15
An American Prayer
No. Title Length
17. "An American Prayer"   3:04
18. "Hour for Magic"   1:17
19. "Freedom Exists"   0:20
20. "A Feast of Friends" (also known as "The Severed Garden") 2:10

Personnel

1969 readings
1970 readings
  • Jim Morrison – vocals, spoken word (recorded on December 8, 1970)
The Doors
Additional personnel

Production

  • Producer – John Haeny, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore, Frank Lisciandro
  • Assistant producer – Paul Black
  • Engineers – John Haeny, Paul Black, Bruce Botnick, Cheech d'Amico, Paul Ferrara, Ron Garrett, Babe Hill, James Ledner, Frank Lisciandro, Rik Pekkonen, Fritz Richmond, Dr. Thomas G. Stockham, John Weaver
  • Assistant engineer – Paul Black
  • Directors – John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Frank Lisciandro
  • Mastering – Ken Perry, Bernie Grundman
  • Remastering – Bruce Botnick, Paul Rothchild
  • Synthesizer programming – Arthur Barrow on "The Movie"
  • Art direction – Ron Coro, Johnny Lee, John Van Hamersveld
  • Illustrations – Jim Morrison
  • Photography – Joel Brodsky, Paul Ferrara, Art Kane, Edmund Teske, Frank Lisciandro

Notes

  • Morrison's vocals in "Bird of Prey" were later sampled for the 2000 Fatboy Slim song "Sunset (Bird of Prey)."
  • 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".

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1978 Pop Albums 54

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1978 "Ghost Song" Promotional Singles Pop Singles 1
1979 "Roadhouse Blues" (live)
B-side: "Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor (The Severed Garden)"		 Pop Singles ?

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[7] Platinum 1,000,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

External links

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ AllMusic review
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Amazon CD – Retrieved July 18, 2009
  6. ↑ BAM Interview with Paul Rothchild - July 3, 1981
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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