An American Prayer

An American Prayer
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) An American Prayer (1978) Greatest Hits (1980)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
MusicHound	2/5[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[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 A. 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

DJ Promotional release (edited for broadcast)

1995 remastered edition

Personnel

1969 readings

• Jim Morrison – vocals, spoken word (recorded on February 9, 1969)

1970 readings

• Jim Morrison – vocals, spoken word (recorded on December 8, 1970)

The Doors

• Ray Manzarek – keyboards, piano bass
• Robby Krieger – guitar
• John Densmore – drums

Additional personnel

• Arthur Barrow – synthesizer programming on "The Movie"
• Reinol Andino – percussion
• Bob Glaub – bass on "Albinoni – Adagio"
• Jerry Scheff – bass

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

Singles

Certifications

External links

• The Making Of Jim Morrisons "An American Prayer" Producer's John Haeny's in-depth article about the creation of the album.

References