DOUG LUBAHN, FROM "CLEAR LIGHT" TO THE "STRANGE DAYS" SESSIONS

 

For their second album, "Strange Days", The Doors were looking for a session musician to play the electric bass in the recording studio (Ray Manzarek played a keyboard called the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass during live performances).

The bassist they recruited was 19-year-old Doug Lubahn, who played in a little-known Californian band called Clear Light (psychedelic pop-rock). Like The Doors, Clear Light had Paul Rothchild as their producer, and it was Rothchild himself who called upon Lubahn to play bass on "Strange Days".

Clear Light released just one album on the Elektra label, but it was not successful (the self-titled LP "Clear Light" reached number 127 in the US charts and did not enter the UK charts).  This album was released in September 1967, the same month as "Strange Days".

A representative song of their sound is "Night Sounds Loud", written by Lubahn himself (link here). The band's style is reminiscent of The Doors at times, and their performances are consistently good throughout the album. Incidentally, Lubahn can be seen in the lower left corner of the LP cover.

After recording "Strange Days", in late Summer 1967, The Doors and Rothchild considered bringing the bassist into the band full-time. However, he turned them down due to his loyalty to his own group. Unfortunately for him, Clear Light broke up the following year (1968), while The Doors remains one of the most famous and best bands in contemporary music history to this day.

As a kind of compensation, about five months after the recording of "Strange Days", Lubahn was called back to play on the "Waiting for the Sun" LP (The Doors' third work), recording from February to May 1968. He played on every track of the album except “Spanish Caravan”.

He also plays the electric bass on "Wild Child", the best track on The Doors' 1969 album "The Soft Parade" (recorded between late 1968 and spring '69). Lubahn also plays the electric bass on "Easy Ride" and "Wishful Sinful", both of which are included in “The Soft Parade”.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .mx, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”