THE DOORS' "RIDERS ON THE STORM": A TRIP THROUGH RAY MANZAREK'S SOLO

 

"Riders On The Storm" is undoubtedly one of The Doors' most iconic songs: a canvas painted with hypnotic and somber sounds, as well as the last track the band taped in the studio before Jim Morrison's death.

Recorded in late 1970 and early 1971, the composition runs for more than seven minutes and would serve as a fascinating closing track on the group's last LP as a quartet: "L.A. Woman" (released in April '71).

One of the most striking passages on this track is keyboardist Ray Manzarek's solo.

Lasting about two minutes, this significant instrumental excursion stretches as much as the one the musician played on "Light My Fire" more than four years earlier (here is the link to the article where I discuss Manzarek's solo on "Light My Fire").

While in "Light My Fire" Manzarek uses the electric organ (a Vox Continental), in "Riders On The Storm" we can enjoy the vibrations of another keyboard: the electric piano (a Fender Rhodes Piano).

By the early 1970s, this evolution of the classical piano had been used in various musical contexts for at least twenty years, although its mass diffusion was still relatively recent.

Launched in the context of the first wave of electrified instruments (late 1930s), it was brought to the attention of a wide audience by the song "What I'd Say" by Ray Charles (1959) and ultimately integrated into mass music by The Beatles (from "The Night Before" in 1965 to "Get Back" in 1970).

The sound of the electric piano smooths the sharp edges featured by the traditional piano, making its sound mellower and more pervasive.

Thanks to its soft metallic timbre, at once rounded, intense and capable of lingering for a long time, the electric piano produces richer and more persistent nuances than the acoustic piano.

Manzarek takes advantage of this keyboard's potential by conceiving a solo with a distinct jazz profile, vividly reminiscent of Hard Bop and Jazz Soul styles.

This solo journey begins at min. 2.43 of the composition and ends at min. 4.30 (occupying just under a third of the total tune’s length) and is divided into three clearly distinguishable parts.

The first section (from min. 2.43 to min. 3.18) adopts a nuanced and soft approach in which melodic elements emerge tenuous and interesting at the same time.

They are lightly hinted at and follow each other effectively emphasizing the suspended silences as integral elements of the phrasing itself.

This first section closes with a delightful figure (at min. 3.14) whose sweet expressiveness tastes of vague mystery.

The second part of the solo (min. 3.19 to min. 4.23) moves in a dynamic and decisive atmosphere, giving a temporary twist to the darkly magnetic feeling of the song.

Here, the pattern that Manzarek builds up echoes the rhythmic-melodic emphasis typical of Jazz Soul, pushing forward vividly marked accents while drawing ingeniously enthralling and engaging phrases.

This is also achieved thanks to the transition from single notes to chords, which the keyboardist makes starting at min. 3.38, further thickening and strengthening the sound of the electric piano to the point of giving the solo itself an almost percussive aspect.

The third and final section of this journey into Manzarek's solo part is also the shortest (min. 4.24 to min. 4.30).

Here the enigmatic and dreamy descending line heard at the beginning of the song (at min. 0.29) is repeated. A perfect ending for the solo, it flows with an ethereal pace across the keyboard, gradually descending to lower notes like an awakening from a dream drenched in extravagant and unreal colors.

Apart from the extraordinary solo just described, the rhythmic accompaniment provided by the electric piano during the rest of the song is also characterized by similar Jazz stylistic features.

Approaching the "comping" technique typical of Hard Bop piano, the keyboardist introduces a jazz flavor into its role as a rhythm instrument.

In some phases of the background that the electric piano builds up throughout the song, its oscillating chords are gently undulated by the "vibrato" function of the Fender Rhodes piano, which corresponded to the distortion commonly known as "tremolo".

This is also the case with the chords that, like funeral bells at dusk, follow the end of the solo (min. 4:30 to min. 4:39) and lead to the reprise of the next verse.

With his elegant solo in "Riders On The Storm," Manzarek writes a sound epitaph to The Doors' history, an epitaph made up of memorable notes coated in sinuous elegance and resonating with groovy sadness.

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, ca, etc.

Here’s the link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”