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''Full Circle'' is the eighth studio album by the American rock band
the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts o ...
, released in August 1972. It is the second album after
Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...
's death, and their last until the 1978 album ''
An American Prayer ''An American Prayer'' is the ninth and final studio album by the American rock band the Doors. Following the death of Jim Morrison and the band's break-up, the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to set several of Morrison's spoken word r ...
''. The album includes " The Mosquito", the last Doors single to chart.


Recording and composition

The band's first album without Jim Morrison, 1971's '' Other Voices'', had reached No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' chart, showing the group could survive Morrison's death. The band – now a trio consisting of keyboardist
Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the Doors, co-founding the band with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison in 1965. Manzarek was induct ...
, guitarist
Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...
, and drummer
John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band the Doors, and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recordi ...
– chose to record ''Other Voices'' at their rehearsal space known as the Workshop, the same two-story building at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard they had recorded the successful ''
L.A. Woman ''L.A. Woman'' is the sixth studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released on April 19, 1971, by Elektra Records. It is the last to feature lead singer Jim Morrison during his lifetime due to his death three months after the albu ...
'', but for ''Full Circle'' they opted to move to
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
's A&M Studio. While ''Other Voices'' was, to a degree, an extension of the ''L.A. Woman'' sessions (some of the tracks had been worked up before Morrison had left for
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
), ''Full Circle'' was a standalone work that saw the band delve deeper into
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and work with some top-shelf session musicians.
Bruce Botnick Bruce Botnick (born 1945) is an American audio engineer and record producer, best known for his work with the Doors, the Beach Boys, Eddie Money, Love and film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Early work Botnick engineered Love's first two albums, a ...
, who had engineered all the Doors albums up to that point and co-produced both ''L.A. Woman'' and ''Other Voices'', declined to participate in the sessions. In 2015 he admitted to '' Uncuts Tom Pinnock that he could not remember whether he was asked to return or not, but maintains he would have turned down the offer, reflecting, "The guys wanted to have a chance to work with some other musicians. As they went into ''Full Circle'' they took that extension even further." The Doors hired Henry Lewy to replace Botnick, who in turn brought in Charles Lloyd and a host of session players. Lloyd contributed tenor sax and flute to the songs and also played behind the band at
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 4 ...
and at the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
. As with ''Other Voices'', Manzarek and Krieger assumed vocal duties, which were augmented with backing vocalists. Although both post-Morrison albums are viewed as non-essential to many Doors fans and critics, ''Full Circle'' produced a global hit for the band: "The Mosquito". As recounted in ''Uncuts 2015 profile of both LPs, the song has become one of the band's most enduring tracks across the globe, with the song's author Krieger recalling: ''Full Circle'' showed the band was still evolving musically, with the Latin fusion of "The Piano Bird" and the complex funk of "Verdilac," but tensions were mounting between Manzarek, who wanted to explore jazz, and Densmore and Krieger, who wanted to persevere with rock. "Ray just kinda said, 'Look, I'm outta here, I'm getting tired of this, it's not working,'" Krieger recalled to ''Uncut'' in 2015. "So we gave up. John and I were trying to make it work. Would we have carried on? Yeah, for sure." In 1972, the Doors released "Get Up and Dance" as a single; the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
was the non-album track " Treetrunk", one of only three non-album studio tracks released by the band. According to Robby Krieger, the track was left off the album because "it sounded too commercial." The song was finally given official re-release as part of the Japan edition of the Doors Singles Box in 2013.


Release and reception

''Full Circle'' was released on August 15, 1972 and peaked at No. 68 on the ''Billboard'' chart. In a retrospective assessment,
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
stated "While there are a handful of undeniably remarkable cuts scattered throughout, ''Full Circle'' is increasingly sporadic and less focused than its predecessor" but asserts that the album's centerpiece is "the nearly four-minute jam tacked on at the end. Manzarek's impassioned electric organ, Densmore's tricky timekeeping, and Krieger's transcendent string work are all worth mentioning as the intensity of their interplay hearkens back to former glories." In 2011 ''Uncut'' surmised of the LP, "Now the problems start. A strained-sounding attempt to boogie like a bar band, with lame lyrics about "good rocking"... its eagerness to get our hands clapping makes it sound desperate." ''
Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record W ...
'' called the single "Get Up and Dance" a "steady rocker which is just different enough to stand up to repeated listenings."


Later releases

For years the Doors have largely disregarded the two post-Morrison albums, with no official American CD releases. ''Full Circle'' was released on CD October 23, 2006 by the Timeless Holland label, along with the previous (post-Morrison) Doors album '' Other Voices''. It is relatively easy to find unofficial CD copies of ''Full Circle'' and ''Other Voices'' on the Internet, but most of these vinyl-to-CD transfers do not contain the single-only "Treetrunk", except for the Howling Wolf Records 2010 release of the two albums on one CD. This release also featured the edited single versions of "The Mosquito" and "The Piano Bird." "Treetrunk" was finally given official re-release as part of the Japan edition of the Doors Singles Box in 2013. The Doors' management has stated they are not in possession of the master tapes to the two post-Morrison albums, but remastered tracks from both of them can nevertheless be found on later official releases. The first track from ''Full Circle'' the Doors have reissued was "The Mosquito", released in 2000 as "No Me Moleste Mosquito" on the double-disc version of '' The Best of The Doors''. On September 27, 2011, the Doors finally gave ''Full Circle'', along with ''Other Voices'', its first official reissue through digital download. It was confirmed that the original master tapes were used for these reissues. On May 29, 2015, it was announced that ''Other Voices'' and ''Full Circle'' would be re-released together on a 2-CD set and individually on 180-gram vinyl by
Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...
on September 4 of that year. The CD set features "Treetrunk"—the B-side of the "Get Up and Dance" single—as its only bonus track.


Track listing


Personnel

The Doors *
Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the Doors, co-founding the band with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison in 1965. Manzarek was induct ...
– lead vocals, keyboards *
Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...
– lead vocals,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...
*
John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band the Doors, and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recordi ...
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumstick ...
Additional personnel * Chico Batera –
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
on "The Piano Bird" and "The Peking King and the New York Queen" *
Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...
– bass on "Hardwood Floor", "The Mosquito" and "It Slipped My Mind" * Jack Conrad – bass on "4 Billion Souls", "Good Rockin", "The Piano Bird" and "The Peking King and the New York Queen"; Rhythm Guitar on "The Piano Bird" * Charles Larkey – bass on "Verdilac" and "The Piano Bird" *
Chris Ethridge John Christopher Ethridge (February 10, 1947 – April 23, 2012) was an American country rock bass guitarist. He was a member of the International Submarine Band (ISB) and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and co-wrote several songs with Gram Parso ...
– bass on "Get Up and Dance" * Venetta Fields – vocals *
Clydie King Clydie Mae King (August 21, 1943 – January 7, 2019) was an American singer, best known for her session work as a backing vocalist. King also recorded solo under her name. In the 1970s, she recorded as Brown Sugar, and her single "Loneliness ( ...
– vocals * Melissa MacKay – vocals *
Bobbye Hall Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Early career, work for Motown and move to ...
– percussion on "Verdilac", "The Piano Bird" and "The Peking King and the New York Queen" * Charles Lloyd
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
on "Verdilac",
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
on "The Piano Bird" Technical staff and artwork * The Doors – producer *
Henry Lewy Henry Lewy (May 31, 1926 – April 8, 2006),Arizona Obituary Archive: Henry Lewy< ...
– engineer *
Pacific Eye & Ear Ernie Cefalu (born 1945) is a contemporary artist and Senior Creative Director, currently working out of Los Angeles, CA. He is known for designing art for music albums. Cefalu attended the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California Co ...
– cover concept * Joe Garnett – cover illustration


Chart information


References

{{Authority control 1972 albums The Doors albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Robby Krieger Albums produced by Ray Manzarek Albums produced by John Densmore Albums recorded at A&M Studios