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| Full Circle | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 15, 1972 (1972-08-15)[1] | |||
| Recorded | Spring 1972 | |||
| Studio | A&M, Hollywood[2] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:05 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | The Doors | |||
| The Doors chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Full Circle | ||||
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Full Circle is the eighth studio album by the Americanrock bandthe Doors, released in August 1972. It is the second album afterJim Morrison's death, and their last until the 1978 albumAn American Prayer. The album includes "The Mosquito", the last Doors single to chart.
The band's first album without Jim Morrison, 1971'sOther Voices, had reached No. 31 on theBillboard chart, showing the group could survive Morrison's death. The band – now a trio consisting of keyboardistRay Manzarek, guitaristRobby Krieger, and drummerJohn Densmore – chose to recordOther Voices at their rehearsal space known as the Workshop, the same two-story building at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard they had recorded the successfulL.A. Woman, but forFull Circle they opted to move toHollywood's A&M Studio. WhileOther Voices was, to a degree, an extension of theL.A. Woman sessions (some of the tracks had been worked up before Morrison had left forParis),Full Circle was a standalone work that saw the band delve deeper intojazz and work with some top-shelf session musicians.Bruce Botnick, who had engineered all the Doors albums up to that point and co-produced bothL.A. Woman andOther Voices, declined to participate in the sessions. In 2015 he admitted toUncut's 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 intoFull Circle they took that extension even further."
The Doors hired Henry Lewy to replace Botnick, who in turn brought inCharles Lloyd and a host of session players. Lloyd contributed tenor sax and flute to the songs and also played behind the band atCentral Park and at theHollywood Bowl. As withOther 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 in "The Mosquito". As recounted inUncut's 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:
I was on vacation down in Mexico, and these three local musicians came down out of the hills. That would singmariachi stuff, and they had this one song about a mosquito and that inspired me. That was actually our biggest selling single after Jim died because it was in Spanish and it did very well around the world. Not only in Latin countries, but in Europe. In fact there were a lot of covers, and some of them are pretty good.[4]
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 toUncut 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; theB-side 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".[5] The song was finally given official re-release as part of the Japan edition ofThe Doors Singles Box in 2013.[6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C[8] |
| Classic Rock | 4/10[9] |
| Record Collector | [10] (combined score forFull Circle andOther Voices) |
Full Circle was released on August 15, 1972, and peaked at No. 68 on theBillboard chart. In a retrospective assessment,AllMusic 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."[7] In 2011Uncut 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 called the single "Get Up and Dance" a "steady rocker which is just different enough to stand up to repeated listenings."[11]
For years the Doors 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 albumOther Voices. It is relatively easy to find unofficial CD copies ofFull Circle andOther 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".[12] "Treetrunk" was finally given official re-release as part of the Japan edition ofThe Doors Singles Box in 2013.[6] 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 fromFull Circle the Doors have reissued was "The Mosquito", released in 2000 as "No Me Moleste Mosquito" on the double-disc version ofThe Best of The Doors.
On September 27, 2011, the Doors finally gaveFull Circle, along withOther 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 thatOther Voices andFull Circle would be re-released together on a 2-CD set and individually on 180-gram vinyl byRhino Records 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.[13]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Get Up and Dance" | Robby Krieger,Ray Manzarek | 2:26 |
| 2. | "4 Billion Souls" | Krieger | 3:18 |
| 3. | "Verdilac" | Krieger, Manzarek | 5:40 |
| 4. | "Hardwood Floor" | Krieger | 3:38 |
| 5. | "Good Rockin'" | Roy Brown | 4:22 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Mosquito" | John Densmore, Krieger, Manzarek | 5:16 |
| 2. | "The Piano Bird" | Jack Conrad, Densmore | 5:50 |
| 3. | "It Slipped My Mind" | Krieger | 3:11 |
| 4. | "The Peking King and the New York Queen" | Manzarek | 6:25 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Peking King and the New York Queen" | Manzarek | 6:25 |
| 2. | "The Piano Bird" | Jack Conrad, Densmore | 5:50 |
| 3. | "Hardwood Floor" | Krieger | 3:38 |
| 4. | "Good Rockin'" | Roy Brown | 4:22 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Mosquito" | John Densmore, Krieger, Manzarek | 5:16 |
| 2. | "Verdilac" | Krieger, Manzarek | 5:40 |
| 3. | "It Slipped My Mind" | Krieger | 3:11 |
| 4. | "Get Up and Dance" | Robby Krieger,Ray Manzarek | 2:26 |
| 5. | "4 Billion Souls" | Krieger | 3:18 |
The Doors
Additional personnel
Technical staff and artwork
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Pop Albums[14] | 68 |
| Single | Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Mosquito" / "It Slipped My Mind" | 1972 | US Hot 100 | 85[15] |
| "Get Up and Dance" / "Treetrunk" | 1972 | UK Pop Singles | 84[16] |
...but they managed to record one more album, 1972'sFull Circle. It's an odd mix o[f] R&B, jazz, psychedelia, and rock...
