An American Prayer



An American Prayer is the ninth and final studio album by the Doors. 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.

Despite managing a RIAA platinum certification in the US, the album received mixed reviews and still divides critics. When the album was originally released, longtime Doors' producer Paul A. Rothchild labeled the album a "rape of Jim Morrison." 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. Prior to leaving for Paris, Morrison 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. Additionally, 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. However, John Haeny (who recorded the original session tapes with Morrison in 1970 and safeguarded them before the project was resurrected as An American Prayer) insisted that the album "was made by those people who were closest to Jim, both personally and artistically" and "everyone had the best intentions," stating: "Jim would be pleased. Jim would have understood our motivation and appreciated our dedication and heartfelt handling of his work."

The album also includes a composite live version of "Roadhouse Blues," splicing together performances at New York City's Felt Forum and Detroit's Cobo Hall, both captured during the Doors' 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour. This version of the song later appeared on the In Concert compilation.

Track listing
Poetry, lyrics and stories by Jim Morrison; music by Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore.

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