Rhino's double-disc 40th Anniversary Edition of
the Doors' final album,
L.A. Woman, may not have the two bonus cuts from the 2007 reissue of the record -- "Orange County Suite" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" -- but it does have a full disc of bonus material, including alternate takes of every one of the album's ten songs, plus the unreleased original "She Smells So Nice" and a cover of
Muddy Waters' "Rock Me." (This bonus material was released separately as
The Workshop Sessions.) Neither of the new discoveries feels finished -- there's little polish on the cover, while "She Smells So Nice" seems invented as
the Doors play -- but the charm of this edition is that the unreleased material is considerably looser than the finished album. Given that there are no great differences in either arrangements or lyrics -- almost none on the former, nothing notable on the latter -- it is the general vibe of these rough run-throughs that counts, as each alternate take amplifies the comfortably assured virility that is
L.A. Woman's calling card.
–
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi