A return to the studio resulted in two more studio albums, with a harder edge and a revival in the band's popularity with Morrison Hotel hailed as a welcome return to form. Their first live album, Absolutely Live, consolidated things further, and Morrison cut the poetry sessions that ended up on the posthumous An American Prayer just before The Doors last two concert appearances with him out front in Dallas and New Orleans in December 1970.
A breakdown on stage in the Crescent City marked the end of Morrison as a performing artist, though the band was back in the studio to cut L.A. Woman early in 1971. With the album sessions finished Morrison headed to Paris with girlfriend Pamela Courson on 13 March, allegedly intending to become a writer in exile and died there on 3 July, aged 27.
The surviving Doors continued until 1973, with Krieger and Manzarek sharing the vocal duties after the trio decided not to replace Morison with another singer. Two albums, Other Voices and Full Circle appeared before the group disbanded. Krieger and Densmore formed The Butts Band (1973 - 1975) and the trio reunited in 1978 to record the instrumental backing for An American Prayer.
That's not to suggest a harmonious approach to the band's legacy. The 2002 version of the band tagged The Doors of the 21st Century had Manzarek and Krieger joined by The Cult's Ian Astbury on vocals. They were forced to drop the name after legal action from Densmore over use of The Doors in the band's name. Manzarek's death in 2013 after a battle with bile duct cancer leaves two of the original quartet alive and, seemingly, little likelihood of the name being revived in a new entity.
And, you'd reckon, it shouldn't be. It continues to be a powerful brand name in itself, and a glance at the flurry of archival releases, compilations, box sets and video content since 2000 suggests the brand isn't likely to become an unviable proposition anytime soon, There's even an iPad app...
The key question, of course, is how well the music has held up as The Doors approached its fiftieth birthday.
Studio albums Archive Albums Compilation albums Soundtracks; Box sets