Other Voices

The US original pressing of Other Voices on Elektra, catalog number EKS-75017, hit shelves on October 18, 1971, just three and a half months after Jim Morrison's death in Paris. This is the LP format, manufactured and distributed domestically, and it represents the first official Doors studio release without Morrison on vocals or credited as a primary songwriter. The remaining trio, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore, made the deliberate choice to carry on as a three-piece rather than recruit a replacement frontman, a decision that gives this pressing its particular historical weight.

The cover art sets the tone for everything that follows. The front is a straightforward black-and-white portrait of the three remaining members, printed on a matte-finish gatefold jacket. The band name, THE DOORS, sits in bold capital letters across the top, with Other Voices centered beneath it in a smaller, clean serif font. The three men are positioned close together, looking directly into the camera with no smiles and no stagecraft. Densmore is on the left, Krieger in the center, Manzarek on the right. The photography is stark and honest, the kind of image that communicates a band in transition rather than one celebrating anything. There are no psychedelic flourishes, no Morrison-era mysticism in the design. The gatefold opens to reveal another black-and-white photograph of the trio inside, again unglamorous and direct. The sleeve does not overcrowd the layout with text; the visual language is deliberately stripped back. The Elektra butterfly logo appears in its standard placement. Pressing quality on original EKS-75017 copies is consistent with Elektra's domestic production of the period: decent weight stock, reasonably quiet pressings when found in solid condition. Runout etchings are hand-etched, with the exception of the Artisan logo, P, a, 2, and 3, which are stamped, a useful detail for confirming originality when grading a copy. The package includes the company inner sleeve branded with Elektra's "New Magic In A Dusty World" campaign, and a separate lyric sheet, both of which are frequently missing from copies in circulation today. On the outer sleeve, all three members share a blanket songwriting credit, while the individual track-by-track credits are broken out on the labels themselves.

What makes EKS-75017 worth tracking down specifically is its position as the first document of the post-Morrison Doors, and the fact that this US original pressing is the primary reference point for the record's sound. Manzarek carries the bulk of the lead vocal work, and while his voice is an acquired taste for some collectors who came to the band exclusively through Morrison, his approach on tracks like Tightrope Ride and In The Eye Of The Sun is competent and genuinely committed. Krieger takes a turn as well, and the instrumental interplay throughout reflects a band leaning harder into its jazz and blues rock roots without the theatrical poetry that defined earlier records. I'm Horny, I'm Stoned is the track that tends to draw the most commentary, for obvious reasons, and it functions here as a blues-inflected throwaway that the band apparently intended as a moment of levity. Wandering Musician and Hang On To Your Life round out Side Two with more substance. The lyric sheet included in the package becomes a practical document for anyone trying to parse Manzarek's phrasing on first listen. On Discogs, this specific pressing shows 5,883 collectors marking it in their collections against 590 want-listed, numbers that confirm it is widely available but still sought after by completists. Other Voices was followed by Full Circle in 1972, the second and final post-Morrison Doors studio album; collectors tracking the trio's run without Morrison will want both. For those who already have this pressing and are comparing variants, the catalog also lists the cassette and 8-track worth cross-referencing. The lyric sheet and inner sleeve condition are the first things to verify when acquiring a copy, as replacements are not trivial to source.

EKS-75017 is a common pressing and not a rarity by any measure, but it belongs in any serious Doors collection precisely because it is the original US document of the band's post-Morrison chapter. The lyric sheet and inner sleeve are the condition markers that separate a complete copy from a stripped one. Collectors building toward a full Doors catalog, including the Full Circle pressings and beyond, should treat a clean, complete EKS-75017 as a straightforward and worthwhile acquisition at the right price.