An American Prayer

This is the Japanese pressing of An American Prayer, issued by Elektra Japan in 1978 under catalog number P-10504E. It arrived in the same year as the original US release, making it a first-year international pressing rather than a later reissue. The format is a standard LP housed in a glossy gatefold jacket, and this specific variant includes an OBI strip, an eight-page lyric booklet, and a separate Japanese-language insert, all of which distinguish it sharply from the domestic US editions. Discogs currently shows 206 collectors claiming a copy and 358 with it on their want list, a ratio that reflects steady demand without extreme scarcity.

The attached photo shows the front cover and OBI in good condition. The cover itself carries the spare, stark design that defines this release: a close-up black-and-white photograph of Jim Morrison, bearded and looking off to one side, his expression contemplative rather than performative. The image fills most of the frame. Above it, in clean serif lettering, runs the title AN AMERICAN PRAYER, with the credit line JIM MORRISON / MUSIC BY The Doors positioned beneath. The OBI strip runs vertically along the left edge of the jacket, printed in the standard Japanese style with catalog information, pricing (the strip in the photo shows ¥2,500), and Japanese text identifying the title and artists. The OBI also carries a small notation referencing the included lyric booklet, which is a selling point for the domestic Japanese market. The gatefold interior is where this pressing earns its keep as a collectible: the inside spread carries full Morrison poetry and prose in English, with the Japanese-language insert providing translation and contextual notes for the Japanese audience. The eight-page lyric booklet is printed on quality paper stock with clean typography; it reproduces the spoken-word text in a format that makes the literary dimension of the album legible to readers who may not catch every word in the recordings. The back cover credits are in English, listing the poems, lyrics, and stories as written by James Douglas Morrison, with production credits for John Haeny and direction credited to John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek alongside Frank Lisciandro. The jacket itself is glossy throughout, a detail called out in the Discogs notes, and the lamination on well-preserved copies gives the Morrison portrait a depth and contrast that matte pressings lose. Condition of the OBI is always the variable on Japanese Doors pressings; a complete, unpriced OBI in near-mint condition adds meaningful value.

An American Prayer as a project is thoroughly documented elsewhere on this site, including the primary US catalog entry, so this review focuses on what the P-10504E pressing offers that other variants do not. The Japanese market edition was produced for an audience that was deeply engaged with Morrison's literary output, and the decision to include both a Japanese-language insert and the eight-page English lyric booklet reflects that. Elektra Japan consistently treated their Doors catalog releases with above-average attention to supplementary materials, and this pressing fits that pattern. The gatefold construction also gives the release a physical weight that single-sleeve pressings lack; the inside spread is given over to imagery and text rather than left blank, which collectors who have compared this directly to some European pressings will appreciate. The track sequence here follows the original album structure: Side One moves through the suite-like sections built around Morrison's recorded poetry, from Ghost Song through Curses, Invocations, while Side Two anchors itself with Roadhouse Blues before closing on the extended title sequence pairing Morrison's prayer with The End and the Albinoni Adagio. The new music was recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders with sound restoration handled by Soundstream Inc. and Dr. Thomas Stockham, work that gave the surviving Morrison tapes enough clarity to sit alongside fresh Doors instrumentation without obvious seams. Japanese pressings of this era were cut with care, and the P-10504E generally holds up well sonically against contemporary US copies, though direct comparisons depend heavily on the individual pressing's condition. Collectors building a comprehensive Doors Japan discography will want this alongside other Japanese-market releases; those focused purely on An American Prayer variants will find the OBI and insert combination here meaningfully different from anything in The Doors Complete Studio Recordings box or later reissue configurations.

The P-10504E is a legitimate first-year Japanese pressing with a complete supplementary package: OBI, eight-page lyric booklet, and Japanese-language insert inside a glossy gatefold. It is not rare by strict standards, but a clean copy with an intact OBI and undamaged booklet is increasingly difficult to source. Collectors who already own the standard US pressing and want a high-quality international variant with meaningful additional materials will find this worth pursuing at the right price. Those starting their An American Prayer collection should note this against the US edition and decide based on whether the Japanese supplementary materials matter to them.