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The track 'Easy Ride' was recorded in March 1968 at TTG studios during sessions for Waiting For The Sun. The remaining eight songs were put down between late July 1968 and May '69 at Elektra Studios B, Los Angeles, although nothing recorded after mid-January 1969 was used on the album. The sessions were engineered by Bruce Botnick and produced by Paul A Rothchild. Robby Krieger recalled that the band were still not particularly studio savvy at the time and the exacting Rothchild would insist on multiple takes.

He also noted that the producer was, 'a very strong personality and real smart, which Jim [Morrison] looked up to'. Rothchild and Morrison worked together structuring the title track, finding suitable verses from Morrison's notebook that would fit particular sections of the song.

But the singer could be difficult and disruptive, and was bored by the lengthy mixing sessions. 'I think he was trying to show the band that they weren't sh*t without him', Rothchild told BAM in 1981. 'He tested people's limits to see where their level of infuriation was.'

Ray Manzarek enjoyed recording in the all-wood rooms at Elektra and playing the 'great funky organ' and was delighted when George Harrison dropped in to say hello. Drummer John Densmore also liked the drum sound, though he found the producer's perfectionism rather taxing. He had to 'tap on each drum and I'd have to do it for a f*ckin' hour'. He also recalls muffling his snare drum by taping his wallet to the edge of the batter head.

Manzarek said that 'Rothchild and Botnick were two alchemists with sound'. But added that, 'I wouldn't allow anything to get out of the recording studio without my approval. If I didn't think it was right it didn't go onto a record'.