Lead singer Jim Morrison, who was dealing with personal issues and focusing more on his poetry, was less involved in the songwriting process, allowing guitarist Robby Krieger to increase his own creative output.

After the release of Waiting for the Sun, the Doors commanded substantial performance fees and played before large crowds in arenas such as the L.A. Forum, the Hollywood Bowl, and Madison Square Garden.

[4] Initial sessions for the album occurred on July 26, 1968 when the band recorded "Wild Child" and "Wishful Sinful" ("Easy Ride" was a Waiting for the Sun leftover, captured on March 3, 1968).

While the 1968 tours managed to capitalize on the chart success of Waiting for the Sun, it also left little time for the Doors to compose new songs for The Soft Parade, having already exhausted all the material from Morrison's songbooks.

[7][8] In November 1968, the band entered the newly established studio Elektra Sound West on La Cienega Boulevard to continue work on The Soft Parade, a process that was not completed until May 1969.

"[11] Rothchild, who by this time was addicted to cocaine and incredibly strict in his leadership, caused severe strife in the studio, especially with his advisor Jac Holzman, who argued that the drive for perfection was "grinding them [The Doors] into the ground".

[22] Although Morrison was less involved in the Doors' studio sessions at this point, he demanded the band receive individual writing credits after initially refusing to sing Krieger's lyric, "Can't you see me growing, get your guns" on the track "Tell All the People".

Only his tracks, "Tell All the People", "Touch Me", "Runnin' Blue", and "Wishful Sinful", were written to include string and horn arrangements; Morrison, though not totally opposed to the concept, declined to go in the direction Densmore and Manzarek championed.

[25] The latter song, a stylistic return to a lengthy track closing a Doors album, was penned with the help of Rothchild, who organized pieces of Morrison's poetry with him to align rhythmically and conceptually.

[28] Critic Doug Sundling noted that "The Soft Parade", with its display of funk, jazz, acid rock and psychedelic pop influences, is more diverse than any other composition of the group.

"[42] Another scathing review by Miller Francis Jr. of The Great Speckled Bird expressed disdain for the Doors' attempt at art rock, feeling The Soft Parade "comes on so pretentious, like something written rather than something sung.

"[42] Rob Cline of Northwest Passage questioned why a band like the Doors needed to record with violins and trombones when the group was "best when getting it on straight and hard as witness to their first two albums".

"[30] Writer James Riordan opined that, compared to prior albums, Morrison's contributions to The Soft Parade were lackluster, putting his credibility as a serious poet and songwriter on the line.

[25] Author Danny Sugerman in No One Here Gets Out Alive wrote "overall the lyric impact was less than it had been on previous albums ... horns by some of the top local studio jazz musicians further blurred the once-lucid Doors sound".

[24] MusicHound Rock editors Gary Graff and Daniel Durcholz described the album as "uneven", but also expressed that it "tends toward the great and includes some of the band's most ambitious, original material.

[55] It included the namely "Doors only" versions of "Tell All the People", "Touch Me", "Runnin' Blue" and "Wishful Sinful", where the orchestral arrangements are removed and features some new overdubbed guitar parts by Krieger.