The Doors Collection

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

I bought this in Boston when I was in the US in 2001.
Had to buy a multi region DVD player just to play it as back then we did not have the stuff we have now

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors Collection
Directed by Ray Manzarek
Fullscreen(-Captioned in English
Dolby Digital Stereo Sound 2.0, English, French, Spanish
172 minutes, Supplements 57 minutes-Color and Black and White-1999-Originally released in 1985, 1986

Picture-B-, Sound C, music videos and interviews

Intro-This disc collection contains three previously released music videos released on video tape and laser disc in the 80's. It contains three complete programs-Dance On Fire, a collection of early Doors music videos put together by Elektra Records, and some newer material produced and directed by Ray Manzarek and the other Doors after Morrison's death. One highlight is an absolutely brilliant music video of LA Woman. Next is The Doors Live at the Hollywood Bowl, which shows the band in its heyday, with relatively good sound for the time, and a sober Morrison. While this is not a typical occurrence for the Lizard King, it shows what he could do with a clear mind. He shines through as a committed musician and poet, with the crowd in total awe of his works. Last, comes The Soft Parade, which includes session videos showing the Doors at work creating some of their classic songs, and live studio television performances of songs from that album. It also includes two interviews with the band talking about their music between numbers with Village Voice reporter Richard Goldstein. Morrison talks about his mixture of poetry and music to create the unique art form which is still very popular today.

Picture- The fullscreen presentation is not of the best quality, even by late 60's standards. Film portions are scratched, and video performances from Ed Sullivan and Smothers Brothers are not as sharp as they could have been. Not much extra work appears to have been done to preserve this musical treasure, which is indeed unfortunate. While it can be argued the tape and film is nearly 40 years old and it is certainly watchable, the collection looks worn and not any better than the laser disc versions I also own. A big disappointment from Universal on picture quality.

Sound-Sound recording technology of the 60's was not much better than mono and the source material for this disc used the mixes from the original recordings for most of the disc. Some enhancements are present in the later tracks, such as LA Woman, when advances had been made in recording, but overall the sound is dynamically crippled. The concert has relatively decent sound for the 60's and the acoustics of the Hollywood Bowl helped tremendously with this concert. The best portions of the disc, technically speaking are on The Soft Parade video, where the sound is clean and Morrison's vocals are clear and distinct.

Extras-The disc contains a number of extras including an intro by surviving band members, a portion of John Densmore's one man play about his experiences with The Doors, a newly discovered film of The Unknown Soldier, Ray Manzarek's two UCLA films, Evergreen and Induction, a new performance of The End by Robbie Krieger, audio commentary from all three band members, outtakes from The Doors Archives with narration by photographer Henry Diltz, and over 100 collectibles and personal artifacts. Whew! Doors heaven! This disc contains everything but Morrison rising from the ashes.

Summary-While the video is not of very high quality, knowing how old it is helps in this disc's viewing. Crank up the stereo as well, for the sound was not overly boosted or enhanced much. If you are a Jim Morrison or Doors fan, this disc is a must for your collection and truly is a bargain for the over three hours of footage you get with extras. You will be watching this one again and again, as you have played their music again and again. Timeless stuff here. Morrison's poetic genius comes through on this disc and is still fascinating to watch and hear.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The booklet that came with the DVD.

[brightstar]

Always thought that the image of this DVD needs to be restored entirely. Also is it me, or some of the footage seems to be uncomplete, cut? I mean, like for example in the Wishful Sinful video you can see Jim and Pam in an airport, but you can see that there must be more of the footage, it looks like it has been cut off.. Same for the footage with Pam and Dorothy.. I wonder if the original footage of this song with the Doors wives had sound? would be interesting to know..

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Manzarek is cited as director of two of the films and was creative director on the other. He has as much idea of film making as most chimps.
The awful LA Woman short a good example of what he learned at UCLA which was taken to it's logical conclusion when he made Love Her Madly which is possibly the worst film of the last hundred years.

Of course Ray omits to mention that he had nothing at all to do with Hollywood Bowl as this was Jim's White Elephant and his mates Ferrera and Lisciandro. Ray hates Frank so no mention of his involvement. More lies from Manzarek.

I have never been that impressed with Doors DVD that much as I have seen other bands make much better efforts.
Dance On Fire is probably the best of this bunch. The Bowl could have been a lot better and Soft Parade a true Ray directed film.

Ray's student films are interesting as we see Ray before The Doors and even get a glimpse of Jim at the party but the films taken simply as films without The Doors connection are pretty awful.
Both Jim and Ray have shown they had not exactly got a lot of talent when it came to film.
John's section is interesting as too is Robby's and the commentary over the films excellent stuff.

But they could have been better especially as you point out when it came to the editing.
We saw that The Doors don't exactly immerse themselves in the project when they allowed the piss poor print of PBS to be used on the Soundstage DVD.
All they really care about is the end result. How much we stump up for the finished article. Art long forgotten for the draw of lucre.