Post by tzinana on Jul 20, 2005 4:36:47 GMT
REOPENED DOORS: CDS, LPS, VIDEO LIGHT FIRES
OF DOORS FANS NEW AND OLD
By Grant Podelco
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
1987
John Densmore, drummer for the progressive '60s rock
group The Doors, recalled the time his young daughter
first heard lead singer Jim Morrison.
"She wanted me to take the record off," Densmore said
in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "
'That guy's voice scares me,' she said. That made me
think that maybe his fate was built into his voice."
Morrison, the charismatic singer/poet, died
unceremoniously in 1971 in the bathtub of a Paris
apartment, tortured to the end by the muse he sought
to vent through his writings.
The popularity of the group did not die with Morrison,
however. Romanticized tales of his on-the-edge
lifestyle and unpredictable performances, coupled with
rumors concerning his mysterious death, have
heightened The Doors' mystique, and helped to sell
more than 12 million records in the process.
For fans of The Doors, the summer of 1987 has been
nirvana.
Although it's been 20 years since the group's
incendiary single, "Light My Fire," became an anthem
for the Summer of Love, and 16 years since Morrison's
passing, lost material seems to be "discovered" with
suspicious regularity, and older material is reissued
to keep the magic alive.
WITNESS THE release on Sept. 15 of the six Doors
studio albums on compact disc; the digitally
remastered compilation set, "The Best of The Doors,"
released earlier this summer; and the new 65-minute
home video, "The Doors Live at The Hollywood Bowl," a
full-color chronicle of the band's sold-out
performance of that venue on July 5, 1968, with a
matching six-song EP soundtrack.
And now there's talk that a long-awaited motion
picture about Morrison's self destruction may soon
materialize.
"The Doors aren't freaks from the '60s," said Doors
keyboardist Ray Manzarek in an interview from Los
Angeles. "We came out of the '60s, but we're not of
the '60s."
Manzarek, whose carnival-like organ playing, together
with Morrison's slithery, leather-clad sensuality,
became the group's identifying tatoos, attributes the
band's current success not only to recent books about
the quartet and the use of the song "The End" in the
movie "Apocalypse Now," but to a knowledgeable
audience more interested in the band's music and
messages than to its teenybopper status.
"The immediacy of The Doors has been removed. You know
The Doors aren't going to be appearing at your local
club," said Manzarek. "So you have to listen to the
music and sense the history. It's nice to have a new
generation picking up on what the whole Doors things
is all about."
"THE DOORS Live at The Hollywood Bowl" provides an
opportunity to witness the band at the pinnacle of its
creative and popular success. It is a riveting
documentary of a single performance, but a performance
laden with all the elements -- musical experimentation
and somber imagery coupled with bluesy rock 'n' roll
-- that have allowed the Doors to transcend the
"psychedelic" label pinned on them at the time.
Morrison is sober, sensuous and playful, an evil Elvis
Presley, while the rest of the band, Manzarek on
keyboards, Densmore on drums and Robby Krieger on
guitar, seems to enjoy Morrison's surprising on-stage
lucidity.
Throughout the video, Morrison, the sexy shaman, leads
the band and his flock to spiritual heights through
the dark and dramatic imagery of his sometimes
pretentious poetry.
On "Celebration of the Lizard," Morrison recites and
improvises his evocative lyrics, while the band
follows along:
"And the rain falls gently on the town, and over the
heads of all of us. And in the labyrinth of streams
beneath, the quiet unearthly presence of nervous hill
dwellers . . ."
"The poetry was terrific," said Manzarek of Morrison's
free-flowing concert compositions. "The band
encouraged him to do it. It gave us a chance to play
crazy, chaotic things. We were always listening. We
were on the same psychic plane."
THE DOORS realized the importance of the Hollywood
Bowl performance, a homecoming concert of sorts, and
made plans to capture it on film. It remains the only
full-length Doors performance in color.
"To play in that famous venue, to be up there with
18,000 fans, to know that Miles Davis and Toscanini
played there, to realize that that sea of people was
there for four guys who started out on the beach in
Venice, California, that's something to be proud of,"
said Densmore.
Manzarek attended UCLA Film School with Morrison in
the mid-60s, and is listed as the video's director. He
said the timing of the video's release with the 20th
anniversary of The Door's first album was purely
coincidental.
"It all tied in very nicely," said Manzarek, who just
finished working with Liverpudlians Echo and The
Bunnymen on that group's new album and tour.
"A year or so ago, we did a video called 'Dance On
Fire.' " Manzarek said. "We said, 'Gee, that was fun,
let's do another one.' "
State-of-the-art wizardry eliminated severe audio
problems found in the footage, the reason it had
gathered dust in an LA warehouse for 18 years.
DENSMORE, the video's co-producer, said at times it
has been difficult to carry on his fledgling acting
career with the image of the Doors "etched on my
forehead."
"But I'm proud of being in something that's lasted 20
years," he said.
Krieger has not been as visible as the other members
of The Doors since the group's breakup, but has been
working on various solo projects.
Densmore, who is finishing his own book about The
Doors, tentatively titled "Riders on the Storm," said
working on the new video and seeing the forgotten
footage reawakened strong memories.
"It was a little creepy. The Doors seem like another
lifetime," he said. "But when I get into the material,
I'm in the '60s again."
AS FOR HIS book, Densmore said it will present a point
of view about the group that has yet to be told. "I
wanted to write about how it felt inside, and about
surviving in the '80s. Not the route Jim took,"
Densmore said.
Not surprisingly, there is still more material
remaining in The Doors' film archives, scheduled for
release during the next two years.
"Visually, there's another video coming, and there's a
good performance of "The Soft Parade" from a PBS
Show," said Manzarek. "But there are no new songs."
Tzinana
OF DOORS FANS NEW AND OLD
By Grant Podelco
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
1987
John Densmore, drummer for the progressive '60s rock
group The Doors, recalled the time his young daughter
first heard lead singer Jim Morrison.
"She wanted me to take the record off," Densmore said
in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "
'That guy's voice scares me,' she said. That made me
think that maybe his fate was built into his voice."
Morrison, the charismatic singer/poet, died
unceremoniously in 1971 in the bathtub of a Paris
apartment, tortured to the end by the muse he sought
to vent through his writings.
The popularity of the group did not die with Morrison,
however. Romanticized tales of his on-the-edge
lifestyle and unpredictable performances, coupled with
rumors concerning his mysterious death, have
heightened The Doors' mystique, and helped to sell
more than 12 million records in the process.
For fans of The Doors, the summer of 1987 has been
nirvana.
Although it's been 20 years since the group's
incendiary single, "Light My Fire," became an anthem
for the Summer of Love, and 16 years since Morrison's
passing, lost material seems to be "discovered" with
suspicious regularity, and older material is reissued
to keep the magic alive.
WITNESS THE release on Sept. 15 of the six Doors
studio albums on compact disc; the digitally
remastered compilation set, "The Best of The Doors,"
released earlier this summer; and the new 65-minute
home video, "The Doors Live at The Hollywood Bowl," a
full-color chronicle of the band's sold-out
performance of that venue on July 5, 1968, with a
matching six-song EP soundtrack.
And now there's talk that a long-awaited motion
picture about Morrison's self destruction may soon
materialize.
"The Doors aren't freaks from the '60s," said Doors
keyboardist Ray Manzarek in an interview from Los
Angeles. "We came out of the '60s, but we're not of
the '60s."
Manzarek, whose carnival-like organ playing, together
with Morrison's slithery, leather-clad sensuality,
became the group's identifying tatoos, attributes the
band's current success not only to recent books about
the quartet and the use of the song "The End" in the
movie "Apocalypse Now," but to a knowledgeable
audience more interested in the band's music and
messages than to its teenybopper status.
"The immediacy of The Doors has been removed. You know
The Doors aren't going to be appearing at your local
club," said Manzarek. "So you have to listen to the
music and sense the history. It's nice to have a new
generation picking up on what the whole Doors things
is all about."
"THE DOORS Live at The Hollywood Bowl" provides an
opportunity to witness the band at the pinnacle of its
creative and popular success. It is a riveting
documentary of a single performance, but a performance
laden with all the elements -- musical experimentation
and somber imagery coupled with bluesy rock 'n' roll
-- that have allowed the Doors to transcend the
"psychedelic" label pinned on them at the time.
Morrison is sober, sensuous and playful, an evil Elvis
Presley, while the rest of the band, Manzarek on
keyboards, Densmore on drums and Robby Krieger on
guitar, seems to enjoy Morrison's surprising on-stage
lucidity.
Throughout the video, Morrison, the sexy shaman, leads
the band and his flock to spiritual heights through
the dark and dramatic imagery of his sometimes
pretentious poetry.
On "Celebration of the Lizard," Morrison recites and
improvises his evocative lyrics, while the band
follows along:
"And the rain falls gently on the town, and over the
heads of all of us. And in the labyrinth of streams
beneath, the quiet unearthly presence of nervous hill
dwellers . . ."
"The poetry was terrific," said Manzarek of Morrison's
free-flowing concert compositions. "The band
encouraged him to do it. It gave us a chance to play
crazy, chaotic things. We were always listening. We
were on the same psychic plane."
THE DOORS realized the importance of the Hollywood
Bowl performance, a homecoming concert of sorts, and
made plans to capture it on film. It remains the only
full-length Doors performance in color.
"To play in that famous venue, to be up there with
18,000 fans, to know that Miles Davis and Toscanini
played there, to realize that that sea of people was
there for four guys who started out on the beach in
Venice, California, that's something to be proud of,"
said Densmore.
Manzarek attended UCLA Film School with Morrison in
the mid-60s, and is listed as the video's director. He
said the timing of the video's release with the 20th
anniversary of The Door's first album was purely
coincidental.
"It all tied in very nicely," said Manzarek, who just
finished working with Liverpudlians Echo and The
Bunnymen on that group's new album and tour.
"A year or so ago, we did a video called 'Dance On
Fire.' " Manzarek said. "We said, 'Gee, that was fun,
let's do another one.' "
State-of-the-art wizardry eliminated severe audio
problems found in the footage, the reason it had
gathered dust in an LA warehouse for 18 years.
DENSMORE, the video's co-producer, said at times it
has been difficult to carry on his fledgling acting
career with the image of the Doors "etched on my
forehead."
"But I'm proud of being in something that's lasted 20
years," he said.
Krieger has not been as visible as the other members
of The Doors since the group's breakup, but has been
working on various solo projects.
Densmore, who is finishing his own book about The
Doors, tentatively titled "Riders on the Storm," said
working on the new video and seeing the forgotten
footage reawakened strong memories.
"It was a little creepy. The Doors seem like another
lifetime," he said. "But when I get into the material,
I'm in the '60s again."
AS FOR HIS book, Densmore said it will present a point
of view about the group that has yet to be told. "I
wanted to write about how it felt inside, and about
surviving in the '80s. Not the route Jim took,"
Densmore said.
Not surprisingly, there is still more material
remaining in The Doors' film archives, scheduled for
release during the next two years.
"Visually, there's another video coming, and there's a
good performance of "The Soft Parade" from a PBS
Show," said Manzarek. "But there are no new songs."
Tzinana
