Absolutely Live

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

1 - House Announcer - 2:40
2 - Who Do You Love? (McDaniel) - 6:02
3 - Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) (Brecht, Weill) - 1:51
4 - Back Door Man (Dixon) - 2:22
5 - Love Hides (The Doors) - 1:48
6 - Five to One (The Doors) - 4:34


7 - Build Me a Woman (The Doors) - 3:33
8 - When the Music's Over (The Doors) - 16:16


9 - Close to You (Dixon) - 4:04
10 - Universal Mind (The Doors) - 4:54
11 - Petition the Lord with Prayer (The Doors) - 0:52
12 - Dead Cats, Dead Rats (The Doors) - 1:57
13 - Break on Through #2 - 4:36


Celebration of the Lizard
14 - Lions in the Street (The Doors) - 1:14
15 - Wake Up (The Doors) - 1:21
16 - A Little Game (The Doors) - 1:12
17 - The Hill Dwellers (The Doors) - 2:35
18 - Not to Touch the Earth (The Doors) - 4:14
19 - Names of the Kingdom (The Doors) - 1:29
20 - The Palace of Exile (The Doors) - 2:20
21 - Soul Kitchen (The Doors) - 7:15




Absolutely Live
Released: July, 1970
US: Gold
Billboard peak: # 8
UK #69

Inner Sleeve 1970 US pressing



German pressing with misprint


2022 Vinyl pressing


1970 Venezuela pressing with what seems a rather neat 'Jim Morrison' autograph??


Absolutely Live Song Links

Break on Through (To the Other Side)/Dead Cats, Dead Rats

The Celebration Of The Lizard

Not To Touch The Earth

Universal Mind

Love Hides

Close To You

Build Me a Woman

Who Do You Love

Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)

Back Door Man

Five to One

When The Music's Over

Soul Kitchen

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors: Absolutely Live (Elektra)

THOUGH IT EMERGED to mixed reviews in July 1970 – not least from the band, who thought the set middling – Absolutely Live is an absolutely invaluable document.

Why? Because everything that set The Doors apart from their '60s contemporaries wasn't to be found on their records. Jim Morrison was a singer and a songwriter, true – but he was also one of pop's very first performance artists. I should know: when I was 15, I sat in the audience at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium and – with some bemusement – watched the man take out his lizard and celebrate it in as public a manner as possible.

Absolutely Live was recorded shortly after. Listen and you'll hear the man inspired by Great Poets descending to pure shtick: "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if you realise it but tonight you're in for a special treat." Delighted whoops from audience. "No, no, no, not... that, not that ...you only get that treat on full moons." Et cetera.

But between the stage patter and the unexpected "SHUT UP!" – which leaps out of ‘When The Music's Over’ and begs for exploitation via sampling – you also get a remarkable band's typical gig. That it was pieced together from a multitude of concerts (producer Paul Rothchild once remarked, "There must be 2,000 edits on that album") barely matters; that we get run-throughs of ‘Who Do You Love’ and the Willie Dixon-penned ‘Close To You’ does. While Manzarek competently bellows the latter Jimbo's take on the former is surprising. A bluesman he ain't; fascinating, though, that the spin he puts on such lines as "down the alley the icewagon flew" isn't so far afield from Scream-Of-The-Butterfly territory.

Finally, if the man and the band had balls enough to perform ‘Celebration Of The Lizard’ in public, good manners alone dictate that we hear it. At least once.

Harvey Kubernik talks to Ray Manzarek

How did you construct Absolutely Live?
We had a small tour of about seven or eight cities and decided to record five: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit. The original reason for the recording was so that the people could hear The Doors improvise; get the sense of stepping into the psychic unknown.

Jim didn't want to use the part telling the wisecrackers to shut up. "I'm being rude to my audience. I don't want to be known as being rude to my audience." (Laughs) So we said, 'Come on, Jim!"

How did you manage to play bass and keyboards at the same time?
I played a Fender Rhodes keyboard bass as well as the organ. A Vox Continental and a Gibson Kalamazoo organ with my right hand and my left playing the bass. Given my boogie woogie and classical background, I'd developed a left hand. And I used to play a lot of basketball – a left-handed hook shot and a left-handed jump shot – so I was virtually ambidextrous. We tried adding a fifth member when we first started. But we started to sound like The Rolling Stones or The Animals, since we had the same Vox organ. Using piano bass allowed Robbie Krieger a whole area of space that he would never have had with a bass player.

Were you involved in remastering the album?
Absolutely. Paul Rothchild and Bruce Botnick were both involved. It was the last thing we did with Paul before he died. This was a re-EQing rather than a remix. This music may have been made in 1969 but the sound is absolutely 1997.

Dave DiMartino,Harvey Kubernik, Mojo, January 1997



The Doors: Absolutely Live
Elektra calls this double set an "organic documentary" which means they took a year to record it at various performances, splicing it together to sound like one ideal performance. It ain't so ideal.

When Jim Morrision shows up drunk at a concert, that's his privilege (problem?). But when so many of the cuts here proudly feature him in this cliffhanging condition, one wonders who is the loser—Morrison or the record buyer?

There are a few fine exceptions: "Who Do You Love," "Build Me A Woman," and Willie Dixon's "Close To You," but they account for about 15 minutes in an 80-minute set. We are then left with the rancid/poetic "Celebration of the Lizard," (tightly performed, sure, but who wants to hear it more than once?), a mediocre new song, "Universal Mind," which sounds like a single that would not have made it, plus the old war horses "Five To One," "Music's Over," etc. These are enlivened by Morrison's humorous raps on life and liberty in concert hall America. To the groupies: "Now is that any way to behave at a rock and roll concert?" On the Miami incident: "Grown men were weeping ... cops were turning in their badges." He's a riot doing his comedy number. It used to be tragedy, remember?

But in the end we are left with the music, and when tackling his own material, the result is hysterical slaughter. Listen to his juvenile-soul rant at the close of "Five To One," his intoxicated "Petition the Lord" intro to "Break On Through." It's enough to make you want to get up and punch him. What's theater on stage is garbage on the turntable. Producer Rothchild must've chosen some of these cuts by Russian roulette.

The set ends with some circus humor: An MC instructs the audience to visit the concessions on the way out of the stadium. Ha! You've just spent $6.50 to see the show, now you're going to browse through the head shop, and later you're going to plunk down eight bucks for this album. Ha ha, very funny!

The cover, by the way, is strictly from the retouch lab. (RS 67)
GLORIA VANJAK from Rolling Stone 1970

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors: Absolutely Live (Elektra)
While this double disc (now combined with Alive, She Cried and Live at the Hollywood Bowl for CD release under the title In Concert) is valuable in that it contains material the group did not release on their studio albums, it's also tilted toward some of their more boorish aspects. Recorded at concerts in 1969 and 1970, this was an era in which Morrison was becoming increasingly dissolute, and increasingly disinterested in the whole rock machine. During much of this set, he seems not to be taking himself or the songs too seriously, tossing flippant asides to the audience that seem to treat the whole exercise as a charade. As for the music, the haunting "Universal Mind" and the basic blues-rocker "Build Me a Woman" are originals that are not found on their proper albums; "Close to You" is a dull Muddy Waters cover sung by Ray Manzarek; "Who Do You Love" is a fair cover of the Bo Diddley standard; and the controversial "The Celebration of the Lizard" is a drawn-out opus that is as much poetry recitation as music. There are also extended versions of "Soul Kitchen," "Break on Through," and "When the Music's Over" that flag considerably in comparison to the sleeker studio versions.
Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

The Doors: The Doors in Concert

AS MUCH AS I would feel vindicated by a kick-ass live set by the Doors, who I have defended against some of rock criticism’s biggest hired guns, I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that the Doors live were a pretty lousy band – at least on every live document (including bootlegs) I’ve ever heard.
It should be remembered that the Doors initially earned their stripes as a club band playing small, noisy venues such as the Whisky A Go Go in L.A. – places where their sound and theatrics filled the room. I’ve known a few people who saw the Doors at the Whisky before being signed to Elektra and consider the performances there among the high points of their life.

But as fame spoiled them and they began to play large halls and coliseums, every problem evident in the band’s set-up became magnified a hundred-fold. As many have pointed out, the Doors lacked a solid rhythm section. They desperately needed a bass player (Manzarek’s bass organ just couldn’t cut it) and an extra rhythm guitarist to shore-up their watery sound. Although John Densmore was certainly a gifted, tasteful drummer, he was a small man who lacked the physical power needed to propel the music into high gear. I think Robby Krieger was a stinging, highly original guitar player with a multitude of innovative texturings, but all too often in concert there was nothing to really anchor his guitar; it skittered over the numbing drone of Manzarek’s keyboards with no foothold to dig into. And Manzarek, although capable of stunning organ and piano passages (like ‘Break On Through’ and ‘Riders On the Storm’ if you want examples) was inherently incapable of pounding out a respectable rhythm and blues.

The Doors In Concert is comprised of Absolutely Live, the wretched Alive She Cried, and Live At the Hollywood Bowl, plus an unreleased live version of ‘The End’. Although I’m a strong and unapologetic supporter of Jim Morrison – I think he was one of rock and roll’s most charismatic and distinctive vocalists – what we get here is a man in a state of artistic and physical disintegration. Songs like ‘Back Door Man’ and ‘Petition the Lord With Prayer’ are so histrionic that they are unintentionally hilarious, at least until one remembers how seriously the Doors took themselves. I think it’s fair to say that not a single track on In Concert wasn’t performed better on the studio LPs, making this set redundant and worthless.

I admit I have never understood the complete dismissal of the Doors by so many notable critics, nor have I figured out the logic behind the "they were a great singles band" faction. The Doors, Strange Days, and Morrison Hotel were great albums, and those who focus only on the catchy fluff like ‘Hello, I Love You’ and ‘Touch Me’ to the exclusion of legitimate rock epics like ‘The End’ and ‘When the Music’s Over’ or biting, soulful white blues like ‘Soul Kitchen’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, and ‘Roadhouse Blues’ are missing the whole point of what made the Doors a great band.

Yeah, Jim Morrison was a joke as a poet, but what so many miss is that he was a brilliant lyricist (check out ‘Moonlight Drive’ for a taste). After listening to this dreck I plan to load up the player with Morrison Hotel or The Doors, head for the fridge, and grab myself a be-ah.
Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, Spring 1991

[othercircles]

Yeah, Jim Morrison was a joke as a poet, but what so many miss is that he was a brilliant lyricist

That's about the only thing in there agree with. I dunno why people keep saying the keyboard bass "just doesn't cut it" It sounds pretty fuckin good to me. But it varies (live) album to album because of the different productions... and it also depends how much Ray had it cranked. When he cranked it more you could hear a little bit of overdrive on it that made it sound pretty bad ass to me. In bigger venues with bigger PA's he didnt have to crank it as much and it stayed clean and thin sounding. This goes for the keyboard and Robbies guitar playing too... when he got to crank it, it sounded much fuller. A good example.. the LMF solo on ASC (overdriven and badass) verses the one on say Aquarius first show (clean and thin sounding) which leaves certain people wishing there were more instruments.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Its an interesting subject really as The Doors themselves realised the limitations of the keyboard bass as they from time to time did feature bass players live on stage with them.....Lubahn played some gigs with them as did one or two others who were usually uncredited......Vince Treanor probably solved a lot of their problems soundwise but I for one was fine with Ray and the keyboard bass......having been brought up listening to bands with bass players I never found anything about The Doors sound I did not like......Ray always did a good job for me on AL.....

[jym]

I wandered into a 2nd hand record shop & found Absolutely Live 1st pressing! I bought it, & found one of the best live albums I've ever heard. & when I want a rock magazine writer's opinion on poetry I'll give it to them.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors: Absolutely Live
Year Of Release: 1970
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12

An interesting live album... which shows The Doors were a blues band after all.
Best song: WHO DO YOU LOVE

Track listing: 1) House Announcer; 2) Who Do You Love; 3) Alabama Song; 4) Back Door Man; 5) Love Hides; 6) Five To One; 7) Build Me A Woman; 8) When The Music's Over; 9) Close To You; 10) Universal Mind; 11) Petition The Lord With Prayer; 12) Dead Cats Dead Rats; 13) Break On Through; 14) Lions In The Street; 15) Wake Up; 16) A Little Game; 17) The Hill Dwellers; 18) Not To Touch The Earth; 19) Names Of The Kingdom; 20) The Palace Of Exile; 21) Soul Kitchen.

The only live album released when ol' Jim was still prowling around, this one was intended to showcase the Doors at their live best, and it does. Well - almost does. Because the album also showcases the Doors at producing the kind of show they'd never ever allow on their studio albums, and I'm speaking of the 14-minute long 'Celebration Of The Lizard' suite which is the usual Jim kinda suicidal/necrophilian wailings (ok, ok, it's not really about that, but you know it's all the same to me) and it's brain-muddling. It does include 'Not To Touch The Earth' as a substantial chunk of it, but the rest is just not music at all. Which is not what they used to do in the studio. The only quasi-musical piece is 'A Little Game' which is indeed monotonous, a little ode to schizophrenia ('I think you know/What game I mean/I mean the game/Of go insane') based on one nursery chord; apart from that, it's just Jim reciting his poetry bits to bits of acid noisemaking. I can't really tell you if I like it or not - at least they don't set his poetry to disco backing like they would do it eight years later - but nothing is really exceptional or particularly memorable or impressive; not being a fan of Morrison's life attitude, I will never drool over his poetry when it's not stuck to the actual instrumental background. Face it, the Doors could have been a band with just instrumental compositions; but without the instrumental background, Jim was just Jim. Do you like Jim? I don't. Not particularly, in any case.
But if you throw that 10-minute stinker away (and you should), you get yourself an excellent document with brilliant playing, clear vocals and an overall great sound. The funny thing is that while by 1969, when the performance was recorded, the Doors had already gotten rid of covers and were successfully penning all the material themselves, they still do a lot of covers, most notably classic blues covers, on stage. Thus, both 'Alabama Song' and 'Back Door Man' are present, albeit in a medley which also includes 'Five To One' and a little 'previously unavailable', but very pleasant ditty called 'Love Hides'; and you also get acquainted with their interpretation of Bo Diddley's 'Who Do You Love' and Muddy Waters' 'Close To You'. The first one sounds particularly Doors-ish, as if the main vocal melody was written specially for Jim to perform and the stomping Bo Diddley rhythm written specially for Ray to imitate on his organ. 'Close To You' is less comfortable, though, as the lead vocals are taken by Manzarek himself, who overgrumbles and overhoarsens his voice quite a bit and makes things look somewhat cheaper than they actually are. 'Build Me A Woman', though, is a good Jim vocal highlight. Ah well, anyway, I suppose the fact that all of these songs sound so good in the hands of Jim are obvious proof that blues is an offspring of Satan, don't you think? Morrison's Blues Wears Satan's Shoes...
In general, though, I'm rather pleased that Absolutely Live never actually equals a 'greatest hits live' album and offers the listener enough diversity and little hidden gems that he won't find on any studio records. Apart from the already mentioned 'Love Hides', for instance, there's also an introspective, deeply moving ballad called 'Universal Mind' (yeah I know the title can be offputting, but give it a try, it's actually a nice song), and a new hilarious - if you get black humour, of course - introduction to 'Break On Through' called 'Dead Cats Dead Rats'... these guys were sick, really.
Meanwhile, the oldies are all performed with enough vehemency and enough little details to distinguish them from their studio peers. Naturally, they're all extended: the Doors used to build up tension very slowly, which, unfortunately, doesn't always come out well on an album. For instance, they used to stretch out the organ intro to 'When The Music's Over', slowly wearing out the listener with repetitive keyboard riffs until all of a sudden Densmore kicked in with the drums and Jim threw out his mighty 'YEAH' roar and the quietly dreaming listener was kicked out of the seat with a sonic wave. Which sounds cool in theory, but in an audio version it quickly becomes unbearable. Thank God the version on here is shorter than on the Hollywood Bowl concert recording. But then again, Jim does compensate for all the fuss with his wonderful crowd interaction during the short pieces. 'SHUT UP', he roars, 'is that the way to behave at a rock'n'roll concert?' And as he bellows out 'we want the world and we want it...', the whole audience keeps howling 'now, now, now!' to him. Later on: 'That's New York to you. The only people that rush the stage are guys.' Things like that really turn the simple listening process into... well, into an experience.
'Soul Kitchen' is brilliantly chosen as an encore (brilliantly, since Jim wisely changes the closing lyrics to 'Well the cop says it's time to close now/I think we have to go now/I'd really wanna stay here all night...'), and overall, the album leaves a very good feeling. The sound is excellent (although I feel the organ and drums are mixed way too high, overshadowing Robbie's guitar all the time), the song choice is wise and entertaining, and you can actually feel the audience if you want to. Not that the record lacks any defects - I think I've listed some of them above - but you can't get any better with a live Doors album, and really, with the Doors, you oughta be there to truly understand the event. Such a pity I wasn't...

George Starostin from Only Solitaire.com

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

THE DOORS Absolutely Live
1996 Japanese issue 21-track promo sample picture CD album, truly awful picture sleeve (why did they not go with the original which was wonderful) with 2 Japanese inserts and obi-strip.



The real McCoy from Mexico!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The rather bland sleeve that was used for the CD release of Absolutely Live.







THE DOORS Absolutely Live - Live In Concert
Rare 1977 Brazilian 4-track Elektra butterfly label vinyl LP album, housed inside a unique 'Live In Concert' boardered picture sleeve.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors: The Doors in Concert

AS MUCH AS I would feel vindicated by a kick-ass live set by the Doors, who I have defended against some of rock criticism’s biggest hired guns, I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that the Doors live were a pretty lousy band – at least on every live document (including bootlegs) I’ve ever heard.

It should be remembered that the Doors initially earned their stripes as a club band playing small, noisy venues such as the Whisky A Go Go in L.A. – places where their sound and theatrics filled the room. I’ve known a few people who saw the Doors at the Whisky before being signed to Elektra and consider the performances there among the high points of their life.

But as fame spoiled them and they began to play large halls and coliseums, every problem evident in the band’s set-up became magnified a hundred-fold. As many have pointed out, the Doors lacked a solid rhythm section. They desperately needed a bass player (Manzarek’s bass organ just couldn’t cut it) and an extra rhythm guitarist to shore-up their watery sound. Although John Densmore was certainly a gifted, tasteful drummer, he was a small man who lacked the physical power needed to propel the music into high gear. I think Robby Krieger was a stinging, highly original guitar player with a multitude of innovative texturings, but all too often in concert there was nothing to really anchor his guitar; it skittered over the numbing drone of Manzarek’s keyboards with no foothold to dig into. And Manzarek, although capable of stunning organ and piano passages (like ‘Break On Through’ and ‘Riders On the Storm’ if you want examples) was inherently incapable of pounding out a respectable rhythm and blues.

The Doors In Concert is comprised of Absolutely Live, the wretched Alive She Cried, and Live At the Hollywood Bowl, plus an unreleased live version of ‘The End’. Although I’m a strong and unapologetic supporter of Jim Morrison – I think he was one of rock and roll’s most charismatic and distinctive vocalists – what we get here is a man in a state of artistic and physical disintegration. Songs like ‘Back Door Man’ and ‘Petition the Lord With Prayer’ are so histrionic that they are unintentionally hilarious, at least until one remembers how seriously the Doors took themselves. I think it’s fair to say that not a single track on In Concert wasn’t performed better on the studio LPs, making this set redundant and worthless.

I admit I have never understood the complete dismissal of the Doors by so many notable critics, nor have I figured out the logic behind the "they were a great singles band" faction. The Doors, Strange Days, and Morrison Hotel were great albums, and those who focus only on the catchy fluff like ‘Hello, I Love You’ and ‘Touch Me’ to the exclusion of legitimate rock epics like ‘The End’ and ‘When the Music’s Over’ or biting, soulful white blues like ‘Soul Kitchen’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, and ‘Roadhouse Blues’ are missing the whole point of what made the Doors a great band.

Yeah, Jim Morrison was a joke as a poet, but what so many miss is that he was a brilliant lyricist (check out ‘Moonlight Drive’ for a taste). After listening to this dreck I plan to load up the player with Morrison Hotel or The Doors, head for the fridge, and grab myself a be-ah.

Tom Graves, Rock and Roll Disc, Spring 1991

[wplj]

Re: Ray's keyboard bass.

When I was a kid, it was a long time before I realised they DIDN'T have a bass player! Ha ha! Never noticed a lack in the bottom end at all on Absolutely Live, et al. Thought never occured to me re: the studio albums, as session bassists were on those ... Funny!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

They did use bassists on stage as well from time to time. Not often but more than once.

[wplj]

I think Harvey Brooks (session bassist) is on the Madison Square Garden material that is on Boot Yer Butt!. Is that correct? Did they ever use Doug Lubhan on stage? Is any of this stuff definitively documented here?

Thanks
Jason

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Yes Harvey played at MSG and it is indeed possible that Doug or others sat in on Doors sets. The information is cloudy on this but I do believe they used live bassists on the odd Doors show.
How many, where and who is indeed a question that most Doors fans would love to know.

[darkstar3]

Jul 11, 2011 11:14:13 GMT wplj said:

I think Harvey Brooks (session bassist) is on the Madison Square Garden material that is on Boot Yer Butt!. Is that correct? Did they ever use Doug Lubhan on stage? Is any of this stuff definitively documented here?

Thanks
Jason

Bass Players for the Doors:

Yes, MSG show (January 24 1969) it is documented here:
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=433

Strange Days album (September 25 1967)
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=448

Waiting For The Sun album (July 12 1968)
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=383

Soft Parade Album (July 18 1969) Harvey Brooks & Doug Lubahn
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=1567

Morrison Hotel Album (March 1 1970)
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=634

LA Woman Album (April 29 1971)
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=1559

HARVEY BROOKS SPEAKS ON JIM MORRISON AND THE DOORS
Brooks also played with The Doors, in their shows and also on their albums. When recording the song “Touch Me” he also functioned as psychologist, kindergarten teacher, social worker, and producer. “The band members were fighting and almost didn’t speak to each other. Each one of them brought his part and I put them together into one song. We worked in a studio in Los Angeles and sometimes they showed up and sometimes they didn’t. If I wasn’t there the song would have never gotten made. After all this Morrison came in and sang the lyrics. Once he came in with two or three girls all over him, it was amazing, he had great charisma.”


From Doug Lubahn's Book:
www.douglubahn.com/excerpts.html

www.douglubahn.com/pdf/Page%2050.pdf

According to Paul Rothchild the "Absolutely Live" album has over 2000 edits. He claims he had to jump from one live show to another, sometimes in mid-track to get a decent "live" album that could be released to the public. (NOTE: Absolutely Live and 1983's Alive, She Cried were both repackaged and released as a two-disc set in 1991 entitled In Concert. Absolutely Live was subsequently issued by itself as a one-CD set by Elektra in 1996, with all tracks in their original sequence.)

newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=651#ixzz1RoVdAwb8

[darkstar3]

RECORDS
Rolling Stone
Issue No. 67
September 3 1970
By: Gloria Vanjak
Page 44



ABSOLUTELY LIVE, Doors
(Elektra 9002)

Elektra calls this double set an “organic documentary” which means they took a year to record it at various performances, splicing it together to sound like one ideal performance. It ain’t so ideal.

When Jim Morrison shows up drunk at a concert, that’s his privilege (problem?). But when so many of the cuts here proudly feature him in his cliffhanging condition, one wonders who is the loser – Morrison or the record buyer?

There are a few fine exceptions: “Who Do You Love.” And Willie Dixon’s “Close To You,” but they account of about 15 minutes in an 80 minute set. We are then left with the rancid/poetic “Celebration of the Lizard,” (tightly performed, sure, but who wants to hear it more than once?), a mediocre new song, “Universal Mind,” which sounds like a single that would not have made it, plus the old war horses “Five To One,” “Music’s Over,” etc. Thee are enlivened by Morrison’s humorous raps on life and liberty in concert hall America. To the groupies: “Now is that any way to behave at a rock and roll concert?” On the Miami incident: “Grown men were weeping…cops were turning in their badges.” He’s a riot doing his comedy number. It used to be tragedy, remember?

But in the end we are left with the music, and when tacking his own material, the result is hysterical slaughter. Listen to his juvenile-soul rant at the close of “Five To One,” his intoxicated “Petition The Lord” intro to “Break On Through.” It’s enough to make you want to get up and punch him. What’s theater on stage is garbage on the turntable. Producer Rothchild must’ve chosen some of these cuts by Russian roulette.

The set ends with some circus humor: An MC instructs the audience to visit the concessions on the way out of the stadium. Ha! You’ve just spent $6.50 to see the show, now you’re going to browse through the head shop, and later you’re going to plunk down eight bucks for this album. Ha ha, very funny!

The cover, by the way, is strictly from the retouch lab.

END.

[wplj]

Thanks for the info!

Not to get off topic, but I can't seem to find a thread on An American Prayer. Would love to hear some detailed info on the making of that album. Never heard any of the other guys' motives/reasons (apart from money, of course). Would like to know what they said about it at the time ... artistic choices and whatnot.

It's a weird album that I can't help but like. I've actually tried NOT to like it ... but I do. Can't help it. Weird, huh?

Cheers,
Jason

[darkstar3]

Jul 11, 2011 23:28:11 GMT wplj said:

Thanks for the info!

Not to get off topic, but I can't seem to find a thread on An American Prayer. Would love to hear some detailed info on the making of that album. Never heard any of the other guys' motives/reasons (apart from money, of course). Would like to know what they said about it at the time ... artistic choices and whatnot.

It's a weird album that I can't help but like. I've actually tried NOT to like it ... but I do. Can't help it. Weird, huh?

Cheers,
Jason

Jim Poetry Reading March 1969
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=860

Jim Poetry Reading December 8 1970
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=1071

American Prayer
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=1662

In addition you should read Steve Wheeler's interview with Frank Liscindaro which is on this forum as it contains a lot of details about the making of An American Prayer.

[wplj]

Thanks, Darkstar3! Will get to these when time allows.

Cheers,
Jason

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

New Rhino vinyl release.


Original poster