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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Sept 26, 2011 13:09:15 GMT
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wplj
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Posts: 186
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Post by wplj on Sept 26, 2011 17:22:05 GMT
Nice one!
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Aug 16, 2013 8:42:08 GMT
Rare Italian cassette 'Best Of The Doors' (Vvarner esg 755962569-2) *****
Not content with re-issuing the individual albums from the recent boxed set in miniature 'album sleeves', Elektra have now salted down the best of the double CD 'Best Of' first issued in 1985 to pack a 79- minute single disc. A bonus platter includes an interview with Ray keyboard player Manzarek and, horror of horrors, dance mixes of `Riders On The Storm', but it's hard to believe anyone with an interest hasn't invested already - nor that this tawdry presentation would inspire anyone else. Coming next: the Jim Morrison replica funeral urn with built-in beatbox?
Michael Heatley Classic Rock Magazine November 2000
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wplj
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Post by wplj on Aug 27, 2013 13:56:05 GMT
That's a weird one ... like a sampler for the 1985 Best Of LP ... Very strange ...
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wplj
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Post by wplj on Nov 20, 2013 14:10:09 GMT
Alex ... haven't seen this mentioned on the board, so I thought I would post a link ... Coming out 25 November in the UK ... www.amazon.co.uk/R-Evolution-Deluxe-Blu-ray-Doors/dp/B00F0JHEU0/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1384956175&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Doors+R+Evolution+Blu+rayIt's a collection of television clips ranging from original promo films to live TV appearances, two of which will be interesting to have on an official release in good quality: Malibu U Light My Fire (in colour with outtakes!) and The Crystal Ship on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The extras include a 45-minute doc on The Doors' TV work plus a Ford Motor Company training film, Love Thy Customer, featuring (mostly) instrumental music by The Doors ... from 1966! I had no IDEA they made any other pro recordings prior to their record contract with Elektra. I think this would have been made around the time of their London Fog engagement ... Anyway, I posted this here as I figured it counts as another compilation. I will definitely be getting it. Be nice (for me, who only owns Live At The Bowl '68, Mr. Mojo Risin', and Soundstage Performances) to have all this stuff in one place ...
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 20, 2013 18:12:08 GMT
Yeah saw that mate a month or so back. will be nice to get good quality clips from the TV shows. The Ford training film has been known about for decades mate. It was a musical piece made in May 1966 and features a bit of The Soft Parade in it. The band recorded it by viewing the film. Some of us questioned Jampol about it on Densmore board a few years back. He said they still had it so it seems he was not lying for a change. Will be cool to hear.
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wplj
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Post by wplj on Nov 21, 2013 10:43:20 GMT
A bit of TSP? Wow, that'd be cool, if it is true. I did see somewhere on the net that most of it is completely original material (i.e.: none of it was recycled in future Doors tunes/recordings) except one bit near the end that is supposed to sound like an embryonic version of one of the tunes on the first album ... can't remember which one at the moment. Well, you learn something new every day! This item is already on my xmas wish list ... it's out on Monday apparently, but I won't get it until I see what happens at xmas. If I don't get it, then I will order it. Deluxe version, even. I really wonder if, with just John and Robby left, we will start to see some quality unreleased material from the band (audio and video) on a regular basis as opposed to constant recycling of the six Jimbo LPs? To be frank, having never heard the Matrix bootleg(s), I am happy with the Matrix CD I currently own, but would welcome a better sounding release with the running order of the gig restored ... But I would be more interested in a London Fog release ... if they only have the one reel, they can maybe tack it on to the end of an upgraded Matrix release. Who knows?
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 21, 2013 15:06:57 GMT
According to On The Road the 'catacombs, nursery bones' section of TSP opens the recording. Or an early version of that. I may actually buy a copy. But I might just download a copy free as well. Or I might do both Giving these people my money is not high on my agenda these days. I will get a copy whichever I choose and will enjoy watching it. Perhaps now that arcehole Manzarek is dead we may see some decent releases. The London Fog in November seems to have sailed and once again more lies from these people. The Proper Matrix sounds awesome from the few 30 second clips I heard a few years back. Way better than the bootleg. But we may get a Xmas release of the best of The Doors tribute to Ray Manzarek Who knows with these people.
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wplj
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Post by wplj on Nov 21, 2013 16:16:14 GMT
Well, we've got R-Evolution for the xmas season this year ... There are rumblings of Matrix and/or LF in 2014 ... but then there are ALWAYS rumblings ... Here's hoping we see some quality material in the future ... oh, and put Aquarius, Detroit, Philly and New York back in print!
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 10, 2022 10:09:21 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 25, 2024 11:04:14 GMT
THE DOORS Star Collection 1973 & 1974These were interesting Vinyl LPs I used to have back in the 70s...... Official WEA releases on the German Midi Label.
The covers were mostly Jim with the other 3 Doors as an afterthought as if someone said 'we can't have a cover without all 4 Doors' so slapped some images from Other Voices on Jim's shirt. Volume 2 was worse placing an image of all 4 in the lens of his left side sunglasses. Jim once again is prominent and Robbie and John hardly visible.
THE DOORS Star Collection Volume 1 1973
1. Waiting For The Sun 2. Roadhouse Blues 3. My Wild Love 4. Unhappy Girl 5. Light My Fire 6. Maggy M'Gill 7. Back Door Man 8. Land Ho 9. Peace Frog 10. Wishful Sinful
THE DOORS Star Collection Volume 2 1974
1. Hello I Love You 2. Sould Kitchen 3. My Eyes Have Seen You 4. Runnin' Blue 5. The Soft Parade 6. Touch Me 7. The Crystal Ship 8. Wild Child 9. Love Street 10. Horse Latitudes 11. Riders On The Storm
8-Track
Cassette Tape
The Doors Essential Rarities 2000
A silly title as their was nothing remotely essential about it. A Best Of the Box Set added to The Cube with one rare track now released as a stand alone CD.
1. Hello To The Cities - (live) 2. Break On Through (To The Other Side) - (live) 3. Roadhouse Blues - (live) 4. Hyacinth House - (demo) 5. Who Scared You - (demo) 6. Whiskey, Mystics And Men - (demo) 7. I Will Never Be Untrue - (live) 8. Moonlight Drive - (demo) 9. Queen Of The Highway - (alternate version) 10. Someday Soon - (live) 11. Hello I Love You - (demo) 12. Orange County Suite - (demo) 13. Soft Parade, The - (live) 14. End, The - (live) 15. Woman Is A Devil - (outtake)
The Doors: Album Guide - Essential Rarities (2000)
Originally made available as part of the exhaustive 1999 Doors boxed set The Complete Studio Recordings, but reissued, on demand, as a stand-alone 15-track CD in 2000, this intriguing mix of cracking live tracks from different eras of the band’s career, fascinating alternative takes of existing classics, previously unreleased bonus tracks and some unexpectedly high-quality demos going back to the stunning original 1965 tape that landed them their deal with Elektra Records, while most of us, in truth, can probably live without it, again this is an absolute must-have addition to any serious Doors fan’s collection, offering an insightful alternative history to a story that’s now been told in countless books, documentaries and film (or an imaginative blending of all three in Oliver Stone’s much-maligned but fun 1991 film). Timeless, like the band itself… Tracklist: Hello To The Cities / Break On Through / Roadhouse Blues / Hyacinth House / Who Scared You / Whiskey Mystics And Men / I Will Never Be Untrue / Moonlight Drive / Queen Of The Highway / Someday Soon / Hello I Love You / Orange County Suite / Soft Parade / End / Woman Is A Devil Mick Wall 2008
The Doors - Essential Rarities This collection, originally available only as a bonus disc in The Doors: The Complete Studio Recordings box set (fleshed out here with another outtake track, "Woman Is a Devil," from that set) is split just about evenly between a sometimes motley collection of outtakes and demos and a better slate of live material. It also argues that while most rock bands cut their teeth on blues and other roots music, then develop a distinct sound (or sell out to pop fashion trends), the Doors seemed to evolve ass-backwards, the band's, and particularly Jim Morrison's, college poet-nihilist pretensions slowly giving way to more blues-based influences. Indeed, after a few legendary years of late-1960s success and excess, Morrison had more than enough reasons to sing the blues. The studio leftovers here underscore why they're called "outtakes" (1965 demos of "Hello, I Love You" and "Moonlight Drive" are historically interesting, if a bit bubblegummy) though there are some highlights. "Whiskey, Mystics and Men" showcases another side of the band's tastefully odd Kurt Weill fetish; a '69 alternate of "Queen of the Highway" is almost lounge hipster chic; and "Orange County Suite" is a dirge from '70. Live cuts (all from '69 and '70) range from a baroque, affected PBS telecast of "The Soft Parade" to an apocalyptic, overwrought "The End." --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 27, 2024 10:08:08 GMT
The Future Starts Here: The Essential Hits. 2008Not content with already releasing The Very Best Of The Doors and the 6 albums with 40 year mixes on January 29th 2008, to commemorate the band's 40th anniversary, they released this in case they missed anyone. Containing the 'essential' part of the first six album 40 year mixes released in 2007
1."Break On Through (To the Other Side)" 2. "Light My Fire" 3. "Love Me Two Times" 4. "Hello, I Love You" 5. "People Are Strange" 6. "Strange Days" 7. "Riders on the Storm" 8. "L.A. Woman" 9. "Touch Me" 10. "Roadhouse Blues" 11. "Peace Frog" 12. "Love Street" 13. "The Crystal Ship" 14. "Soul Kitchen" 15. "Love Her Madly" 16. "Back Door Man" 17. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" 18. "Moonlight Drive" 19. "The Unknown Soldier" 20. "The End" (edited film version from Apocalypse Now)signed copy and vinyl with different title. No longer 'essential' just 'greatest'.The Platinum Collection 2008Not content with celebrating 40 years with the above Doors/Rhino thought we needed a better than gold celebratory release Just in case anyone was left after the dizzying array of Best Ofs/re release 2007/2008 had brought us.
"Moonlight Drive" "Soul Kitchen" "Bird of Prey" "Take It as It Comes" "You're Lost Little Girl" "My Eyes Have Seen You" "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" "Summer's Almost Gone" (40th anniversary mix) "The Spy" "Tell All the People" "Queen of the Highway" "Shaman's Blues" "Hyacinth House" "Cars Hiss by My Window" "Love Street" The Doors – Scattered Sun 2007 By this time they were really taking the fucking piss. They seem addicted to re-releasing every Doors track on an album named after every lyric Jim ever wrote.. 2007 already had several releases of Hits/Best Of so this one was superfluous to say the least. Rhino put it out as part of their 'Opus Collection' series although 'Grift' would have been a better title.
1 People Are Strange 2 Soul Kitchen 3 The Crystal Ship 4 Light My Fire 5 Moonlight Drive 6 Horse Latitudes 7 Riders On The Storm 8 Spanish Caravan 9 L.A. Woman 10 You're Lost Little Girl 11 Break On Through (To The Other Side) 12 Waiting For The Sun 13 Take It As It Comes 14 Roadhouse Blues 15 The End 16 Not To Touch The Earth 17 Indian Summer (8/19/66 Vocal) 18 A Feast Of Friends
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 27, 2024 16:50:07 GMT
The Best Of The Doors 2000
I bought this due to the remixes of ROTS. Another waste of money as they turned out to be shit. Then they released a 4 LP set with more Doors songs and a couple more abysmal ROTS remixes. The music (apart from ROTS mixes) is of course brilliant but the rest not. The media by this time were laughing at The Doors for their endless flow of Best Of Compilations. Not the music just the milking of the fans.
1. Break On Through (To The Other Side) 2. Light My Fire 3. People Are Strange 4. Riders On The Storm 5. L.A. Woman 6. Love Her Madly 7. Back Door Man 8. Touch Me 9. Hello, I Love You 10. Love Me Two Times 11. Twentieth Century Fox 12. The Crystal Ship 13. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) 14. Peace Frog 15. The End Lis 16. Roadhouse Blues (Live)
Also originally featured as a 2 disc digi-pack with 4 remixes of Riders On The Storm and a multi media track with an interview with Ray and an e card advert. The Riders On The Storm remixes varies from interesting to awful. Also features a nice set of notes from long time Doors fan Max Bell. Digi Pack Bonus CD: 1. Riders on the Storm [SpaceBats ReMix] * 2. Riders on the Storm [Ibizarre ReMix} * 3. Riders on the Storm [N.O.W.Mix] * 4. Riders on the Storm [Baez & Cornell Tunnel Club Mix] *
The Best Of The Doors Released: December 5th 2000 Billboard peak: #9
The Booklet with sleeve notes from Max Bell
The Very Best Of The Doors 2001
You literally could not make this shit up. Here we see the 'Best Of' promoted to the 'Very Best Of' and remastered from the year before. Exactly the same album
1. Break On Through (To The Other Side) 2. Light My Fire 3. People Are Strange 4. Riders On The Storm 5. L.A. Woman 6. Love Her Madly 7. Back Door Man 8. Touch Me 9. Hello, I Love You 10. Love Me Two Times 11. Twentieth Century Fox 12. The Crystal Ship 13. The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) 14. Peace Frog 15. The End Lis 16. Roadhouse Blues (Live)
Poster.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 27, 2024 17:36:18 GMT
The Best Of The Doors 2000 vinyl
This was another special edition of The Best Of The Doors 2000 with 37 original remastered Doors recordings on 3 vinyl LPs. Featuring Mosquito from Full Circle as a bonus Densmore, Manzarek & Krieger track and a bonus vinyl 12" single featuring two of the "Riders On The Storm" remixes that the CD version had as well as four new ones.
LP 1 1. Light My Fire 2. Hello, I Love You 3. People Are Strange 4. Love Me Two Times 5. Touch Me 6. Strange Days 7. Spanish Caravan 8. Moonlight Drive 9. We Could Be So Good Together 10. The Unknown Soldier 11. Queen of the Highway 12. Shaman's Blues 13. The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) 14. L.A. Woman
LP 2 1. Whiskey, Mystics and Men 2. Summer's Almost Gone 3. You Are Lost Little Girl 4. When the Music's Over 5. Densmore, Manzarek & Krieger - No Me Moleste Mosquito 6. Riders on the Storm 7. Break on Through 8. Roadhouse Blues 9. Soul Kitchen 10. Love Her Madly 11. Alabama Song
LP 3 1. Peace Frog 2. Waiting for the Sun 3. Who Scared You 4. The Crystal Ship 5. Wishful Sinful 6. Love Street (Doors) 7. Wintertime Love 8. The Spy 9. Back Door Man 10. My Eyes Have Seen You 11. Five to One 12. The End
Bonus LP: 1. Riders on the Storm [Revival Mix] * 2. Riders on the Storm [Ibizarre Mix} * 3. Riders on the Storm [N.O.W. Sofa Mix] * 4. Riders on the Storm [PNAU Club Mix] * 5. Riders on the Storm [Baez & Cornell Radio Mix] * 6. Riders on the Storm [Baez & Cornell Club Mix] *
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 28, 2024 10:11:51 GMT
The Doors Greatest Hits 1996This was the CD of the 1980 Greatest Hits release. By that time we had a lot of Best Of releases after the stunning success of Stones movie. The band were everywhere and Jim adorned the windows of book and record stores everywhere you went. The disc was an early foray into computing for The Doors with an enhanced portion for those with the new fangled Windows 95 operating system. "Hello, I Love You" "Light My Fire" "People Are Strange" "Love Me Two Times" "Riders On The Storm" "Break On Through" "Roadhouse Blues" "Touch Me" "L.A. Woman" "Love Her Madly" "The Ghost Song" "The End""Not To Touch The Earth" was no longer considered a Greatest Hit (not that it ever was) and was replaced with "Love Her Madly". "The Ghost Song" & "The End" from Apocalypse Now rounded of the disc.Never troubled the charts pretty much everywhere but did well in Belgium.The Doors Greatest Hits Released: October 15th 1996 Belgium #19 Enhanced portion contains bonus video for "The Ghost Song", interactive lyrics, & online information. The Enhanced portion of this disc is playable on most multimedia computers with a CD-ROM drive.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 28, 2024 18:27:38 GMT
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 29, 2024 10:32:10 GMT
The Very Best of the Doors 2007The band also released a double CD and a single CD version to the amusement of the internet..Double CDDISC 1 "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" "Strange Days" "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" "Love Me Two Times" "Light My Fire" "Spanish Caravan" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "The Crystal Ship" "The Unknown Soldier" "The End" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "People Are Strange" "Back Door Man" "Moonlight Drive" "End of the Night" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Five to One" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "When the Music's Over" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution)
DISC 2 "Twentieth Century Fox" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Love Her Madly" "Riders on the Storm" "My Eyes Have Seen You" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Tell All the People" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Hello, I Love You" "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Not to Touch the Earth" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) Waiting for the Sun 4:0 "Soul Kitchen" "Peace Frog" (New Stereo Mix Advanced Resolution GH Edit) "L.A. Woman" "Waiting for the Sun" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Touch Me" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "The Changeling" "Wishful Sinful" ([New Stereo Mix] Advanced Resolution) "Love Street" "The Ghost Song" "Gloria" (2007 Remastered Live Version) The Very Best Of The Doors Released: March 25th 2007 Billboard peak: # 113 UK #15This is very, very close to being The Very Best of the Doors, and it does indeed contain most of the group's biggest hits and best-known songs, but this 2001 compilation does not supplant 1985's double-disc set The Best of the Doors as being the best Doors compilation on the market. It's not because the disc is sequenced non-chronologically, since it does have a momentum of its own (plus it does contain full-length album versions), but because it simply misses too many big songs. "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)," "Peace Frog," and even the group's version of "Back Door Man" may be fan favorites, but they do not replace "Five to One," "Alabama Song," "Waiting for the Sun," or "When the Music's Over," all missing here. That's not to say what's here isn't good, since it is, and it is given the same exceptional remastering heard on the 1999 set, The Complete Studio Recordings. So, it is indeed a good sampler -- but just don't think that it is a proper introduction, or exhaustive retrospective. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music GuideThe Doors The Very Best of the Doors The Very Best . . . We Mean It This Time! Okay, yes, they're one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but do we really need another repackaging of the Doors? We've already got a Greatest Hits and a double-CD set called The Best of the Doors, along with innumerable box sets and live albums -- and you can bet a lot of old fans are still hoarding their vinyl copies of 13 and Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, the original "best of" albums that have sadly gone out of print to make way for the more recent packages. Isn't this enough for a band that only managed to record six studio albums before its lead singer famously drank himself to death and croaked in a Paris bathtub?
Apparently not. Now, the greedy bastards at Elektra and their mega-corporate parent AOL Time Warner have seen fit to grace classic rock fans with The Very Best of the Doors, the "very" presumably included to distinguish this leaner, single disc set from its double-CD cousin The Best of the Doors, which has been kicking around since the '80s and has nearly the same song list. The question is: why? Why did Elektra release this? Did some marketing survey reveal that there are fans out there who simply won't pay the extra six bucks for a double album? And why couldn't those fans just go out and buy The Doors' Greatest Hits? I don't get it -- but maybe that's why I had such a short-lived career in music marketing and promotions.
But let's put aside my distaste for corporate rock for a moment and look at whether The Very Best of the Doors is indeed any good. Well, compared to The Doors' Greatest Hits, it's excellent -- there's more material here, and "The End" is included in all its sprawling Dionysian glory instead of the pathetic Apocalypse Now edit featured on that earlier release. It's probably also a little bit better than The Best of the Doors (that's the double-CD package -- stay with me, now). Casual fans can do without several of the tracks on that earlier compilation, like the rambling rock poetry of "When the Music's Over" (essentially a weaker follow-up to "The End"), as well as such mediocre numbers as "Waiting for the Sun", "Spanish Caravan", and their insufferably hokey Vietnam protest song, "The Unknown Soldier". But then again, this time around the Elektra execs have chosen to include "Twentieth Century Fox", a psychedelic rock ditty that's such a throwaway the Doors themselves chose to exclude it from their first greatest hits package, 13.
This is the problem typical of so-called "best of" packages for most great bands, especially the ones who don't always create radio-friendly material (and despite the popularity of stuff like "Light My Fire", there are plenty of Doors tunes that you'll probably never hear on the airwaves). There's always going to be one or two tracks you could live without, and a lot of material excluded that will have you scratching your head. Where, for example, is the seductive menace of "Moonlight Drive"? The leering cabaret grotesquery of "Whiskey Bar (Alabama Song)"? The swampy swagger of "Five to One", which featured one of Jim Morrison's best vocal performances? Where, in particular, is the blues-rock masterpiece "Roadhouse Blues", one of the Doors' best studio jams, or even the raucous live version featured on The Doors in Concert? Here we get a different live take on which the band sounds tired, with guitarist Robbie Krieger delivering a sleepy solo and Morrison intoning the words like he's forgotten what they mean. If you're familiar with any of these songs, and love them as much as I do, my advice is to go out and buy the Doors' original albums. Sure, they're famously uneven affairs -- for every blistering "Roadhouse Blues", there's a simpering "Blue Sunday", a pretentious "Queen of the Highway" -- but it's worth it, I think, for any halfway serious fan to own all the songs, in the order in which the band originally put them together.
For everyone else, The Very Best of the Doors is as good an overview as any of the band's biggest hits and most important songs, all in their original album versions (offending lyrics like "She gets high" on the song "Break on Through" -- which still gets truncated to "She get" on most radio stations -- are here in all their anti-establishment glory). There's the pop majesty of Ray Manzarek's organ on "Light My Fire", the creepy jazz-rock of "Riders on the Storm", the raunchy blues of "Back Door Man", the theatrical raga rock epic "The End" (yes, all eleven minutes of it), and all those great '60s pop tunes that classic rock radio just can't seem to get enough of -- "Love Her Madly", "Love Me Two Times", "Hello, I Love You". Even the much-derided "Touch Me", with its overwrought horns and string section, is back around for another greatest-hits appearance -- it was a top ten song, dammit, so it's gotta turn up here, no matter how much it sucks.
And, of course, there's the gloomy, riveting "L.A. Woman", which just may be the Doors signature track, with all the band's members (including two unsung session men, bassist Jeffy Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno) jamming together masterfully over the song's simple three-chord blues riff, propelling Morrison's oft-repeated lyrical portrait of L.A.'s dark side (so oft-repeated it's become a cliché, but still sounds like it could have been written last week -- "Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light? / Or just another lost angel / City of night") down a dark tunnel of echoing barrelhouse piano licks and grinding guitar chords. I find "L.A. Woman" to be a kind of Rorschach test for Doors listeners -- most people who love the band rate it among their best songs, and most folks who can't stand the Doors' particular brand of rock-god pretension find "L.A. Woman" unlistenable. To me it's the kind of song only bands like the Doors and U2, so utterly determined to Make a Statement, have ever been able to pull off -- a song so pretentious it actually becomes unpretentious, laying forth its message in terms so direct and simple (cryptic "Mr. Mojo Risin'" bridge aside) that it succeeds where many another subtler track has failed.
My other favorite moment on The Very Best of the Doors is an unjustly overlooked track called "Peace Frog" off the band's fifth and bluesiest album, Morrison Hotel;. Probably not as well-known simply because it's too intense for rock radio, "Peace Frog" is a masterpiece, with an irresistible rock groove led by Krieger's scorching guitar and some of the creepiest, most hallucinatory lyrics Morrison ever penned ("Blood screamed the veins as they chopped off her fingers / Blood will be born in the birth of a nation / Blood is the rose of mysterious union"). Kudos to whoever decided to include it on a greatest hits compilation.
It's also worth mentioning the other track here that doesn't appear on any other current Doors "best" package: "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)", a swampy blues-rock jam accompanying some of Morrison's more interesting spoken word ramblings ("Out here on the perimeter there are no stars / Out here we is stoned / Immaculate"). It's a cool song, but hardly as essential as "Peace Frog" or the more familiar tracks on this disc. Presumably it was chosen as a good example of the Doors jamming to Morrison's poetry, and indeed it's certainly a lot better than, say, the unbearably pretentious "Horse Latitudes", or the doggerel Morrison's bandmates posthumously set to dreary jazz-rock fusion on An American Prayer.
So is The Very Best of the Doors worth owning? It probably comes down to "Peace Frog", actually. If you agree with me that "Peace Frog" ranks right up with there with "L.A. Woman", "Roadhouse Blues", "Hello, I Love You" and "Break on Through" as the Doors' best work, then this is the first time all those tracks have appeared together on a single disc. On the other hand, if you really can't live without "Five to One" and "The Unknown Soldier" (or the studio version of "Roadhouse Blues", for that matter), by all means cough up the extra bucks and go get the Best Of double CD. It just depends on which tracks you judge to be more important.
The rest of us can go out and buy the original albums -- and mourn the loss of those earlier "best of" packages, 13 and Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, which for my money were better than any of the current best-of Doors compilations -- even better, in some ways, than the original albums themselves. These two early forays into repackaging the Doors catalog went about it in a way that actually made sense of the band's conflicting impulses toward art and pop. 13, released in 1970 to tide fans over while the band labored over their sixth and final album, L.A. Woman, showcased the Doors as creators of great pop songs, culling all the catchiest tunes from their first five releases. Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, released shortly after Morrison's death, flaunted the band's more experimental, arty side, highlighting poetic epics like "The End" and "When the Music's Over" as well as some of their weirder, moody little numbers like "The WASP" and "End of the Night". Compared to these collections, The Very Best of the Doors is as much of a mess as the Doors' own albums were, although that very messiness may, in the end, better reflect the spirit of this most Dionysian of rock bands. Whether you buy this latest greatest hits collection or not, I encourage anyone who's not familiar with the Doors outside of their oldies radio classics to hear more of them. Love them or hate them, their wild pretensions and stylistic excesses really did redefine what rock 'n' roll was capable of. by Andy Hermann PopMatters.comSingle CD"Break On Through (To the Other Side)" "Light My Fire" "Love Me Two Times" "Hello, I Love You" "People Are Strange" "Strange Days" "Riders on the Storm" "L.A. Woman" "Touch Me" "Roadhouse Blues" "Peace Frog" "Love Street" "The Crystal Ship" "Soul Kitchen" "Love Her Madly" "Back Door Man" "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" "Moonlight Drive" "The Unknown Soldier" "The End" (edited film version)
BOOKLET
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Mar 6, 2024 10:21:23 GMT
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