Doors talk to DownBeat Magazine 1970

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

"Behind The Doors: Jim Morrison on the perils of success and other matters" by Michael Cuscuna.
At the time of this interview "Morrison
Hotel" had been released and Jim was awaiting the
release of his book, "The Lords and The New Creatures."

Several months ago, I received a call
from the publicity department of Elektra records. "Are
you still writing for Down Beat? Good, because Jim
Morrison wants to be written up in that magazine. He'll be in Philadelphia for a concert soon, and you can talk
to him then." Dismayed at the prospect of
encountering another rock ego, yet curious to meet the
well-publicized leader of a group that had undergone so many changes in style, I set out to meet Morrison in his hotel room prior to his Philadelphia appearance. The
Doors - with Love, Country Joe and the Fish, and
Jefferson Airplane - were among those who created the rock underground, and turned the deaf, overconfident recording industry around. With their first album, the Doors brought many innovations to rock. Essentially, it was the first successful synthesis of jazz and rock. No one wrote about it; there were no posters or ads to thatm effect. Nevertheless, organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore comprise a tight musical unit that is equally rooted in the spirit of rock and the feeling of jazz. The Doors were the first group to introduce the theatre song and its derivatives into the realm of current popular music. Listen to their The End and Morrison's version of Kurt
Weill and Bertold Brecht's Alabama Song. Morrison
delivers such material with a passion for theatre.
Indirectly, the Doors opened up the public's ears for the
later work of Judy Collins, David Ackles, Van Dyke
Parks and Randy Newman. The inclusion in the
Door's repertoire of Willie Dixon and Howling Wolf's
Back Door Man foreshadowed the white blues revival
that was to dominate the rock scene for well over a
year.
The group's second album, Strange Days was one of the
first concept albums in the underground, and certainly
the most subtle. It strongly resembled the first
album in quality and style. The third disc, Waiting For
The Sun, sounded as if the now successful Doors were
trying to imitate themselves. The Soft Parade was an
over-produced and over arranged collection of obvious songs.
The spirit of the Doors had all but
disappeared. Jim Morrison rested on his motel bed.
"I am not an avid or knowledgeable jazz fan, but I do read Down Beat regularly, because it deals with music. Most of the so-called music magazines cover everything but music. They are fan magazines and sensation-seekers. I have been written about in all of them - but so what," he said. The antithesis of his extroverted stage personality, the private Morrison speaks slowly and quietly with little evident emotion, reflectively collecting
his thoughts before he talks. No ego, no pretentions.
I expressed my feelings about the evolution of the
Doors. With a half smile, he said, "Really? Hmm, I
really like all four albums equally. But I really am
proud of our second record because it tells a story, it
is a whole effort. Someday it will get the
recognition it deserves. I don't think many people are aware of what we were doing."
In response to my statement that the Doors had lost much of their spirit and
creativity on the third and fourth albums, he explained:
"Most of the songs on the first two records had been
written when we were still playing club six nights a
week. When it came time for the recording of Waiting
For The Sun we were just working concerts and had no
chance to work out new material. In fact, some of the
songs on that album were written right in the studio.
One thing about the fourth album that I am very proud
of, is that Touch Me, which is also a single, was the
first rock hit to have a jazz solo in it, by Curitis
Amy on tenor saxophone. I guess Tell All The People
was a dumb song, but everyone wanted me to do it, so
I did. Soon we are going to put out a live concert
album, and that may bring back the feeling that you were talking about."
The live album has been delayed in
deference to the new Morrison Hotel, an intriguing and
unusual collection of Morrison originals performed by the
Doors with such great artists as John Sebastian on
harmonica and Lonnie Mack on bass. It is not the old Doors, nor it is the new current commerical Doors; it is Jim Morrison singing some excellent songs, covering territory that the group had not heretofore explored. As
we conversed, Morrison's opinions of the Doors'
music fluctuated, but he remained constant in his
lamentation of the group's situation. "When we were working clubs," he explained, "we had alot of fun and could play a lot of songs. A lot of things were going on. Now we just play concert after concert, and we have to
play the things the audience wants to hear. Then we
record and go out into concert halls again. The people
are very demanding, and we don't get to do a lot of
new or different things. I really want to develop my
singing. You know, I love the blues, like Joe Turner and
Freddie King. I would like to get into that feeling and
sing some old standards like St. James
Infirmary."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Morrison has interests outside of music. He became most animated during our conversation when the subject of film
was brought up. The Doors' 40-minute Feast Of Friends
has already been shown, to mixed critical and
audience reactions. Morrison is also producing and
starring in Hiway, a color film now nearing completion. He is a former U.C.L.A. film student and has a real
passion for the cinema. Thus the remainder of the
interview consisted of our exchanging accolades for Bunuel, Fellini, and other outstanding directors. After dinner, we parted so the group could prepare for the concert.

A few hours later, the Doors appeared on stage, greeted by a mass of screaming fans, and began an exciting set of jazz rock. The rhythm section was burning as the stage Morrison (loud, mystical, dramatic) belted out some of the group's better known songs. Shades of the exciting and innovative Doors of old!
In Jim Morrison, I found to
my surprise a beautiful human being who, not unlike
Charles Mingus, has been a victim of sensational
publicity and harrassment by silly journalists. This same
Jim Morrison seems trapped in the routine of success,
with a public image to live up to, while his best
musical and cinematic talents and ambitions remain
stifled and/or untapped. Whatever part of their
musical history appeals to you - if any - the Doors are
one of the most important forces in rock. Without the
demands that success and hit records make on a group,
they might have continued their truly creative work.
The promise shown in their new album could indicate a
return to the development of music for the Doors' sake,
not for the hit-conscious public's
sake.Meanwhile, Morrison was eagerly awaiting publication of his
book of poetry, The Lords and The New Creatures,
issued by Simon and Shuster this spring. And meanwhile, dedicated rock fans go back nostalgically to the startling, dynamic album that a then unknown Los Angeles rock group quietly released some four years ago on a relatively small folk label called Elektra.

Michael Cuscuna - Downbeat May 28, 1970