The Doors: Classic or Dud?

Dunno, perhaps this is just a spectacular muso bid to find a justified way of not listening to Mr "Mother-I-Want-To-bleeeagh"? After Stone's fabby-goofy-ghastly movie, I kind of decided that I preferred to assume that Manzarek was the talent, and Morrison just a guy who made bad avant-garde movies in a decade swimming with bad avant-garde movie. So, search: variant rhythm interplay, and Waiting for the Sun.

As far as the doors go, one can mock morrison all one likes, and god knows it's easy - "he was a shaman - he trod where others feared to etc". Yeah. Whatever. But they are still really good records IMO. I don't think they ever made a 100% classic album, but when I spotted a bunch of CD reissues in cute mini-vinyl-style sleeves on sale in HMV, I bought as many as I could afford...

Classic for me, then.

The VGG organist [name beyond reach this morning: Hugh something?] would hold down adjacent low notes so that the combined overtones would deliver a heterodyning feedback-throb thing, as rhythym or (maybe: I never saw them) as note...

Dud, just because I got over LA Woman and don't care to associate with 15 year olds anymore (he said as he turned on his new Weezer album again)

But that doesn't make it any less true. Dud. Part of pop is taking things on faith, sometimes.

The image of Morrison swaying in leather pants with a microphone stand in hand is one of the more enduring Rock archetypes; it's been coppped many times since, by just about every rock band singer who wanted to be "serious" (Bono, Misfits, Creed, REM). Sure, it's riddiculous, but definitely part of the fun with this band, maybe something like the thrill of seeing Lil' Kim squeezed into her latest comstume. Dorky pop theater.

Then there is "touch me" and the like, a handful of great, catchy pop songs that revealed The Doors teenybopper roots.

Still, so many terrible songs on those albums, and yes, I have heard them all. So I'm leaning toward dud.

x0x0

1. Manzarek's hippybabble testimonials (poor Kyle MacLachlan). 2. Oliver Stone (duh). 3. Val Kilmer, who should have retired after Top Secret.

Every now and then I'm reminded of their occasional greatness, but it was very occasional. He inspired Iggy, so perhaps that's the best thing about him.

So which stamp will it be, then? Fat Jim or Skinny Jim?

Andy: Oh yes, Manzarek is one of the few people who still talks about the "The Sixties" as if it was some construct. Bleech.

Dud, on those lyrics alone. So insufferable and indulgent. Just dribble. "The Soft Parade" could be the most unintentionally hilarious song ever.

There are very few people in rock who can yell "C'mon" like Jim (hello Maggie M'Gill) - Iggy, Jagger, erm, that's it - and that spirit alone makes them instant classics. It's spine tingling when they hit the buttons right.

I can't listen to them all the time but when you put them on the stereo, OK, you gotta sit through the odd filler, but what about those classics huh? 'The End', 'LA Woman', 'Roadhouse Blues' 'Two Times', I mean if these songs can't excite you, you need to get your heart checked out.

What about 'Riders on the Storm' late at night and loud. Or 'When The Music's Over' driving through the dusk. Fuck's sake, if you like rock, you can't dislike these boys, they ARE rock, just like the Stones. If you can't get into it you need to go out this Friday, get fucked out of your brain on booze, down some mandrax, smoke some weed and hit the dancefloor in full leer, get thrown out and somehow end up in a cab with a bunch of randoms all dropping strong uppers which you stuff down your neck while screaming out the window and arrive at some dive-bar party where anything goes, play pool, smoke all night, dance on tables and laugh like tomorrow ain't coming, before leaving with a beautiful member of the opposite sex, or whatever sex turns you on that night, and get crazy under the stars, waking up with the sun in God know's where and slipping your sunglasses on to catch breakfast and conversation with your companion. Then go and listen to the Doors.

Rock in the soul - The Doors had it to the max. If you have even an ounce yourself - you can't fail to dig this shit. And that's not even taking in the phenomenal musicianship. Jesus fucking Christ, Manzarek is off the head - supreme skills, check the organ solo in 'Hyacinth House' - what?

Absolute fucking rock and roll classic. Hello.

Nevertheless, classic.

[Hey, I romanticize (Sturm und Drang Romantic) the music that I love, music that affects me viscerally, too. So I'm also laughing at myself here.]

Roger, the Stones are NOT rock - as "proven" by dave q and mark s on this thread. Best not to get into your question, tho' or we'll be here all night.

(heh, ignore me I'm just shit- stirring having just read Dr.C's excellent rant on the ABBA thread)

Rock and Roll for me is the Doors, is the Stones. If it's not them, please tell me who it is because I want to hear them. See, I can take people dissing the Doors and the Stones, that's fine, but to say they don't rock, or to question their rock and roll pedigree is plain silly. Virtually everything percieved to be 'rock and roll' is prevalent and highly potent in the phenomena that was these two bands (the Stones have sucked for over two decades now).

I would go so far as to say The Doors and the Stones are intrinsic to our understanding, reception, reaction to and interpretation of 'rock and roll'. Jagger and Morrison inarguably set the mould for the 'rock star', (though of course, they were indebted to others).

Certainly, I'm not sure that I suggested for one nanosecond that I wanted to rock in one way only. I think what I said was that the Stones and the Doors are rock and roll. Refute me.

Not that I particularly want another argument with you, but I was responding to that chap who said the Stones are not rock. I say they are. You say potato.

Finally, when you define rock as a "stupid 4 letter word," adding "there are better ways to talk about things" I'd like to ask to what ways you are referring.

What definition of rock are you alluding to here

Rock and Roll for me is the Doors, is the Stones. If it's not them, please tell me who it is because I want to hear them

This is great because you're so confident other people give a shit about "rock and roll" you actually think someone's going to go "NO NO MY FAVOURITE BAND ROCKS! I SWEAR THEY REALLY DO!". You say "rock and roll for me is the doors, is the stones" as if this automatically means they are good, as if the genre automatically means this, and most laughably as if everyone else here will think that too.

Look around, there aren't many here who wet themselves as much as you over "rock and roll" or the "rock star". Noone cares if you think the Stones and the Doors have an exclusive right to being able to "rock and roll" because noone really values that term anyway.

I'm sure you were responding to someone else, it's just so constantly tempting to take the piss out of your "rockers and ravers uniting" and "for me that's rock and roll" bullshit.

To address: "you're so confident other people give a shit about "rock and roll" you actually think someone's going to go "NO NO MY FAVOURITE BAND ROCKS! I SWEAR THEY REALLY DO!"

No, I'm the one who seems to give a shit - go all gushy and excited stroke vitriolic and then take all the shit. That I am confident people give a shit is not true - I know nothing of these boards or the regulars such as your good self. I am the paranoid new boy who gets ripped up because he gets all enthusiastic, and is considered a 'troll' (though I still have no idea what a troll is because no-one has explained).

* * *

"You say "rock and roll for me is the doors, is the stones" as if this automatically means they are good"

Did I? I thought I defined the Stones and Doors as 'good' as you put it, in relation to my perceptions of rock and roll. I think what I was saying was The Stones and the Doors do 'rock and roll', according to my terms, better than most other bands I can think of. That those terms are rigid is an incorrect assumption on your part.

- "as if the genre automatically means this" means what???

* * *

"Look around, there aren't many here who wet themselves as much as you over "rock and roll" or the "rock star". Noone cares if you think the Stones and the Doors have an exclusive right to being able to "rock and roll" because noone really values that term anyway."

So what? Why do you presume that it matter whether no-one cares? And who said anything about 'exclusive rights'? That no-one really values the term rock and roll is not for you to say Ronan. Perhaps you are right though, and I am appreciating this type of music for all the wrong reasons... What are the right ones?

In closing, may I add that you are a capable sparring partner but assume too much Ronan. That I talk bullshit is certain, but in the terms that you suggest is equally as shit-filled.

I do not buy that for one second. Or even a quarter of a second.

Your story has become tiresome. Not to mention predictable.

1: It's true - I found these boards last week. How many times do I need to say it? What kind of a closed forum is this?

2: The story is tiresome because you lot keep necessitating its repetition. Strange that it is so hard to accept.

3: The predicatability I can do nothing about.

Now I finally understand where all this anti-Rockist sentiment comes from, Mr. Ewing. You're actually incapable of loving Der Rock Und Roll, and YOU'RE JEALOUS OF THE REST OF US!! :)

When you come visit NYC and/or Philly, I promise to teach you The Ways Of Rock. Maura will help, I'm sure.

I still like that new song but I honestly reckon "the ILM Mafia" ahem and their constant Primal Scream hatred will actually lessen my enjoyment of the new album, if I even buy it. It worked with Spiritualized Let It Come Down to the point where I can't tell if (a) I like it as a response to the dislike (b)I dislike it because of the criticism or (c)I dislike it (for my own reasons) but won't admit that to myself because it would be giving in to the criticism.

the reasons for you liking things are kind of superficial/cliched even...rock is a 'marketing' term designed by record companies to sell recs (oh yes, the m- word again). Genre words can give an idea abt instrumentation used but little else, it is very reductive.

the 'rock' word has gone through a lot since then, a lot of things have happened to that. I'd say the doors had a bit of 'psychedelia' in them too, the sound was kind of strange, for a start rock bands have a bass player and the doors didn't. Saying something is 'rock' (in this case anyway) just won't do.

I was kind of pissed off abt your comments on rock vs. rap thread as well...

But the fact is that your routine, as it were, seems to be dredging up old threads about classic bands, spouting some ill-considered and dare I say juvenile rhetoric about how they are awesome, and working down from there. Maybe you should sit back for a few days and read some old threads, as well as archived FT articles to get a handle on the general tone of the discussion before you post another rant. We do tend to get fairly agressive with each other on these boards, but watching you and Ronan go at it has put me off almost as much as the grand old days of Doompatrol (use the search engine if you really want to know).

The only thing I think might count as 'trolling' is calling yourself "Roger Fascist".

Julio: can I state that to say my reasons for liking things are "kind of superficial/cliched even" is horrendous claptrap. My reasons are fundamental (to me, though clearky not to you). About that rock verses rap thread... yeah, sorry about that. I thought it was quite funny though. As for the marketing tripe, you are assuming too much. Rock and Roll is not just a musical style to me, it is an ethos. Yet you are right - continued use of the word in generic terms is reductive. I think the soul comments are related to how an individual views music on a fundamental level. That's a long story though...

Dave: Thank you for the guidance. I have been happily adding to old threads, sure, because I take an (dis)interest in these things. However I think my humour seems to have drifted way out to the leftfield on these boards and my failure to appreciate how fundamentally seriously the regulars seem to take posts here has been very much to my detriment. Ah, it's my way to be dismissive but by the same token, I love a fight. I had a look at the other threads and forums but the classics or duds is to me the most interesting - it seems to arouse such distaste in people.

Ronan: You seem to have a very big problem with me old chap. Still, the feeling is reciprocal so it's alright - I think you don't know what you're talking about too. You are too keen to wade in with the personal attacks though, you should spend less time focussing on what you think I am and more on dealing with what I am actually saying.

I also don't have a problem with revisiting classic old threads on a regular basis - it sure beats scrabbling around for the last few C/Ds or all that POO nonsense.

Wasn't Roger Fascist a Viz character, or is that irrelevant?

well, why don't you expand on it because i'd like to know. I want to get to what people's reasoning here.

''As for the marketing tripe, you are assuming too much''

It's a genre name that doesn't tell us abt the diversity within that...what's so wrong about this?

''About that rock verses rap thread... yeah, sorry about that. I thought it was quite funny though.''

I thought it was kind of misinformed and kinda 'funny'.

I'm not even going to bother to explain why, because I'm feeling lazy and there's no point; today's doofus hipsters have already made their Jim hatred well known.

Agree 100% with John B. as to which records are best. Funny the way their career arced like that.

"And then...she tried the second bowl...and it was too cold...and then...she tried...the THIRD bowl...and then...she ate it all UPPPPPPPPPGGHHHH!!!!"

hey diamond check out the other dors threads for more jim hataz type mentalism!

But that doesn't make it any less true."

Tom is reading my mind here.

LA Woman is probably their best, either that or the debut.

No way, you always get to choose sides with this. Much like fart jokes, you never outgrow it.

Exactly.

I do like "Touch Me" but are there any actual Doors on it apart from Jimbo?

"This record is many things - raw, fun, bluesy, varied - but it's not circusy, it's not weird, and poop it, it's not idiosyncratic! Any band could have made this album! Well, any band with a godlike singer."

Krieger was kind of standard b-level 60s/70s blues rock

Oh, for christ sake. Yeah, he wasn't Jeff Beck. Dude wrote "Light My Fire" - first song he ever wrote!!!

Nothing standard b-level about The Doors ever.

Listening to the new Doors Live in Boston 1970 triple CD. Morrison keeps it together pretty good for a drunk guy. (Liner notes say that his first move at soundcheck was trying to chop into the stage with the mic stand.)

Classic.

Mediocre poetry, but GREAT theatre.

Oh, for christ sake. Yeah, he wasn't Jeff Beck. Dude wrote "Light My Fire" - first song he ever wrote!!!

And his solo on "When the Music's Over" is mind numbing and totally psychedelic.

Light My Fire is kind of a dumb song, honestly - if you've ever heard anyone else sing it, it really comes through.

what u no liek jose feliciano? joolz driscoll did a nice verxion

dud. i mean sure, morrison's buffoonery is a well-worn subject, but i'd be able to dig it if he had even just a half-decent band behind him. specifically, john densmore sounds like he's desultorily checking his watch, like he'd much rather be doing something else.

one of the best favors the Who ever did for anyone was when they "accidentally" destroyed some of the doors' gear opening for them at a 1968 show.

Light My Fire is kind of a dumb song, honestly - if you've ever heard anyone else sing it, it really comes through.

Mae West's version is classic. So is Al Green's.

me:i liked the doors again when i realized that if you get past all the JIM MORRISON AMERICAN POET bullshit mythos they're basically a goth psych band fronted by an acid-damaged lounge singer
Bimble78:that's bloody right
me:which is fucking awesome

It's all about The End, folks. Throw Jimi Hendrix out the window, because it is ALL about this song:

bimble's goth heart loves you

"lost in a roman/wildneress of pain/
and all the children are insane"

I Netflixed this Doors collection DVD out of curiosity and it was pretty fun because I was really into the Doors in high school. But I'll never forget this one moment when i was watching the LA Woman video and I don't know if it was a different mix that put Jim's vocals more up front or what, but at 6:10 he makes this sound that brought the LOLZ. It sounds like he is

a)drunk
b)just tripped over something
c)still trying to be cool on the record

It's pretty damn funny!

Dud. I was recently at a party where the host had what I'm guessing must be every single Doors release ever (there were like five different 4cd bootleg comps to start with) and I accidentally told him they were crap. Pretty sure we'll never be friends but it doesn't matter, can't trust anyone who is THAT into the Doors.

Adam, was it the studio version?

Trying to pull it up on You Tube now...

one of the best favors the Who ever did for anyone was when they "accidentally" destroyed some of the doors' gear opening for them at a 1968 show.

Ha ha OTM

LOL

The speed-corrected mix of the 1st album sounds fantastic!

Which way was it corrected?

It was slowed down to the point of inaudibility.

After a bit of googling, it seems there's a fair bit more to this than speed correction - it's a remix, with elements that were inaudible or cut out restored. Be interested to know more about how it sounds. I'm almost used to hearing cleaned-up versions of recordings I know this well, but "finally, at the right speed" is a bit mind boggling.

"finally, at the right speed" is a bit mind boggling.

Thinking about how it took forty years (and umpteen remasters/reissues) for somebody at Doors Inc. to realize the album had been issued at the wrong speed=lolz

So, why are the Doors SO appealing in the early-to-mid teens? I can't dredge it up, I can't get it back.

I just got advances of their upcoming six-CD set - four live shows from NYC, January 1970. Morrison's delivery is hilariously over-the-top; he sounds like Tom Waits circa Bone Machine half the time, and like Ian Astbury's imitation of him the rest of the time.

http://www.wackypackages.org/originalart/scans/dud_rough.jpg

Imagine if they suddenly found out that all the Beatles albums had been recorded at the wrong speed.

YEAH WE COULD POLL ALL THEM MOTHERFUCKERS

anyone able to recommend a good book on the doors/morrison?

No, but I did read a really excellent breakdown in rolling stone a couple years ago of J.Morrison's final day/hours/death throes. Morbid, but great and probably searchable through internets.

Watching "When You're Strange" right now. LOL @ ripping off the opening of the Beatles Anthology, complete with pseudo "A Day in the Life" strings climax.

I thought it was silly at first, but I think Johnny Depp's narration is pretty fitting, probably because of that. Every moment in the Doors' career is expressed as if it was the coolest fact in the world and should blow your mind, man.

"They bought a billboard on the Sunset Strip."
(dramatic pause)
"No one had ever done this before."

anyone able to recommend a good book on the doors/morrison?

the Greil Marcus book is good and short ... a-and there's a chapter on Inherent Vice and "L.A. Woman"

"follow the music" the oral history/autobio of jac holtzman of electra records has a lot of great doors stuff in it

man late period doors live albums are INSANE

in a good way? don't think i've heard any late shows -- what are your reccs.

yeah in a great/hilarious/amazing way...in particular i'd recommend "Live in Detroit" because it's one entire show

they start up with roadhouse blues, then morrison stops the show and go "HEEELLO DETROIT" and everyone cheers...but then he says "How you doing Salt Lake? Hello Minneapolis!" and then spend like a minute and a half saying hello to every city he can think of to the crowd's bemusement

also getting to hear krieger go off the chain is pretty awesome, most underrated guitarist ever

cool, i'll check it out! & yeah krieger is a pretty rad player when he gets the chance.

lol this is pretty good. dead cats! dead rats! hard to know whether the rest of the band would be amused or distressed at morrison's antics. seems like at this point they're pretty good at just rollin' with it.

and you are right about krieger killing it here.

Yeah, the live albums from 1970 that Rhino's been releasing lately are pretty hilarious/great. There's a New York one that's got two full shows on it, spread out over four CDs, and at points it's like Morrison is prefiguring Andrew "Dice" Clay's The Day the Laughter Died.

actually had no idea the doors had been putting out so many vintage live shows. don't want them all or anything, but am into hearing a few... i wish more bands of their ilk would take the "beat the boots" approach, though maybe the doors have a unique, die-hard audience that makes it worthwhile for everyone involved, a la the Dead.

Yeah, there's five or six live sets on Rhino's Doors page.

otm on the dice clay thing...these are great, like half weird proto andy kaufman anti-comedy part a great band tearing it the fuck up

L.A. Woman (40th Anniversary Edition) was released this week:

The L.A. WOMAN 40th anniversary edition (Rhino 2-CD) features a never-before-heard song, She Smells So Nice, which captures the band--organist RAY MANZAREK, guitarist ROBBY KRIEGER, drummer JOHN DENSMORE and late singer JIM MORRISON--joyfully barreling through a full-throttle original before segueing into the blues standard Rock Me. As the song closes, Morrison can be heard chanting, Mr. Mojo Risin --an anagram of his name that was made famous during the bridge of L.A. Woman. The track was recently discovered by producer Bruce Botnick while reviewing the L.A. WOMAN session tapes.

lol "She Smells So Nice," sounds like a lost classic.

She Smells Sanctuary

well done

That is funny, a couple of months ago, I started reading No One Here Gets Out Alive, which I haven't looked at since college! I've been wanting to curl up with something old-fashioned this winter....of course, it sits on my table unfinished.

hot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bvHS7FAubs

the 'my woman get high' stuff around 4:15 is a bit much tho

hey guys

i'm working on a theory that the doors literally invented punk and prog, check back for more later!

they definitely invented prunk.

ray manzarek tried to get a band going with iggy, didn't he? exhibit A!

We Got the Neutron Bomb's first chapter is on the Doors

i'm working on a theory that the doors literally invented punk and prog, check back for more later!

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 26, 2012 12:02 PM (8 minutes ago)

the bbc rock documentary made this case iirc. the doors introduced ideas of 'darkness' and 'artiness' into pop-rock

it is sorta interesting -- what was the general perception of the Doors in the 70s, before the Cult of Morrison thing took over? i guess greil marcus could probably tell me. greil? are you there, greil?

Are you there Greil? It's me, Tyler

lol
i guess lester bangs wrote a takedown of the doors

would read

Oh no no no, he (rightly) celebrated Jim as the Bozo King! (xp)

This stupid annoying article by stupid annoying Stuart Maconie annoyed me over lunch today.

I like the Chiffons, or Chic, Whigfield's "Saturday Night" AND the Doors, so shove it up yer arse, Maconie

Do you mean critical reception, or how they were perceived by the masses? People didn't pay as much attention to critics back then. If you were a "rock and roller", you listened to the Doors.

People didn't pay as much attention to critics back then

I think they paid more. In the UK anyway.

well, yeah, were they a "cool" band that people listened to in the 70s, or were they sorta seen as a 60s phenomenon? just don't know what their "legacy" was perceived to be before jim became one of the big rock n roll ghosts.

The Doors were history! Be there or be square! Doors were way cool in the early 70s and lots of "normal" folk listened to them! I was a wee one and I liked stuff like "Break on Through"! If you heard the shit was on the rock radio back then, you'd embrace the Doors too. Like bad stoner rock with five minute guitar solos.

Like bad stoner rock with five minute guitar solos

wait is this referring to the Doors or not

huh? krieger's far from a showoff imo

Wow you're so literate. I really said that. Sorry you don't find the seventies interesting.

but basically:

i saw this interview with johnnny ramone and i thought it was interesting when the interviewer asked him about bands he liked, he said the Doors were the only good american band of the 1960s, said he worshiped them..

i know iggy idolized the doors too, so Johnny + Iggy = the founders of punk to me...

the doors had that darkness and artiness and also a real confrontational vibe that seems to prefigure punk in a lot of ways

at the same time, i can't imagine, for instance, the full on organ workout version of light my fire, with its jazz/classical aspirations, couldn't have been a major influence on the first-gen prog dudes like rick wakeman, ELP, yes etc

so the doors basically invented everything

There was a lot of "acid rock" in the sixties and The Doors were more traditional rock and roll. People responded to that. Like Johnny Ramone and his Monkees albums.

As for "stoner rock" I meant that this was the type of music on rock radio in the seventies. The Doors were definitely not this style.

Sorry you don't find the seventies interesting.

was an honest question

the 70s are my favorite decade of music fwiw

Pretty sure Patti Smith dribbled on abt them too and *cough* *cough* the Stranglers

They were "cool" until the Jimbo industry started up, when was that? Early 80s?

There was a lot of "acid rock" in the sixties and The Doors were more traditional rock and roll.

yeah I dunno they seem of a piece with plenty of the SF acid rock scene - the obsession with aping the blues/black "authenticity", inserting extended "jazz solos" and improvisations into super-long tracks, the lyrical pomposity. I mean Jefferson Airplane did that shit too ya know?

xp

Doors never seemed like hippies though

LA vs. SF

true - Jim's image was darker/more sinister in general, and the other dudes were like nerds

xp

Also, Jimbo died and so couldn't go on to embarrass himself (further) in the 70s like a lot of his contemporaries di

yeah the doors didn't seem like a hippie band at all, their vibe was scummy, drunk, destructive IMO, like more altamont 60s than woodstock 60s

yeah, & as film school dudes, seems like the doors were a bit more about creating a spectacle. had more "theater" in them than other 60s bands i think, both on the records and live.

btw in recent months after years of kinda hating the doors i've reverted to my 13/14 year old opinion of them being fucking amazing so maybe take it with a grain of salt

There was a lot of "acid rock" in the sixties and The Doors were more traditional rock and roll.

Cannot agree with this statement btw, in some ways they were weirder than most acid rock bands!

Acid rock? The Doors? "Roadhouse Blues" is a million times more "authentic" than shit like Blue Cheer. Jefferson Airplane were hippies and easily ridiculed.

True, acid rock is kind of unimaginative. I don't think the Doors are any weirder than literature and films that were contemporary then, however.

Growing up I didn't notice the Doors backlash until the mainstreaming of early/mid-90s altrock. The classic rock kids I grew up with loved them, Jane's Addiction were huge fans, Jimbo and co. were goth icons, and the whole Lost Boys thing. But after the Oliver Stone movie hit the joke status seemed dominant and I'm not sure it's left since.

i go back and forth between loving and hating the Airplane...jorma was such a fucking monster electric guitar player though, he keeps me in the game

"volunteers" is stone jam

"Roadhouse Blues" is a million times more "authentic" than shit like Blue Cheer

don't think BC was really going for "authenticity" when they sludgified "Parchman Farm"...

Yeah and "Alabama Song", to name but one, is not exactly "authentic" rock n' roll, is it?

this would have been 1995, and we were in the dorms getting baked and drunk and watching the oliver stone doors movie over and over this one kid was just beyond gone and stood up and declared "I AM THE TURTLE KING, I CAN DO ANYTHING!"

that soundtrack was the first time a gang of ppl i know heard the velvet underground

i go back and forth between loving and hating the Airplane...jorma was such a fucking monster electric guitar player though, he keeps me in the game

And Paul Kantner consistently keeps me out of the game

lol

personally I love the movie, but am largely indifferent to the band itself

yeah as a kid in the 80s i really loved my dad's tape of the doors greatest hits, but once that movie came out and my friends and i laughed all the way through it, morrison seemed more like a joke. i've gotten over it, but it took a while.
my dad claims he saw them rehearse a couple of times before they hit it big. his story almost checks out.

I think pretentious critical blather is what scared some people off the Doors. To suburban parents in the sixties / seventies they were a great rock and roll band, and those people weren't avant garde types!

I mean, the Monkees and Neil Diamond had weird shit on their sixties albums. Everyone made psychedelic records back then!

That Doors movie is entertaining but kind of pretentious and stupid.

That Doors movie is entertaining but kind of pretentious and stupid.

more or less how I would characterize the band itself tbh

Ditto. Stupid a bit harsh, more silly.

Pretentious, stupid....and awesome for dancing!

man i'm listening to Live at the Matrix, 67 Doors show, this is totally propping up my "they invented punk" thesis...this is skronky as hell

also: X

Hey, the ripped off the Seeds, of course they sound punky!

I think pretentious critical blather is what scared some people off the Doors.

----

People didn't pay as much attention to critics back then.

These statements seem in opposition, yet they both came from you. Reconcile?

only 100 people read criticism about the doors in the 60s, but they all were scared off

Rollins loves the Doors: "The Doors made you think. They were a bummer at the love-in.
Morrison forced you to confront the darkness you tried to shut out with your shiny happiness."
i don;t know what this means. other than that morrison + iggy sorta created that archetypal confrontational frontman.

"the bummer at the love-in" = A+

Hey, the ripped off the Seeds, of course they sound punky!

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, January 26, 2012 1:01 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

in jac holtzman (founder of electra records') book, it comes out that perhaps a bigger influence on the doors were actually Them (van morrison's band)...apparently, Them were super crazy and unhinged live, and people in that book said whenever they played LA jim was right up by the stage and apparently bit a lot of van's stage moves and presence

morrison was also supposed to be heavily into Arthur Lee & Love, who of course invented both punk and prog.

More than happy to reconcile, and I am so sorry about my lack of clarity.

Someone brought up the Doors film by Oliver Stone, and the accompanying press about both the film and the band, much of it kind of self-indulgent and pretentious. This is eighties criticism.

In the second sentence, I was responding to a question about critical reception in the sixties / seventies. This is the truth, I'm sure many "rock" critics can confirm this...people consumed music, you were participating in culture. Critics' opinions were not as important.

I'm sorry about my lack of clarity.

In any case, if you want some good Doors reading, get this:

http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/102610000/102617393.jpg

man this Matrix show is so great

"Crystal Ship" seems so epic for 2:51

darkness doesn't necessarily mean not psychedelic/hippie... that innocent hippie image seemed to be more of a media/punk strawman, the scene and psychedelic experience could be pretty dark/ritualistic

but anyways I'd consider the Doors more of a Goth band than a Punk band

yeah, & as film school dudes, seems like the doors were a bit more about creating a spectacle. had more "theater" in them than other 60s bands i think, both on the records and live.

― tylerw, Thursday, January 26, 2012 12:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

iirc the beeb doc makes this connection too! something about a "living theater" troupe in LA in the 60s, lots of genet etc, very "confrontational"

i found a link which may or may not be it

http://www.livingtheatre.org/about/history

whether there is an explicit connection or just the doc drawing lines idk

yeah, morrison was heavy into that stuff -- http://www.doors.com/miami/one.html

Scaruffi ranks the first Doors album as the #1 psychedelic album

I kind of feel like The Doors were sort of the middleman between Love and the Stooges; is there any Doors song that really stands up punk-wise to "7 and 7 Is" or "No Fun"?

apparently, Them were super crazy and unhinged live, and people in that book said whenever they played LA jim was right up by the stage and apparently bit a lot of van's stage moves and presence

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dCVZ3U_lipU/S_iOHz8J4rI/AAAAAAAAS_Q/dF9uR9B_dHI/s400/whisky.jpg

I'm about halfway through Densmore's memoir, Riders on the Storm -- kind of goofy, but worth reading for its creepy depiction of the rest of the band alternately ignoring, enabling, and fretting over Morrison's self-destruction.

but basically:

i saw this interview with johnnny ramone and i thought it was interesting when the interviewer asked him about bands he liked, he said the Doors were the only good american band of the 1960s, said he worshiped them..

i know iggy idolized the doors too, so Johnny + Iggy = the founders of punk to me...

the doors had that darkness and artiness and also a real confrontational vibe that seems to prefigure punk in a lot of ways

at the same time, i can't imagine, for instance, the full on organ workout version of light my fire, with its jazz/classical aspirations, couldn't have been a major influence on the first-gen prog dudes like rick wakeman, ELP, yes etc

so the doors basically invented everything

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 26, 2012 1:37 PM (2 hours ago)

i go back and forth between loving and hating the Airplane...jorma was such a fucking monster electric guitar player though, he keeps me in the game

"volunteers" is stone jam

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 26, 2012 1:53 PM (2 hours ago)

^^^greatest rock critic who ever lived

I read the Densmore book; it's okayish though anything post-Doors (or even late Doors) doesn't really hold my attention

I kind of feel like The Doors were sort of the middleman between Love and the Stooges; is there any Doors song that really stands up punk-wise to "7 and 7 Is" or "No Fun"?

I don't think you're too far off but their mid-point was relative Love's softer/poppier side, not their garage rock side. The Doors' material never got as willfully stupid/crude as the songs you mention.

I do recall lol'ing at Iggy's line that you might as well call him "Jim Jagger or Mick Morrison"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BhszZ53SEC8

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/903111_4865280425971_368924073_o.jpg

aw

lol

perfect

It sort of looks like he's a cardboard cutout.

Dark times at Maine Labor Department

^^^unreleased Doors jam from the LA Woman sessions.

somebody get that poor old man a reacher grabber. he's going to fall and break his hip.

I saw The World of Jacques Demy last night--some footage of Morrison visiting the Donkey Skin set. (YouTube clips blocked, but this seems to work.)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb2poa_jim-morrison-tres-court-a-regarder_music

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BeyHAEVCEAA6e3k.png

http://i.imgur.com/8Mt7Bv2.jpg

what the

dudes trying to look like Jimbo will never not be funny

The Door(k)s

secret heroes of rock music: all the session dudes who played bass on the doors records, they had a lot of sweet basslines

classic beyond words

I know no one cares about them anymore, but Other Voices, at least the parts without vocals, is actually pretty good.

I once admitted to liking (not loving) both post-Morrison Doors LPs on an ILX thread.

they are not a great band but I always have time for them. la woman (the song) is a masterpiece too

The Doors rule, time for a Doors renaissance.
I really want the Strange Days mono for RSD

Robbie Krieger is the most underrated guitarist of 60s rock, either him or Jorma from Airplane

they are not a great band but...

Yeah, I would argue this. Lots of ILM hate, and they're often pretentious, or goofy, or both at the same time (The Doors, not ILM) but they had a unique and immediately identifiable sound.

the Matrix 1967 shows are really exciting...before all the craziness, when they were just starting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqjaPNVXfYM

my dad saw em in LA pretty early on, and he said they were a seriously exciting live band, and that the records didn't quite get that across.

i'm super into the doors lately and i dunno if you kind of approach them with a sense of humor and the ridiculousness of the whole thing, they are pretty amazing

i love lots of things about them, they are so L.A., a real sleazy form of very LA psych that's very 60s but very non-hippie, violent etc

yeah i almost think of them in the same way as black flag, kinda south bay beach scuzz

that matrix show is nice because it shows them before the "bloated lounge act" accusations that they still suffer today took over

tbf some of that bloated lounge act stuff they did is awesome and enduring imo

eg la woman

sibalibagubbaboudanowaago

is my favorite moment of their catalog

also Densmore and the host of amazing session dudes who played on the albums are one of the great rhythm sections

They have plenty of fans on ILM btw.

I love it all! I just tire of all the stale old jokes...if they were good enough for Iggy and the Bunnymen, they're good enough for me!

i saw an interview with Johnny Ramone once and he said they were the only American band of the 60s he thought was any good

also it's kinda funny how Led Zeppelin is (rightfully so) at a real high point of general esteem as a great band, but the Doors are somehow viewed as turgid or overwrought or rambling or saddled with bad adolescent poetry and it's like I LOVE zep but i don't see how they are much above the doors in those departments....or a singer who may be a "bit much" at times

^^^ yes, though Zep does get some gentle ribbing here for their more OOT aspects.

Doors records generally don't sound as good as Zep's tbh

Not sure what you mean there? If you mean production, then I think the Doors' albums are pretty splendid.

yeah the doors records always sound better (production-wise) than most of the west coast 60s bands, to my ears.

when asked why they don't like an act, people have a tendency to list qualities that aren't actually dealbreakers in other contexts, so yeah, on that front it's unfair for a led zep fan to say the doors are some rambling band with bad teenage lyrics. but it's like comparing a lava lamp to a laser show - yes, both are just shiny lights but one is far more likely to knock you on your ass.

also the difference in importance placed on lyrics in the doors vs led zep is pretty extreme

I've never marveled at the engineering on a Doors record. Doors records aren't recorded poorly (although sometimes poor arrangement decisions were made), but I've never been struck by any odd details or unusual approaches the way I have been with Zep's catalog. Page's studio-rat nature really comes through in those recordings, and the Doors didn't have anyone similar (afaik) in their camp. Don't think the rhythm section comes close to Zep's either but that's more of a personal taste thing.

xp

The Doors: two great albums (the debut and L.A. Woman), one very good album (Morrison Hotel), maybe four or five good songs scattered among the other three albums (with Morrison - I've never heard the post-Morrison records).

Led Zeppelin: three-and-a-half great albums (I, II, IV, the first disc of Physical Graffiti), one really good album with a wad of indigestible crap on each side (Houses of the Holy), at least a full album's worth of great songs scattered among the rest of the catalog.

xp i dunno, it's bruce botnick who engineered all those door records i think - they're definitely great sounding, if not as adventurous/innovative as LZ.

yeah I think the Doors records sound great, plus you're also largely comparing a 60s band and a 70s band (w/some overlap) so there's just some basic recording differences...

I didn't want this to turn into Doors v. Zeppelin, just saying it's funny how perception works....I think Zep is a better band on the whole but I dunno the more I listen to the Doors the more I like them. very musical band, very cool players...

I also think Strange Days is a great album to add to the debut and LA Woman, also think that Waiting for the Sun is a good, solid album and honestly I kinda dig the ludicriousness of Soft Parade in a way

full confession - for some reason Soft Parade is the only one of these I have on vinyl. my wife has some old CDs but I can't remember which ones

the concert which really convinced me that this band had something special about them is the live at the hollywood bowl 1968. morrison seems to be in trance most of the time, occasionally he bursts out in unexpected screams. it starts with a long, awesome version of "when the music's over" which almost enters free jazz territory at the end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJEL6b9Z78w

I like all the Jimbo albums tbh.

And, yes, not wanting to further the Doors v. Zep thing, but I have never paid any attention at all to Robert Plant's lyrics whereas Jim's have a way of jumping out at you all unexpected like. Shit poetry but as lyrics by some rock guy I can certainly live with 'em.

Other Voices and Full Circle (the post-Morrison albums) to be reissued by Rhino in September. Separately on vinyl, paired as a 2CD set.

I hope potential buyers who are unfamiliar with the LPs aren't discouraged by the one cut that's linked there. That was left off Full Circle for a reason (ouch!).

#strangedaysmono

ok over the past couple weeks I have made a concerted effort to "get into" the Doors - I dl'd all the studio albums and listened to them in order, re-playing certain things that caught my ear etc. After all that, I dunno if my opinion has really changed all that much. They occasionally hit on great grooves/riffs, and Morrison's louche swagger and goofy humor is intermittently entertaining, primarily when he isn't trying too hard or is trying to be profound. On the whole they come across as a band that were blissfully unaware of their limits and/or did not genuinely know what they were good at. Morrison's poet-schtick is inherently juvenile/childish (putting over an oedipal complex as a deep statement literally so) so it works more when he's having fun with it and running with dumb as fuck rhyme schemes in the service of leering sexuality - I mean how can anybody really take it seriously. Krieger is a great guitarist, I feel like he really carries the band in a lot of cases, and when he fuzz-rocks out he is v good. Manzarek though, ugh, so many circus-organ type parts and just stiff as fuck - for a guy that was purportedly into "jazz" he sure had no idea how to swing. He's better when he's off the organ and on piano, to my ears. Densmore's okay, he sure likes that trick of switching between 4/4 and latin rhythms, but I feel he had kind of a thankless task trying to provide some oomph and backbeat without having a consistent, good partner in the bass department.

The best album: Waiting for the Sun. It just *sounds* the best, and has the most consistent set of songs. It seems like they maybe hampered themselves in the studio by minimizing overdubs (there are a LOT of tracks where it seems like the only additional stuff they added were an extra vocal track or a doubled guitar line), perhaps in an effort to showcase their live musicianship - but Zeppelin these guys are not, they just aren't as good musicians, and they aren't as inventive in the studio. They do come off to me as a precedent for Zep (has Page or Plant ever copped to this?) just in the 4-guys-doing-epic-blues-rock department which they often dabbled in - the long songs with multiple shifts, the focus on clean, clear recordings of the players, obviously the shirtless rock sex poet angle...

Weirdly I did not really discover any deep cuts/stuff I hadn't noticed before that I really liked. Seems like the hits were hits for a reason, and the other album cuts I liked were ones I've always liked (hello Peace Frog)

Good point on the proto-Zep blues rock thing and the focus on live but weak musicianship, I think they really bought into some rockist authenticity that took away from the stuff that really made them weird and unique. I always thought they should have pushed the psychedelic stuff and was disappointed when after the weirdness of The Soft Parade they retreated into 12-bar for the last couple of records. Seems like most of the final albums were written in live jams where Jim was just blasted and making stuff up while they improvised blues rock underneath it. Nothing as melodically mystifying as "Crystal Ship" or sonically mesmerizing as "Strange Days". Maybe it was an conscious effort to get commercial, and hey, maybe it worked. "L.A. Woman" and "Riders on the Storm" both classic rock radio staples for the ages probably paid more in royalties than any of the stranger stuff.

I imagine if The Doors were started today they would be Lovecraft nerds/Steampunks.

Soft Parade *is* weird but it doesn't really work (most of the time), whether its the orchestration just parroting the vocal melody, or inserting inappropriate banjo breakdowns. I'm not sure if it's before or after "Forever Changes" but that seems like an obvious reference point, albeit a much better one.

Seems like most of the final albums were written in live jams where Jim was just blasted and making stuff up while they improvised blues rock underneath it

this is true although when it works I think it works really well. when it doesn't it's just kind of stiff and odd.

Densmore's okay, he sure likes that trick of switching between 4/4 and latin rhythms, but I feel he had kind of a thankless task trying to provide some oomph and backbeat without having a consistent, good partner in the bass department.

Densmore might be my favorite part of the band, I love the way, esp live, he follows Morrison and will accent words & phrases.

Say what you will about them, they always went for it, for better & worse

#mono

THE DOORS
RECENTLY DISCOVERED LIVE RECORDINGS, THE EARLIEST KNOWN TO EXIST, TO BE REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LONDON FOG 1966

Collector’s Edition Boxed Set Features Previously Unheard
Concert Recordings On CD And Vinyl Along With
8 x 10 Prints Of Unseen Photos And Replica Memorabilia

Available From Rhino/Bright Midnight Archives On December 9

Before The Doors took the music scene by storm in 1967, they were the house band at the London Fog, a Sunset Strip dive bar located just footsteps away from the world famous Whisky a Go Go, the future home of many of the band’s most legendary performances. The Doors will open a virtual time capsule in December with LONDON FOG 1966, a Collector’s Edition boxed set that features unearthed audio recorded at the club in May 1966. Previously unreleased and not even known to exist until recently, this marks the earliest recordings of the band and finds the quartet mixing blues covers with early versions of Doors originals. LONDON FOG 1966 is the first of many special activities and releases coming to celebrate The Doors’ 50th Anniversary in 2017.

LONDON FOG 1966 will be available as an individually numbered limited edition of 18,000 copies from Rhino/Bright Midnight Archives on December 9.

Presented in a lift-top package designed to look like a vintage storage box, the set features seven songs on both CD and a 10-inch record that’s made to resemble a test pressing. Noted Doors engineer Bruce Botnick recently mastered the audio for this collection.

Along with the unreleased music, the set is packed with memorabilia and historic liner notes to provide a true time capsule of that fabled night at the London Fog, including a poster, the set list handwritten by John Densmore, a program for the Royce Hall UCLA student film screening, plus a London Fog coaster. There are also liner notes included from Sunset Strip legend Ronnie Haran-Mellen, who was the talent booker at the Whisky a Go Go. Haran-Mellen saw The Doors live for the first time at the London Fog and then booked them as the permanent house band at the Whisky, leading to the band’s signing to Elektra and meteoric rise to superstardom.

Also contributing liner notes is Nettie Peña, one of the lucky few to be in attendance at the London Fog for this fabled show. Peña was a pivotal force in this release coming together as she captured the audio on a ¼” reel to reel recorder, which was the property of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her father was a teacher for LAUSD and let her borrow the recorder to take to the show. Peña also photographed the band that evening and five black and white 8x10 re-prints of these unpublished photos are included in the Collector’s Edition, featuring a fresh-faced Morrison on a cramped stage with John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek.

The show featured on LONDON FOG 1966 took place the same year that The Doors recorded their eponymous debut. Released in January 1967, the album would become one of the most influential in rock history. Like many of the band’s early concerts, the show captured on this deluxe set reflects the group’s deep love for the blues with covers of standards like Muddy Waters’ “Rock Me” and “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man.” The set also includes raw performances of “Baby, Please Don’t Go” (Big Joe Williams), “Don’t Fight It” (Wilson Pickett), and “Lucille” (Little Richard).

During their residency at the London Fog, The Doors frequently worked out new songs on stage that would eventually appear on various studio albums. At this show, the band played two originals. The first, “Strange Days,” would become the title track for the band’s second studio album, which also came out in 1967. This is one of the only known live recordings of this track. The other Doors original, “You Make Me Real,” wasn’t officially released on a studio album until Morrison Hotel in 1970.

“To hear ‘Strange Days,’ that came out on their second album, in almost final shape so early on was truly amazing,” says Jac Holzman, the President of Elektra Records who signed The Doors to their first recording contract.

Going back to the band’s earliest days is a natural starting point for The Doors 50th anniversary celebration. And next year promises to be a busy one for The Doors with more releases and events lined up for 2017.

LONDON FOG 1966
Track Listing

“Rock Me”
“Baby, Please Don’t Go”
“You Make Me Real”
“Don’t Fight It”
“I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
“Strange Days”
“Lucille”

I can only imagine the volume of rock re-issues and think pieces slated for 2017.

"Rock Me"!

hope this is mono

#Doors50 #HologramJim

#RoboManzarek

Haha, man perspective a weird thing:

May 1966, "earliest known live recording"
July 1971, 6 studio albums later and singer dead from drug od

They had a busy 5 years

Yeah, incredible how much stuff bands packed in over a short space of time back then. That stuff would amount to a 14 year career in modern terms!

This was kinda hilarious:

https://twitter.com/thedavidcrosby/status/791450690891747328

lol crosby used to wear a cape

EMBLAZONED I christen thee new ILX favememe

EMBLAZONED, YOU NEVER HER

XPOST
Takes one to know one Croz

Yeah, incredible how much stuff bands packed in over a short space of time back then. That stuff would amount to a 14 year career in modern terms!

I was reading Jimi Hendrix's wiki and it's just nuts how much amazing shit he recorded/third eyes he opened in like 2 years. Two years!

Jonesin to watch the Oliver stone doors movie rn

great movie

haha, i recently had that urge as well. haven't seen it in ... 20 years?

i watched it twice a few month ago
classic shit

we need a gritty Doors reboot -- Ride The Snake: Morrison Begins ... who is the 2016 version of Val Kilmer

One of the dudes from Everybody Wants Some!! probably.

has there been a doors broadway musical? seems like the time is ripe.

#RoboManzarek

― tylerw, Thursday, October 27, 2016 11:47 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Totally forgot he had died. I was just totally wowed the other day listening to the organ solo on The World's A Mess It's In My Kiss.

we need a gritty Doors reboot -- Ride The Snake: Morrison Begins ... who is the 2016 version of Val Kilmer

― tylerw, Thursday, October 27, 2016 5:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "True Detective" Season 3 with Kilmer & MacLachlan reprising their roles from "The Doors" set in the early 90s, Morrison is a gun runner in Mexico, Manzarek travels there to get him out of hiding to solve a mysterious series of murders in LA. Spoiler alert: We're all slaves. And John Sebastian is the villain.

omg

I haven't done a full spec script, but I've mocked up some scenes:

Int. Car, Ray is driving, Jim is the passenger seat with a cigarette and taking pulls from a flask of whiskey

Jim (low growl while looking out the window): People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.
Ray (low growl): We’re here Jim
Jim (low growl): Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts.

lol

if only it was 1978, I feel like you would've been the guy to help me get my Lou Reed/Paul Simon gritty NY buddy cop flick spec script off the ground

like this idea -- maybe Crosby could play an aging cult leader with ~~~~secrets~~~~~ (and a twitter account)

Xpost

Can the plot be they investigate the murder of Brian Eno duing the sessions for "No New York"? In the film's climax Simon grabs James Chance by the lapels and throws up against the wall: "TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"

like this idea -- maybe Crosby could play an aging cult leader with ~~~~secrets~~~~~ (and a twitter account)

― tylerw, Friday, October 28, 2016 11:00 AM (eleven seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is already better than both seasons of the actual "True Detective"

can we work the ghost of arthur lee in here somewhere

This thing basically writes itself

Croz: You're a poser, Jim
Jim: No, it is you who is the poser
Ghost of Arthur Lee: You're booooooth pooooooosers

Ext.Desert. David Crosby stands in the middle of huge salt flat, blood pouring from his nose, it is clear he's been beaten up. Morrison stands about 20 feet away aiming a pistol at Crosby

Crosby [low grow]: You don't get Morrison! You were always a poser! You don't understand peace and love man! I'm friends with Joni man, real artists, you were just in some sleazy cocktail band! Those girls love me man! I'm a prophet man!

Morrison [low grow]: David...the music is...over[fires a round directly in Crosby's head, his body crumples. Graham Nash runs in from off-screen shouting]

Nash: You didn't have to do it! You didn't have to do it!

Morrison [turning to Manzarek, in a low-growl: C'mon...let's get a burger.

END

tacos... Morrison would get tacos

We'll fix it in post

i love this band

it has been so fun to get back in to the doors man

sparking a little doors revival too. two nights hanging out in the past few weeks i have said "hey let's put on the doors" and everything loves it

*everyone

this is a stunning fan video and it drew in everyone in the room the other night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JskztPPSJwY

the doors are so great

also reposting this but at the end of the day my alex jones/doors mashup is the only thing of real quality i've done in my whole life

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/mojowars-feat-al3x-j0n3s-the-d00rs

haha that is great

deeganegadoaboutanowahago

If you don't like the Doors you don't having sex or living life

deeganegadoaboutanowahago

― Οὖτις, Monday, March 13, 2017 11:54 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

dang this is pretty awesome.

Our local art gallery (Art Gallery of Ontario) has a few handwritten Doors lyrics on display — part of an eye-poppingly great exhibit of psychedelic rock posters. I was surprised to find Jim's handwriting cursive, neat and regular. Louche rock icon or whatever, he was still the product of a 1950s education when schools still took handwriting seriously

THE DOORS

isle of wight 1970! when the music's over is blistering

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/74/9a/86/749a869979ae0f09b36c064be678838b--isle-of-wight-krieger.jpg

i wish densmore could swing a little sometimes though

krieger can be really fun and badass

i wish densmore could swing a little sometimes though

I sometimes don't know what people are referring to when they talk about "swinging," but "Love Me Two Times" certainly has a swing beat. I'll try to think of some others.

"People Are Strange"

he can do it for sure. sometimes during this live set though there are times when he really should be and he's not

"Love Street"

"Roadhouse Blues"

I was listening to Mazzy Star last night and thought about The Doors. They get into a sweet kind of "The End" zone occasionally.

Also as far as denmore swinging, I wanna tell you about Texas radio and the big beat

i was talking to a friend the other day about how i like doors knockoffs better than i like the doors themselves. your faves?

There's a song I remember from an old psych comp called "The Black Door" by the Loose Enz that's a really obvious Doors knockoff, but I don't know. Mostly, the Doors strike me as being pretty singular.

Alice Cooper, "Blue Turk"

xp re: Mazzy, 'Ghost Highway' feel like a Doors homage to me.

Stranglers, "Walk On By", duh.

that mazzy star song sounds more like "idiot joy showland" than the doors!

I can't stand these fuckers.

That’s like the one Doors song I like!

Doors rule
Ride the snake
The West is the best

i like the Doors generally but I dont like Touch Me

it feels too slobbery

Father
“Yes son?”
I’ve left you two comp tickets at the Whisky, tell the door guy you’re on “Jim’s list”; feel free to bring mom

"Touch Me" is awesome, great vocal, Alfred is full of it.

I first heard this song when a girl put it on a mixtape for me in high school. I eventually got the message she was sending, but the young ilxor in me couldn't get over how contemptibly cheesy it was. What was this Butt Bacharach shit?

Now, as a mature ILXor, you accept cheese.

ricotta, Stilton, sure

Morrison, Krieger...

oh ffs, "butt Bacharach" was autocorrect.

Beyond the great vocal, “Touch Me” has a genuinely groovy instrumental breakdown...

Peace Frog grooves

This is funny and accurate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBRYsAfchkY

^^^ I hadn't seen that before! Spot on, even looks like Manzarek back there.

i was talking to a friend the other day about how i like doors knockoffs better than i like the doors themselves. your faves?

― ziggy the ginhead (rushomancy), Saturday, April 21, 2018 1:34 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Do you know Phantom's Divine Comedy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0wijDxY3rk

touch me feels like jim projecting into the future envisioning vegas elvis

so yeah pretty awesome

Every time this thread gets bumped I fear that Jim has died

Jim cannot die, in the moments prior to the death of "body", more aptly described as his terrestrial flesh vehicle, his soul BREAKS ON THROUGH to his next host shell.

Best Band Ever.

"Touch Me" is great. So sleazy.

Touch Me is a little like one of those corny Strokes songs (in a good way).

Every time this thread gets bumped I fear that Jim has died

― calstars, Monday, April 23, 2018 10:37 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://meetsobsession.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Do-you-believe-in-the-end-mash-up.jpg

We found a finally spot to kick it
Where we can drink liquor and no one bickers over trick shit
A spot where we can smoke in peace, and even though we G's
We still visualize places that we can roll in peace
And in my mind's eye, I see this place the players go and pass it
I got a spot for us all, so we can ball, at thug's mansion

#westside
#outlawz

The Doors have a surprisingly large amount of Vegas/crooner songs. Touch Me is probably the most famous. On some others, notably Wishful Sinful on The Soft Parade, you can hear the disgust in his voice.

haha alfred i loved your piece

i love the doors but i hate "touch me"

but then i just read ums post about foreshadowing elvis in vegas <3

now im not sure

Xp lol

man late period doors live albums are INSANE

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, January 23, 2012 12:13 PM (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes!

"Yes the River Knows" always felt pretty Vegas crooner-y.

"Touch Me" is pretty rad. "i'm gonna love you til the heavens stop the rain" is such a sweet middle 8. and that live video, where Jim's hair is the prettiest in the world. dude could have gone on to be in soap operas.

i have lot of love for the "Soft Parade" album as a whole. i prefer the psychedelic vegas lounge to the more straight faced blues cocktail lounge of the last records.

"Soft Parade" is a crazy record, I generally love it even though I wouldn't begrudge anyone who hates it. "Runnin' Blue" would be my favorite Doors song if it didn't have the embarrassing faux-hillbilly Robbie break downs. "Tell All the People" is great, the title track is insane.

Also funny to think immediately after SP they were considered basically washed up, they'd been a band for barely 4 yrs, it was only 2 yrs since the debut. The cliched "return to their roots" comeback record is out less than 8 months later.

I like the Doors. I accept them as schlockmeisters, pseudo-Latinized, pseudo-blues, just like Don Van Vliet or Dr. John. But pop in a way neither of those artists could exactly muster. I dig their minimalist style and I get off on the thinness of their sound. "Riders on the Storm" is really the one I relate to the most. They were better when they laid back. Alfred Soto did a takedown of "Touch Me" that makes interesting points about how "Touch Me" and the ricky-ticky schlock-blues-pop of the Kinks' Something Else and the Stones' Between the Buttons, how "Touch Me" (I think) is a more Vegas-ized version of that. Not sure I totally get his point, but it's worth considering...

"Tell All the People" is great

yes! and very cultish too. "Come on, take me by the hand, gonna bury all our troubles in the sand"

funny to think immediately after SP they were considered basically washed up

By how many, I wonder. Certainly, some critics, but...Every album they made went top ten and "Touch Me" was one of their three top ten singles.

"not to touch the earth" is still ahead of its time. nothing left to do but run run run. let's run

haha, I was just about to post my love for 'not to touch the earth'.
love 'waiting for the sun'

waiting for the sun is def the most underrated album

"hello, i love you" is an all-time first jam

Very little Doors music strikes me as "psuedo-Latinized" or "psuedo-blues."

Came across this recent video a few weeks ago with Robbie Kreiger which gets into the origins of some of the tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p24lgQv1r8w

"They were better when they laid back."

'The Crystal Ship' is my favorite Doors song. I need to try and put together a chill out Doors CDR. That section of 'Cars Hiss by my Window' and are a couple of deep tracks that fit that feel too. Love how 'Cars Hiss by my Window' segues into 'LA Woman'.

I mean, why not judge them as a rock band? A genre in which they were quite advanced.

"one to five" sounds like ACTUAL BLOOD is being shed

haha alfred i loved your piece

― marcos, Monday, April 23, 2018

thanks!

By how many, I wonder. Certainly, some critics, but...Every album they made went top ten and "Touch Me" was one of their three top ten singles.

A lot of it was down to Miami... during the fallout of which it was widely believed that they'd never tour, appear on TV, or get radio airplay again. This is slightly borne out by the other three (!) singles from TSP flopping.

i know phantom's divine comedy but that's so on the nose i'm not that into it! nah i'm more into one st. stephen and shit.

"waiting for the sun" is one of those "what if" things. on the one hand the "big epic" was becoming a formula for them, but on the other hand they didn't really offer any viable alternatives. i don't know why they couldn't nail "celebration of the lizard" in the studio, or why they couldn't finish "waiting for the sun". it's a short record but also a really padded one, but there's some A material there. instead they kind of fell apart.

Thanks Earl for the Robbie link

Did Neil Diamond ever cover any Doors songs? I feel like I could listen to an album of him covering them.

I hadn't heard of One St. Stephen, thanks. Not so into the shouty acid rock bits, but the Doors-y psych is ace. xxp

i like touch me a lot. i like the horns. and i love STRONGER THAN DIRT at the end. echo & the bunnymen were probably my fave faux-doors.

i LOVE all era-appropriate doors covers too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOZ64aaEXlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uptWWyfUOsg

liked the Krieger interview but is it me or is his playing completely off?

I like variety show horns. the last gasp of the Great American Songbook on the top 40.

this is cool faux-doors from the 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ungWowbiNUE

"waiting for the sun" is one of those "what if" things. on the one hand the "big epic" was becoming a formula for them, but on the other hand they didn't really offer any viable alternatives. i don't know why they couldn't nail "celebration of the lizard" in the studio, or why they couldn't finish "waiting for the sun". it's a short record but also a really padded one, but there's some A material there. instead they kind of fell apart.

― ziggy the ginhead (rushomancy), Monday, April 23, 2018 8:17 PM (yesterday)

I've had this same line of thought before, and figured I'd try doing a revised song/running order. Came up with this:

Side One:
Waiting For The Sun (nobody can seem to decide if this was a 68-era outtake with a moog overdub for Morrison Hotel, or a 70-era recording, but it works too well to not use here)
The Unknown Soldier
Love Street
Indian Summer (the 66 version, not the Morrison version with the vocal overdub)
Yes, The River Knows
Spanish Caravan

Side Two:
Texas Radio And The Big Beat (the live take from 68 on Alive She Cried, with an intro from the rehearsal take of 'Celebration', the "is everybody in? The Ceremony is about to begin")
Wild Child (recorded summer of 68, and it fits Waiting so much better than Soft Parade)
Not To Touch The Earth
The Hill Dwellers ('Celebration' studio rehearsal take)
The Names Of The Kingdom ('Celebration' studio rehearsal take, some minor editing)
Five To One (the only proper closer to me, why was this halfway through Side 1???)

I played around with tracks and running orders before arriving at this and for me it works way better - no filler and a lot tighter. Would've been equal to the first two. I can put it up if anyone wants to try it.

that looks super cool

liked the Krieger interview but is it me or is his playing completely off?

xp I would like to hear the alternate 'WFTS' album.

Guy’s like 75, what do you expect?

feel like the process of aging doesn't enter into the internet crit mindset these days. it's like "oh this guy is boring now" because they just suck, not because they are now decades older and grandparents.

his playing is fine

Yeah, it just sounded like he was improvising a little on those lines to me.

I played around with tracks and running orders before arriving at this and for me it works way better - no filler and a lot tighter. Would've been equal to the first two. I can put it up if anyone wants to try it.

This looks great! I downloaded a “what if” version of Celebration of the Lizard from Albums That Never Were that is pretty good, as well.

^^^ Listening to this now and liking it.

would definitely like to hear your wfts mix whitehallunity

another WFTS reconstruction

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-doors-celebration-of-lizard.html

Guy’s like 75, what do you expect?
I don't expect people to get defensive because I ask what they think of his playing

surely it's not unusual for older musicians to play really well, sometimes I think Neil Young has never played better than he does now

anyway, I think there's something very off about how the amazingly talented composer all-time guitar hero Robby Krieger is playing in that video, and I was asking if anyone might enlighten me on what it is that I'm hearing

It looks like he's being filmed at a soundcheck tbh, who can be arsed playing at those?

/Guy’s like 75, what do you expect?/
I don't expect people to get defensive because I ask what they think of his playing

surely it's not unusual for older musicians to play really well, sometimes I think Neil Young has never played better than he does now

anyway, I think there's something very off about how the amazingly talented composer all-time guitar hero Robby Krieger is playing in that video, and I was asking if anyone might enlighten me on what it is that I'm hearing

he totally shreds on his funky fusion album from the 70s. i love that album. i posted the def break from that album on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqwqseLgy8

mahavishnu robbie krieger...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FaZdv8If3w

xp I would like to hear the alternate 'WFTS' album.

― campreverb, Tuesday, April 24, 2018 5:01 PM (yesterday)

This looks great! I downloaded a “what if” version of Celebration of the Lizard from Albums That Never Were that is pretty good, as well.

― blatherskite, Tuesday, April 24, 2018 7:49 PM (yesterday)

would definitely like to hear your wfts mix whitehallunity

― ziggy the ginhead (rushomancy), Tuesday, April 24, 2018 10:15 PM (yesterday)

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

The Albums That Never Were version is one of the reasons I made this one actually, I felt it still wasn't as good as it could be. I hate Wintertime Love with a passion so I'm a little biased though, haha.

super cool, thank you!

xp not sure what I expected, something groovy, similar to what I know from the records

I always thought that opening chord from Peace Frog was a 7th...but he played a straight major barre chord as far as I could tell.

goddamn that break skot posted is funky as shit
doors rule!!!!!
#strangedaysmono

mahavishnu robbie krieger...

lmao

digging this btw

“The Doors” was the answer to this coffee shop’s trivia question and I got 10 cents off my order for getting it right. I started explaining to the barista that Jim was a shaman of the highest order and she gave me a dollar to go away.

— Jon Wurster (@jonwurster) May 6, 2018

david crosby hating on the doors on Twitter gives me life

whitehallunity I wanted to hear your album but my computer says the file isn't an rar archive file, any ideas?

i listened to the doors last night

the Kids in the Hall skit is all-time. elevates the Doors to PINK FLOYD RULES status.

my only problem is first seeing it censored while all the copies floating around seem to be uncensored. it's way funnier when he says "You know who told me? JIM *BEEP*ing Morrison told me!"

whitehallunity I wanted to hear your album but my computer says the file isn't an rar archive file, any ideas?

― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, May 7, 2018 4:50 AM (four hours ago)

I don't understand why this happens everytime I put a .rar up here, and only here (I'm using winrar/windows), but try this:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1geKY3coSfMmcKYvyuUm0HfIBlt203pGD

Thanks for posting that man. What's going on with Unknown Soldier and Love Street? Wrong speed.

uh, I have absolutely no idea. Converted the .wavs to .mp3 for you guys and this is what I get. Let me try to fix this a third time - maybe everyone who wants to hear this should just call me on a pay phone and I'll hum my version to you.

alright I re-upped new files, everything sounds right on my end, let's see if it actually works, haha. Apologies for all the mixed-up confusion.

ok that works thanks!

Well uhgheeguhdindatownuhbowdun ow ago

After decades of research I haven't found a better song for driving with the windows down than "LA Woman"

But is is also the best song for the people outside? We probably have to distinguish there between pedestrians, bikers, motor bikers and other cars with windows down or cabriolets. Another very important parameter, the volume. I guess you mean the best song to listen to when driving with the windows down on full volume, right?

drive the snake

the descending key+guitar intro line musically depicts the windows rolling down

the ensuing guitar licks are your outstretched hand breezily surfing the waves of air

uber pool the snake

Well uhgheeguhdindatownuhbowdun ow ago

OTM.

It may be the ridiculous summer we're having, but Morrison Hotel is doing weird things to me - particularly Waiting for the Sun, The Spy and (natch) Indian Summer.

After decades of research I haven't found a better song for driving with the windows down than "LA Woman"

― Sam Weller, Thursday, June 28, 2018 7:08 AM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it is the best

it's so funny that the title track for waiting for the sun is on morrison hotel

v confusing for 11 year old me

Those crazy Doors guys and their track listing shenanigans.

"Man this song sucks, fuck this song, I never want to hear this fucking song again."

18 months later

"Let's put this song on the new record"

v confusing for 11 year old me

― niels, Thursday, August 2, 2018 2:11 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same

i used to hate this band so much, now i totally dig them. most unexpected change of heart i've ever had w/ any artist.

Welcome

Last night i had a dream that a beach bum was haranguing me in a parking lot for not being a TRUE Doors fan

i tried to get into them recently against my better judgment. came away totally loving morrison hotel and la woman

I am still on the other side of this divine revelation you J.D. and Brad seem to have had.

I used to think they were painfully overrated and hadn't aged as well as some other '60s bands, but a couple of years ago I gave it all another try and I found myself enjoying quite a lot of it. I guess they're easier to enjoy now that a lot of the "Cult of Jim" lot have fucked off.

I think they've gone through phases of being overrated and underrated, they're about due to be overrated again.

I think I would like them more if they werent stiff as hell, Manzarek is such a weak link w his rinky dink bullshit

Looks like the beach bum was right >:(

He was

Lol

I'm not sure that some widespread "cult of Jim" where people idolized him in annoying ways or whatever ever really existed.

It did...it's called "High School".

OTM.

Is it still though ? It was the case when I was in high school but it was around the release of the O. Stone movie. I kinda doubt th kids are still into the lizard king instead of migos or whatever...

None of my high school classmates (late 90s) gave a shit about the Doors so I've never been directly exposed to Lizard King worship. Why should I hate them? A lot of their music is just banging and the S/T is still a favourite of mine to this day.

Last night i had a dream that a beach bum was haranguing me in a parking lot for not being a TRUE Doors fan

― Οὖτις, Sunday, August 12, 2018 11:24 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's ok, we've all been tested

when it happened to me I recited American Prayer in its entirety from memory and he saluted me and said thank you for your service

When i occasionally want to listen to the the Doors I listen to ‘weird scenes inside the goldmine’, rather than any of their studio albums. It’s one of those weird German double vinyls - I do the same with the Who, most of the time.

I think I would like them more if they werent stiff as hell, Manzarek is such a weak link w his rinky dink bullshit

― Οὖτις, Sunday, August 12, 2018 7:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess I don't hear them as stiff at all? Densmore has kind of a light, jazzy touch and Krieger is one of the least macho or chugging of the 60s guitar heroes

also on most of the records it's usually some ace pro bass session dude not Manzarek on bass

I'm not sure that some widespread "cult of Jim" where people idolized him in annoying ways or whatever ever really existed.

― timellison, Monday, August 13, 2018 2:06 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I want to say that 75% percent of my high school friends circa 1993 had a Jim Morrison flag in their bedrooms, along with copies of Wilderness and The American Night.

https://d9nvuahg4xykp.cloudfront.net/1122575879283534192/-6879144968917854075.jpg

they sound pretty cool

there was also a wave of dorm posters around 1980, when Jerry Hopkins published No One Here Gets Out Alive

Also, "Apocalypse Now" soundtrack.

Huh, not my experience at all though I guess I was in high school in between Hopkins and Oliver Stone. The Doors were a very esoteric interest at the time.

(College too now that I think about it - late '80s)

Must...try and...remember...

Was at an art gallery on Saturday and it seems Val Kilmer is producing Morrison-related art works. Stuff like this.

https://cdn8.bigcommerce.com/s-bamcrxgk9l/images/stencil/500x659/products/686/641/JM0_095__99801.1518721636.jpg?c=2&imbypass=on

To his credit he's not charging "celebrity art work" prices, I think they were around $250-$300.

Apparently he's got a whole cottage industry going. https://valkilmer.com/

I guess I don't hear them as stiff at all? Densmore has kind of a light, jazzy touch and Krieger is one of the least macho or chugging of the 60s guitar heroes

otm. "break on through" came on at a bar yesterday and i suddenly fell in love with densmore's drumming on it

I've never thought Densmore was all that good but Krieger was a really interesting guitarist.

Not that interested in repeating myself so will note that my thoughts on Manzarek and Densmore's relative stiff-ness is upthread - Manzarek in particular can't swing for shit, and his circus organ playing style is grating in a lot of places.

The famous 1981 Rolling Stone piece is when I remember the hype took off:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jim-morrison-lives-the-legacy-of-the-lizard-king-64885/

I like Densmore and Krieger's playing on almost all Doors stuff.

If you can swing on a harpsichord, Manzarek's comping on "Love Me Too Times" seems fine to me.

Or a tack piano on "People Are Strange"

the Lost Boys must have given them a bit of a boost as well.

Are any members of the Doors egregious in their lack of ability to swing on "Love Street?"

That RS article is fucking amazing.

Haven't read the whole article yet so it may say in there but '81 is also when the No One Here Gets Out Alive documentary (based on the book mentioned) came out. I saw it a bit later, '85 possibly, around the release of the The Best Of double album. The Doors definitely on the radar of impressionable youths in the mid to late 80s.

"On the radar," sure, "Cult of Jim" much less sure based on own life experience.

I have strong memories of witnessing this Cult of Jimbo forming out of the corner of my eye in the early eighties. Not sure I can organize them properly to type in this tiny text box.

stiff like a mad prancing stallion
in the wild, illuminated by moonlight

i think the "cult of jim" is real but it's pretty much just confined to teenagers and oliver stone these days. i've known a lot of doors fans and i don't think any of them have built backyard shrines to morrison or gone on pilgrimages to his grave or whatever.

Has anyone on this thread gone along on one of those pilgrimages to Père Lachaise?

*raises hand*

i never realized how much jim morrison looks like warwick davis

doors fans weren't as obnoxious when i was a teenager (in the early '90s) as dead fans, but there was a sort of adolescent intensity to them that made it all a little embarrassing later on. that part where you realize oh wait jim morrison _isn't_ actually a Great Poet. once one gets over that, they're pretty good.

We are overlooking the 80s goth connection to Jim, those def overlapped a bit (echo & the bunnymen for ex)

To the Cult of Jim, i meant to say

ian curtis had to be a doors fan, right?

Brad Smithfield on Iggy Pop:

October 1967 at a homecoming dance at the University of Michigan, he found the inspiration for his own utterly “blasphemous” live performances. The young Iggy was blown away by Morrison’s charisma and dark energy and started a band which would go on to become an archetype of punk rock.

“Here’s this guy, out of his head on acid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled,” says Iggy, remembering Morrison in 2011. “It got confrontational. Part of me was like, ‘Wow, this is great. He’s really pissing people off and he’s lurching around making these guys angry.’ ”

iggy, ian curtis, nick cave, m gira all doors fans

If my trip to the county fair last week is any indication (totally scientific), cobain is the Morrison of the kids these days. Though I did see a doors shirt on a teen.

county fairs are very scientific for doors research

"Weird Scenes Inside The 4H Tent..."

I went to his grave too, quite underwhelming

Ahah I have lived 10 years next to the Pere Lachaise, have walked around regularly (it’s a gorgeous place) but somehow I have never been to the lizard’s grave !

Has anyone on this thread gone along on one of those pilgrimages to Père Lachaise?

Oh I forgot, there's Père Lachaise as well! In the UK, there's was definitely a Goth-y aspect and corny Goth/rock crossover people like ... Ian Astbury omg!

https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2008/05/ridersonthestorm021106w.jpg

Jim is alive

I actually went to Pere Lachaise with the intention of checking out Morrison's grave when I visited Paris 20 years ago, but when I got to the gates I had an overwhelming feeling like I was an asshole and I turned around and walked away.

doors were very beloved among our scene of suburban teen potheads, mainly because the most charismatic, older-than-his-years kid at the center of our social circle was a huge believer in the cult of jim. starting at age 10 or 11 he turned us all on

Jim is alive

Looking at that photo, I'm not entirely sure that Krieger is.

Goofy Thought On A Lazy Friday Afternoon: "Roadhouse Blues" Kind Of Invented Aerosmith.

Aerosmith did do quite a few mid tempo blues shuffle feels/songs like "Roadhouse Blues" like "Uncle Salty", "Same Old Song & Dance", etc...

The band you will see Tyler, Perry and Whitford all talk about in interviews was seeing the Yardbirds live in Boston. Many of those hard rock bands that came out of Detroit also point to seeing Yardbirds live as a big eye opener too.

Yeah, their Yardbirds love runs deep. But I was listening to Morrison Hotel today, and it struck me how RB sets a template for the Aerosmith Blooz numbers you mention, down to Jimbo's scatting.

really feeling "Indian Summer" rn, so dreamy and introspective, is that Krieger on bass?

That track was left over from the recording sessions for their 1st album and I think it's just Manzarek playing bass on a Fender Rhodes

This is...sort of interesting: Apparently WMG (or whoever) released a "stripped" (no strings, no horns) version of The Soft Parade for Record Store Day.

Not much info here, but this is now a thing which exists.

It came out last year as bonus tracks of the 50th Anniversary edition, though it was called "Doors only mix" and I think there were new overdubs too, I haven't heard it but I guess they are really grasping at straws w/r/t to "unreleased" material

No strings no horns sounds just about right ?

Interesting to check out like all these leftovers for a deep listener, but rare to have it be a real nugget I would figure at this point.

I kind of like listening to that American Prayer record or the two without Jimbo sometimes, as there is some really good 'music' there that might have taken step to the other side if liz' king would have still been around. Fatboy Slim found one hook in the debris.

the rework of Waiting For The Sun that whitehallunity made is soooooo good

Gave the 'Other Voices/Full Circle' another listen this morning in a mix. Casually listening to it, it hit me on how some tunes got a similar sound to "Loaded" VU. I had some old Flaming Lips, Grifters, Gallon Drunk in the same mix and the tunes fit better than you would think. The Lizard King-less Doors do kinda have sound that would fit with some 90s UK indie rock, especially hearing it side by side with an Inspiral Carpets track.

my favorite sound is the guitar tone during krieger's big solo in "when the music's over"

cancel my subscription to the resurrection > the west is the best

I think "When the Music's Over" is in every way an improvement over "The End", even though it may be the weakest song on Strange Days.

Never liked it tbh.

I like it but I prefer 'The End'.

It just kind of chugs along for 11 minutes, at least "The End" has highs and lows.

uh may i refer again to krieger's solo

Here's my ranking of Doors epics (original studio albums only, 5 minutes plus):

The Soft Parade
L. A Woman
When the Music's Over
Riders on the Storm
Light My Fire
The End

I like or love the top three and am ambivalent about the bottom three.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zzzt_r6wj8

All I can stand.

I like a lot of your picks but "LA Woman" and maybe "Riders on the Storm" are Top 10 for me

Also, "Whiskey Bar (Alabama Song)"--or is it vice-versa---I was in Alabama, wanted to get into whiskey, also bars, and it did get me into Brecht and Weill, also marxophones.

Five To One

Roadhouse Blues

Not To Touch The Earth is easily my #1

Love Me Two Times. When the Music's Over!

Nice to see their Forever Changes tribute "Wishful Sinful" get recognized.
"The Unknown Soldier" is also good, and reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel's "Fakin' It": both late 60s singles with a theatrical/dramatic interlude.

la woman brings me so much joy i can't stand it. immediate mood lift

off the top of my head the best doors songs are

la woman
five to one
when the musics over
riders on the storm
break on through

i feel like there are more but maybe not? of the bands that are not very good they are truly one of the best

is it bad that i like Peace Frog? i like Peace Frog

I thought everybody liked Peace Frog?

top 5 musical frog imo

Crazy doesn't get a look in.

Frog Chorus in the wings, croaking in vain.

mashup idea:

"(Peace) Froggy Went A-Courtin'"

LMAO

I like "Peace Frog" too. Even though there's only a few cuts from Morrison Hotel that I kept in my library ("Peace Frog" being one), it's actually an okay album. Not a great one, but mostly listenable.

Love Indian Summer and The Spy off Morrison Hotel.

I Can't See Your Face In My Mind

“The Soft Parade” is the first disco song ever, specifically the “Peppermint miniskirts” bit. Loop that over and over again and you’ll be disco-dancing fool. CHANGE MY MIND.

my issues with this band are widely documented on ILM, but i'm really enjoying listening to Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, which i guess was a comp intended to speak to their jammier/proto-proggier side or something? like it has some of their big hits, but not their earlier, poppier hits besides, significantly, "Break On Through." and a lot more extended droney, arguably monotonous jams. so i think it paints a picture of the band that i can be on the same wavelength of. although lugubrious in places, and stops dead in its tracks for "You Need Meat" imho, it works better than their Greatest Hits that i dug out of my parents' collection as a teenager, which had those other songs like "Light My Fire" and "Love Me Two Times" and "People Are Strange." (i don't dislike them because they're poppier, to be clear, i've just never found them very exciting as 60s pop-rock songs!) "Hello I Love You" i think i like in my head, but it's really "Crush With Eyeliner" my brain is conjuring, mostly.

really was tempted to do another Honkin' on Bobo display name, with "Mister Mojo Risin'" ...but that's gotten so firmly attached to "Mister JoJo Rabbit" after seeing the posters for that movie at the subway entrance for six months.

"Weird Scenes" is a great comp and yeah it was specifically meant to highlight their more out/weirder stuff vs the stuff that was on "13".

You Need Meat is insanely bad, I'm pretty sure the only person who thought Ray should sing a song was Ray

"Who Scared You" is a great b-side on that record, and would have been better than a lot of the songs that made it onto Soft Parade.

oh wow this comp hits the spot

I started wondering last night: what songs from the original six Doors albums have never been extracted for a compilation? By my count, there are only eight:

I Looked At You
My Wild Love
Yes The River Knows
The Soft Parade
Indian Summer
Been Down So Long
L'America
Crawling King Snake

Two or three good ones!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMiAQPABgHA

...The group’s 60th anniversary celebration is upon us, too — starting next month with some key archival releases. Arriving Nov. 22 via Rhino’s High Fidelity audiophile vinyl series is The Doors 1967-1971, a limited edition (3,000 copies) six-LP set that houses the six studio albums the band released during late frontman Jim Morrison’s lifetime. A week later, for Record Store Black Friday, Rhino will release a four-disc remastered vinyl edition of Live in Detroit, taken from a May 8, 1970, concert at the city’s famed Cobo Arena. The 25-song set is the longest concert the Doors ever performed, according to band manager Jeff Jampol of JAM Inc.

Following those, in early 2025, will be Night Divides the Day, a 344-page book from Britain’s Genesis Publications that includes new interviews with Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, archival material from Morrison and the late keyboardist Ray Manzarek, commentary from other colleagues, friends and admirers, a treasure trove of photos, a foreword by Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and an afterward by conductor and composer Gustavo Dudamel (a recent Billboard cover subject). The 2,000 numbered box sets will be signed by Krieger and Densmore and come with rare demo recordings of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive” on a 7-inch vinyl disc. It’s available for pre-order here.

Cops in cars, the chocolate bars

Peppermint miniskirts, chocolate candy

Sidewalk crouches at huh feet
Like uh dawwg that begs for somethin sweet
Do you hope to make her see, you fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsbIXm30c8k

femme d’LA
Dimanche apres midi

I have a bunch of back-up CD-R's for albums I'm not sure I want to own - mostly "audiophile" masterings that I wouldn't want to purchase if I didn't like the music that much. This past week I decided to give L.A. Woman another try as I was on a late '60s/early '70s California kick, and for whatever reason, it clicked. For the first time ever, I found myself enjoying a Doors album from start to finish. (It kind of helped to remember that the songs could be tongue-in-cheek.) Also having Jerry Scheff (Elvis Presley's TCB Band) fill in on bass was a good idea - he does an excellent job.

It was enough to send me over to Morrison Hotel and the debut, but I still found them very uneven. tbf lot of great stuff on the debut and some of my favorites are on Morrison Hotel, but as an unbroken listening experience, I much preferred L.A. Woman.

I still play The Soft Parade all the way through. Sort of like my love for the CURE's The Top, I feel like they are under appreciated flawed masterpieces, both with epic closing title tracks as well.