If Jim lived, would he have come back to The Doors?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by The Doctor, Jan 7, 2018.

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  1. The Doctor

    The Doctor Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Philidelphia, PA
    Calling all Doors experts....

    Is it known with any degree of certainty, that had Jim lived, would he have done another record with The Doors? Was Paris intended as quiet retirement? Or simply living as a fugitive while he awaited the outcome of his appeals? Or simply a vacation? I've heard variously that he intended to return to the US in October 1971, and in other places that he never wanted to return to the U.S. Likewise, I've heard he was quite pleased with the warm reception to L.A. Woman and said something like, "If they liked that, wait till they see what I've got next" and yet I've also heard he was basically done with The Doors.

    Those who know more, fill me in please.
     
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  2. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Hard to say--but I really think they would've ended up doing something a bit along the lines of An American Prayer at some point, actually--straight up, spoken word poetry from Jim.

    Had he lived, I like to think the band would've fully reunited at some point, in some fashion. Difficult to imagine them creating in the pop climate of the 70's though.
     
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  3. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    Nobody knows.
     
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  4. curbach

    curbach Some guy on the internet

    Location:
    The ATX
    No, I think he would have hooked up with the Scorpions.
     
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  5. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Much of the Other Voices material was written with the assumption that he'd come back and sing over it.
     
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  6. Mr wiggles

    Mr wiggles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    I think the fact the rest of the band attempted to go on without him suggests he would have.
     
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  7. The Doctor

    The Doctor Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Philidelphia, PA
    Why's that? The Stones had a similar sound as The Doors at the point ('71) and they survived. Morrison Hotel ('70) and L.A. Woman ('71) showed they could rock and do the blues as well as anyone else....They might not have played as hard as Led Zeppelin or as dark as Black Sabbath but they didn't need to. I mean this is the decade that gave us KISS and Aerosmith...As long as Jim's songwriting kept up with good songs, I don't see why they could've remained competitive. Look at The Beatles' solo works. Very very hippie stuff (George especially) and remained commercially competitive into 1974/1975.

    I mean if the Grateful Dead could survive the 70s why not The Doors?
     
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  8. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah because he probably knew that's where the money was.
     
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  9. Trainspotting

    Trainspotting Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I always thought he went to Paris as an extended vacation, and that he had every intention of returning to work with the band.
     
  10. keifspoon

    keifspoon Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    My perception is, that they always left the door open.
     
  11. jawaka1000

    jawaka1000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    I can picture Jim with makeup and a glitter suit.
     
  12. The Doctor

    The Doctor Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Philidelphia, PA
    The big question is the Miami legal situation. He had been sentenced in September 1970 to several months hard labor for indecent exposure. He was waiting on his appeal when he died. That's the big question. Of course The Doors could've come to Paris and done a record there but touring would be out of the question....

    He was trim and in much better shape, ironically, when he died, then he had been in a long time. I tend to believe the story that he snorted Pam's heroin mistaking it for cocaine and overdosed and she covered it up.

    6/28/1971:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Trainspotting

    Trainspotting Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yeah, I'm surprised he was allowed to leave the country when his case was on appeal.
     
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  14. Efus

    Efus Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I think short-term, Chrome, is right.

    LA Woman was a great album, Doors looked liked they had turned the corner, but Jim was clearly burnt out.
    A rest, a vanity project like formally recording some of his poetry, may have been just the thing to help him get it back together
    and re-focused on music.

    IMO, musically, Riders on the Storm being the last cut, tells me a more mature laidback jazz influenced sound was probably the direction they were heading in.
     
  15. bobc

    bobc Bluesman

    Location:
    France
    Definitely. Why wouldn't he? There would have been plenty of money in it. OK, legal issues and stuff, but that would have made great publicity.

    My worry is, just doing the old songs again might have been a bit of a drag. Did he and the Doors have the ability to create any new songs that might have come through?

    If it all would have finished in lamé suits in Vegas, maybe it's better it ended where it did.
     
  16. Pierino

    Pierino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canonsburg
    Yes, I think he would've returned to The Doors and they would've released a new album in 1972. They were just too good as musicians and especially Jim as a singer. And, if what I read is correct, after Paul Rothchild left, the recording of L.A. Woman went on without any serious hitches, which can't be said for some other Doors' albums. The bigger question is what The Doors would've done about live performances. I think they got to the point where their patience was wearing thin with Jim's shenanigans. Some major changes would've had to be made with touring, and of course, that would have to start with Jim's...problems. That's where things would've gotten very interesting, both for Jim and the band.
     
  17. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    I think Jim wanted the focus on him to die down before he would have returned. As I recall he was tired of being the center of attention in the band.

    I also agree the Doors music would have shifted a bit if he had returned. Jim always considered himself a poet first and a rock singer was second.

    I always envision what Ship With Sails from Other Voices would have sounded like with Jim singing. It would have been a great followup to Riders on the Storm. I can also hear Jim singing Tightrope Ride.
     
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  18. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    Hard to say: he gave contradictory accounts of what his intentions were. The most enticing is that he was planning something even more 'mind-blowing' as a follow-up to LAW.

    Ironically, despite creating the template of the modern 'rock star', Jim doesn't seem to have liked rock and roll much. Part of him seemed to want to be a serious academic - a real case of the Dionysian impulse at war with the Apollonian one.

    He does seem to have had a death wish, though, so he was probably doomed whatever he chose to do.
     
  19. perplexed

    perplexed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast NJ, USA
    Nah, if he lived I picture him becoming more or less a poet/author like Charles Bukowski. Maybe he gets back into film.
     
  20. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I would take the under. IMHO, Jim wasn’t driven by money. If he needed money, he could have gotten what he needed.

    The Doors, as people knew it, would have ceased to exist.

    Jim was done with the “rock scene” and the limelight.

    [​IMG]
     
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  21. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
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  22. The Doctor

    The Doctor Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Philidelphia, PA
    That's always been such a cool picture. That's the session he recorded his poems on, his last birthday I believe.
     
  23. The Doctor

    The Doctor Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Philidelphia, PA
    One thing I tend to wonder is how much of Other Voices was written before he died?
    How much was intended for Jim?
    Because honestly, Ships with Sails and Tightrope Ride would've been "mind-blowing" with Jim on vocals and providing his lyrics.

    I'd have loved to see them take an even rockier direction in the later 70s and given Ray's later interest in the LA punk scene (with which I do believe Jim would've had a degree of cred) who knows. I don't see LA Punks hating Jim the way they hated Mick Jagger or Elton John. He may not have been one of THEM but he was more of an authentic rebel.
     
  24. tinnox

    tinnox Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Isn’t he still in retirement?!
     
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  25. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    He probably wasn’t coming back from Paris in 1971. He made it pretty clear to Siddons and Fink that he was through with The Doors. He was also facing a possible prison sentence and one suspects he would not have returned to the States until that was resolved. And while Densmore claims Morrison seemed enthusiastic about the future, who knows what his motivation was during that alleged phone call.

    That being said, Morrison would have run out of money at some point, likely by the mid-1970’s (his poetry and film work was not going to pay the bills), the likelihood of a Doors reunion was probably going to be a necessity for all parties involved.
     
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