Jeff Jampol: Doors working on Hollywood Bowl 1968 restoration

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by monkboughtlunch, Dec 13, 2009.

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  1. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Texas
    Source: http://thedoors.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20196

    Doors manager notes they have been working on a Hollywood Bowl 1968 restoration project for almost a year.

    Unclear for now what format this will be or a release date.

    I hope this will be:

    a) High resolution re-edit of complete show from source 16mm negatives
    b) 5.1 mix from Botnick
    c) Blu -Ray and DVD
    d) Companion compact disc of complete concert on the Bright Midnight label
    e) Jim's vocals restored (some of the vocals on the 1987 VHS home video were "flown in" from the 1970 Felt Forum Shows.
     
  2. zippy

    zippy Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Thank god there finally getting round to doing this. I really hope for a Blu Ray release with some nice unseen extras
     
  3. PhilCohen

    PhilCohen Forum Resident

    Yes, the first four minutes of the first song feature some flown-in vocals(achieved on a synclavier) because there were places where the microphone cut out. I don't think that restoration can replace what isn't there on the tapes.
     
  4. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Texas
    It is rumored that some of the flown in vocals were aesthetic decisions made by Rothchild.

    I'm not saying there weren't problems with Jim's mic. We just don't know what is fact and what is fiction at this point. For example, did Jim's vocal mic really cut out completely on the 8 track? If so, at what points during the show? If they were instead static pops and not cut outs, perhaps the static could be fixed in Pro-Tools?

    Technology has come a long way since the first release in 1987.

    By the way that 1987 EP CD (incomplete concert) of Hollywood Bowl sounded atrocious. The sound was very thin, with too much reverb.

    Glad to hear they will be remixing this. I'm sure Botnick can get a much better result now given how much digital technology has improved since 1987.
     
  5. PhilCohen

    PhilCohen Forum Resident

    The story originally told, is that Jim thought that the front of the microphone was a windscreen, and he tried to tear it off, thus causing crackling and some moments when the microphone totally cut out.
     
  6. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Texas
    Was the vocal cut out just for the first song? Because Light My Fire apparently contains "flown in" vocals as well and that was performed later in the show. See set list below.

    I'm somewhat skeptical of what we were told by Rothchild in 1987. Did Jim's mic get better after the first song and then quit working at several songs later for Light My Fire? Again, I'm not contesting there were technical problems, just the extent of them, and to what degree Rothchild may have employeed creative license to fly in alternate vocals from other concerts to create a patchwork that he felt was more satisfying, ala "Alive She Cried."

    I wonder if some of the Doors overdubbed instrumental parts for the 1987 video as well. Anyone know?

    Friday, July 5th, 1968
    Hollywood Bowl - Hollywood, CA

    1. When The Music's Over
    2. Alabama Song/ Back Door Man/Five To One/Backdoor man
    3. Hello, I Love You
    4. Moonlight Drive/Horse Latitudes
    5. A Little Game/The Hill Dwellers
    6. Spanish Caravan
    7. Wake Up/Light My Fire
    8. The Unknown Soldier
    9. The End/ Accident Outside/ Grasshopper/ Ensenada/The End
     
  7. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    One special feature I would like is an alternate audio stream on the DVD/BR is the audience tape. The SQ may be bad, but it answers a bunch of questions on what happened THAT night in 1968. It may best be kept an easter egg so some don't feel "ripped off".

    It wouldn't take up that much room on the disc. Interestingly, the original taper is/was a member on that forum and offered Jampol his master copy of his audience tape. He was rebuffed. Go figure.

    Another option is having the audience tape as an alternate stream on the 1-2 songs is question.

    BTW, the Police, ACDC and Ramones have released full songs on DVDs with HORRENDOUS audio. The Doors also released bits of Miami and Boot yer Butt.
     
  8. Yardbird

    Yardbird Forum Resident

    This has the potential to be another terrific release of a Doors' concert. Keep bringing them on!
     
  9. zen

    zen Senior Member

    :righton:
     
  10. Great idea! :righton:
     
  11. Doctor Flang

    Doctor Flang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Helsinki, Finland
    For some reason the front camera shots were totally out of sync. I hope it gets fixed on the new version.
     
  12. shepherdfan

    shepherdfan Western European Socialist Music Lover

    Location:
    Eugene, OR
    As with all of the other releases, I'm in for it.
     
  13. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    IIRC RK overdubbed his solo on Spanish Caravan in the 80's.

    The aud tape reveals that the original vocals on Light My Fire are far better performance wise than the 1970 vocals flown in. In 1968 Jim was still singing it like the record and gave a more committed vocal performance. For obvious reasons the 1968 vocals sit in the groove better than the vocals flown in from 1970 shows.
     
  14. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Texas
    I remember reading somewhere Hollywood Bowl was recorded on 16 track tape on the VHS tape box or something.

    However, I don't think that's the case. Seems more likely this was really an 8 track recording at most. I think the Grateful Dead at Fillmore 1969 is generally recognized as the first live 16 track location rock concert recording.

    Maybe Rothchild dubbed the 8 track to 16 track in 1987 so he would have open tracks for overdubbing and fly-ins?
     
  15. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Commentary track by Harrison Ford!!!!!

    Check the HB credits closely and he did work on this project back in 1968 behind the scenes.
     
  16. PhilCohen

    PhilCohen Forum Resident

    Ford was a cameraman.
     
  17. rokritr

    rokritr Shoveling smoke with a pitchfork in the wind

    In my talks with Frank Lisciandro--who along with Paul Ferrara were the two main cameramen for the Hollywood Bowl concert (there were three other cameramen; one of them operating a slo-mo camera)--and other independent research reveal that the reality of this concert shoot are misunderstood; especially when considering the era in which the concert took place versus today's video age where concert films are commonplace.

    The original plan for the Hollywood Bowl shoot was to fully capture the final three songs of the concert with the entire film crew (four cameras and one slo-mo camera). These three songs arguably encompassed the most notable numbers in the band’s 1968 repertoire—their biggest hit, “Light My Fire”; their most controversial epic, “The End”; and their most theatrical song, “The Unknown Soldier”.

    This WAS the plan, and is proven when watching and studying the 1987 release of the concert in that these three songs are the ONLY ones that feature shots from all of the cameras present. In watching any of the other songs, the shots are confined to only two, sometimes three of the cameras.

    The first half of the concert was a chance for the camera crew to get familiar with the stage, the performance, the lighting, etc., in order to get ready for the scheduled shoot of the final three songs.

    This fact would seemingly bolster the contention that “Hello, I Love You” and the beginning of “Spanish Caravan” were only partially filmed; or, only shot by Paul Ferrara’s camera, which was dead-center of the stage, but was having problems and was out-of-sync throughout the show.

    In fact, Frank shot a lot of still photos during the concert from his location at the lip of the stage to Jim's left. As a matter of fact, it's Frank's filming that accounts for a vast majority of the Hollywood Bowl footage that has been seen over the years.

    I think the problem with all of this is that people are attempting to force today's mindset of filming concerts into a wholly different mindset that existed 40 years ago. The Doors weren't attempting to make a concert film with "Feast Of Friends"; nor was Granada with "The Doors Are Open"......The Doors themselves did film the Hollywood Bowl Concert (but this was merely as part of the “FOF” project and there was never an intention of releasing the full concert at the time).

    There also seems to be this assumption that there was a "huge budget" behind "Feast Of Friends" which is pretty amusing, and add to that, that back in those days, to "burn film" was incredibly expensive.

    Plus, bands weren't filming and releasing complete concert films or even full song performances back in 1968.

    “Woodstock” hadn’t taken place yet, and no one could even conceive that this yet-to-occur event would also be filmed and become the historic cinematic document that it did; and then the Mayasle brothers would create the Stones' memorable "Gimme Shelter" and we would see the dissolution of the Beatles in "Let It Be". But before that, there was not a true market for a band to film, produce, edit and release a full-length concert movie.

    Hell, the Beatles are THE most filmed music group in the history of the world by far. No band or artist even comes close to the Beatles in terms of how much film footage of them was shot, but how many complete concerts were filmed and released by them? Get the picture..?

    "Feast Of Friends" is a time-capsule of a 60s era indie film that was NEVER intended to be what today is known as a "concert film".......As a lover of true artistic history, the good and the bad, I'm glad to have "FOF" and something like "The Doors Are Open" in their original form.

    But the MTV generation who seem to have a lack of interest in anything but revisionist history will obviously be confused by these films, instead of seeing them as true time-capsules of a time and era that we'll never ever see again.

    Of course, we'd love it if every Doors concert was fully filmed, but the reality is that this whole discussion is nothing more than Monday Morning Quarterbacking from an unrealistic standpoint forty years later.

    Remember, this footage was only being shot for inclusion in what would become the "Feast Of Friends" documentary; there was never any intention--much less a viable marketplace--for a "concert film". In hindsight, we're lucky to have this much of a performance that was captured at all.

    As for Harrison Ford, his involvement at the Doors' Hollywood Bowl concert was that of a camera-loader; not a cameraman.

    If you'd really like to get more info on the Hollywood Bowl concert, and, more importantly, a real look at Jim Morrison the Man, through the eyes of one of his closest friends, read my extensive interview with Frank Lisciandro here.
     
  18. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Texas
    Hi Rokritr,

    Is Frank involved in the restoration project? I read somewhere that he was not credited as cameraman in the 1987 video project.

    I think most of the conversation here has been about the sound, why pieces were flown in from other concerts etc. Does Frank have any knowledge about Jim's mic or vocal track cutting out?
     
  19. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Great news. This has been a long-time coming.
     
  20. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Hendrix had pretty full coverage at Monterey of his entire set. Although other acts had specific songs cherry picked in advance with multiple angles while other songs wee completely ingnored.

    Hendrix Wodstock was released on DVD even though some songs only have coverage from a single camera.
     
  21. Simon A

    Simon A Arrr!

    As one who discovered The Doors because of the Live At The Hollywood Bowl VHS, I'm really interested in getting this. I love that show, for what it is, bits flown in and all. I truly hope they do a got job.
     
  22. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
  23. Anthrax

    Anthrax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    This will be a real treat (if they don't screw it up lol).
     
  24. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I'm looking forward to this one. This was the first release that made my really love The Doors.
     
  25. jdlaw

    jdlaw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    Fingers crossed! :laugh:

    +1

    If done correctly, this will be a fantastic release. If the footage has been restored properly, it should look stunning on Blu Ray.
     
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