The Doors' live albums: recommendations?

I've been wanting to check out some of The Doors' live work, but I've found that they have released a lot of live material and I was wanting to know which release (or releases) is considered the best. Is there any sort of consensus on the best/worst? Are there any releases that should be outright avoided. Any info on cuts/edits/overdubs/etc. would also be appreciated.

 

This CD is a good starter - The Doors In Concert.

It contains all of Absolutely Live and Alive, She Cried. It also includes the blistering live "Roadhouse Blues" from the Morrison poetry album An American Prayer. Plus a couple of tracks from Hollywood Bowl.

 

Oh man, this is a major can of worms that you're opening up!

Firstly, wikipedia is a good if simple reference point for basic info.

I'm gonna give a short, off the top of my head breakdown of the Doors live albums:

Absolutely Live: cut from various shows to create a perfect fantasy concert.

Alive She Cried: virtually every track is overdubbed or manipulated in some way!

In Concert: contains the above two albums, plus The End from the Hollywood Bowl and Roadhouse Blues from American Prayer. Pretty much essential, with plenty of songs that do not appear on their albums.

Live At The Hollywood Bowl: this is a 1987 album, featuring a few songs from the Hollywood Bowl, but all featuring new guitar from Robby. It's an interesting curio.

Live At The Bowl '68: this is a MOSTLY untouched original Hollywood Bowl show. Morrison's vocals on Hello I Love You are the studio vocals however. Not something I personally go back to often.

All the Bright Midnight releases: they are largely unedited and un-overdubbed concerts. There are a few bits and pieces here and there that had to be "fixed" for one reason or another, and I believe the liner notes credit all such instances. Which shows you prefer depends on your taste, I suppose. Some are out of print and rare (and expensive!) while others should be easier to obtain. Mostly great sound quality, save for Vancouver. I think Pittsburgh is a great and compact live release. The New York box is expansive, covering four shows over two nights. Boston is just ok, and Jim's drunken sloppiness does impact it at times. Not a bad release, but I'd recommend the others over it.

The Doors 1997 box set disc Live In New York. One disc of this set features tracks from New York, but many of them are overdubbed, plus a few edits, and Gloria is from the Aquarius soundcheck!

London Fog: the earliest live recording. A short but interesting listen, mainly for an early performance of Strange Days. Only available in a bloated box filled with "memorabilia."

Then there is the Matrix stuff. I'll let someone else explain. I own none of it so far!

In short: get In Concert, and then proceed from there!

 

I would not start with Absolutely Live/Alive She Cried. AL does not contain the best and most compelling performances from the professional recordings circa 1969/1970, and ASC is way too heavily truncated with 1983-circa overdubs.

As far as the other options are concerned, the Hollywood Bowl reissue is a good place to start because The Doors were generally great in 1968 and the HB show does contain some nice live work, albeit with some engineering manipulation. Additionally, the Felt Forum box set is probably the best of the the 1970 live multi-tracks (although the final show contains rough vocals), and the second Aquarius show from 1969 live multi-track also contains some noteworthy performances.

 

Yes, I had forgotten the Matrix in 1967, The Doors live at the start of their career.
I'm very fond of this set, but I need to disclose that I only know it from a the Moonlight Drive bootleg LP (single-record), and have not heard the Bright Midnight release.

(The Doors Live at the Matrix Bright Midnight double CD)


The Moonlight Drive bootleg LP cover, I love the illustration.

 

the bright midnight stuff is the best way to go. though some of them are very expensive. maybe skip those. what I know was easier to obtain I'd get eithers felt forum box or Pittsburgh. Vancouver is nice for the stuff with albert king.

 

I would start by dipping your toes in - the In Concert double CD is awesome (although manipulated).

If you want to go much deeper, I suggest you check out the Felt Forum box set - four complete concerts NY 1970. It's warts 'n all, and sounds really good

 

Stockholm '68

 

Short answer: In Concert, Matrix

You will get enough long answers here. Felt Forum Box gets a lot of praise, but I find it uneven. It must be mostly Morrison who apparently could not stay on the level and later shows in the box do not sound exactly great the first one is fine and you can find a separate release). Hollywood Bowl I find boring. Absolutely Live (or In Concert disc one) is edited but in the end it was the right thing to do with this band. They were not the biggest live act in the world.

 

My first thought. Two great live albums in one package.

 

Was the Detroit show on bright midnight but the New York box is now my go to live set for them

 

My vote for the bright midnight releases as well.
Pretty much all the bright midnight releases are complete, true to form performances, and pretty much all good, but not all readily available. Pittsburgh, Boston, Vancouver, and live at bowl are reasonably priced and readily available.
Pittsburgh is a great show. So are Aquarius, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Live in New York (felt box), but those can harder to find on disc and often overpriced when available.

The official Matrix releases kind of suck, but probably fine for the casual Doors listener.

London Fog box is great example of early Doors but maybe only good for the collectors/hardcore fans @ at an average 45 bucks for 30 minutes.

Probably everything mentioned in this thread is available on youtube ranging from excerpts to complete, so that might be a good way to sample some stuff.

 

In Concert.

 

Absolutely Live. Love when he tells everyone to "SHUT UPPP!!!"

 

Listen to PacificOceanBlue, he has extensive Doors knowledge and on another thread (What is the greatest Doors live album on cd out there?) he ranks the Bright Midnight releases. I recently found a used Live in Pittsburgh for $10 and that is a great set that sounds good too. The individual Aquarius shows are very expensive but there are some "Highlights From the Aquarius..." cds available for a lot less (mine has 2/3 of the 2nd show). The Live at Matrix '67 is from very early in their career and I like you can hear them developing their ideas, but the cd sound quality is horrible. The 2017 RSD version sounds much better, although with only 1/3 of the songs, and I think you can find it in secondary market for $25. No doubt RSD 2018 will probably have Live at Matrix vol 2, which I hope will contain When the Musics Over and Gloria.

 

Felt Forum was the best of teh archives i also like detroit though some disagree.

the original 'Absolutly Live' probably cherry picked very well for the casual fan.

 

Not a huge fan but I think Absolutely Live is great. I hear a side of Morrison that's missing from the studio albums. Having Fun With The Doors On Stage? Not sure if the other live stuff captures this, if so I wouldn't mind hearing more. Picked up a nice Rhino vinyl copy a few years ago. Not sure if that's still available.

 

Voted for Absolutely Live, but my own recomendations would be: In Concert, Live in Pittsburg

 

PacificOceanBlue has extensive Doors knowledge (thats a fact ,a true fan) but if you want to wake up a morning and get yourself a beer then ....in concert.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Does anyone know where I might find some sort of list detailing the edits made to Absolutely Live? It is my understanding that there are not nearly as many as were initially claimed, but I'd still like to judge for myself whether it is "live" enough for me.

 

The Felt Forum box set.

 

The "editing" in this case mostly meant cross-fading, editing different performances together (like the Alabama Song/Backdoor Man/Love Hides Five to One -medley) and moving banter from one show before a performance from a different one. In some small cases they shortened some tracks a bit. If i remember correctly, When the Music is Over and Celebration of a Lizard were slightly edited, as were the naughty verse from Build me a Woman. No big deal, if you ask me. It's a fine album.

Wikipedia:
"Many shows were recorded during the band's 1970 tour to create the Absolutely Live album. The Doors' producer and longtime collaborator Paul A. Rothchild claimed to have painstakingly edited the album from many different shows to create one cohesive concert. According to Rothchild, the best part of a song from the Detroit show may have been spliced together with another part of the same song from the Boston show, trying to create "the ultimate concert." Rothchild has said, "I couldn't get complete takes of a lot of songs, so sometimes I'd cut from Detroit to Philadelphia in midsong. There must be 2,000 edits on that album."

Despite this claim, the Bright Midnight record company (Rhino/Elektra/Warner group) started to publish all the uncut masters of all the shows recorded for Absolutely Live (July 1969 – June 1970: Aquarius Theatre 1969, 8 CDs; Live in New York 1970, 6 CDs; Boston 1970, 3 CDs; Philadelphia 1970, 2 CDs, Pittsburgh 1970, 1 CD, Detroit 1970, 2 CDs), ultimately proving Rothchild to be wrong. In fact, most of the tracks were taken from the Doors performance at the Felt Forum on January 17 and 18, 1970. Official audio professional proofs show that less than 5 major cuts were done on Absolutely Live. These recorded audio proofs, from officially available CDs, allow matching of each song on the Absolutely Live album to each recorded concert, showing that Rothchild's claim of multiple edits to songs for cohesiveness is totally untrue. These are the real sources of each song, proving that no major cut or edit was actually done on songs."

Tracklisting:

All songs recorded in 1970 at the Felt Forum, New York, unless otherwise indicated

1. 
   
   • "House Announcer" (Philadelphia '70)
   • "Who Do You Love?" (E. McDaniel)
   • "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" (Weill/Brecht)
   • "Back Door Man" (W. Dixon/C. Burnett)
   • "Love Hides" (Jim Morrison) (Philadelphia '70)
   • "Five to One" (The Doors)
   • "Build Me a Woman" (The Doors)
   • "When the Music's Over" (The Doors)
   • "Close to You" (W. Dixon) (spoken intro Pittsburgh '70)
   • "Universal Mind" (Morrison/Robby Krieger) (Aquarius '69 second show)
   • "Petition the Lord with Prayer" (Morrison)
   • "Dead Cats, Dead Rats" (The Doors) (Detroit '70)
   • "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" (The Doors) (Detroit '70)
   • "Celebration of the Lizard" (The Doors) (Aquarius '69 first show)
   • "Soul Kitchen" (The Doors) (Aquarius '69 second show; the stage words by manager from Felt Forum 18th early show)

Alive She Cried on the other hand was overdubbed and seriously edited.

 

This one is great.

 

Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The Second Performance

This is the best of the professionally recorded Doors concerts. Recorded on 8 track by Bruce Botnick during the summer of 1969, the entire thing is wonderful. The early performance from the same night was also released on CD but the band is a little rusty. But by the time the 2nd late show occurred that night, they were fully warmed up and locked in. It was recorded in a small hall environment where they excelled. Jim's in great voice (not always the case the following year) and Ray is using his Vox keyboard like he used on the first album (more pleasing timbre than the Gibson organ he also used). At one point, Morrison swings from the side balcony to the stage via a rope l left in place by members of the musical Hair and the crowd goes crazy. Later pro recorded Doors concerts taped in 1970 in Boston and Detroit etc are arena recordings with Ray on Gibson organ. NYC Felt Forum was a smaller hall and has good moments. But Aquarius 2nd performance is the best of the bunch.

Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The Second Performance - Wikipedia



Disc one

1. Concert Introduction and Tuning - 2:06
2. Jim's Introduction - 0:11
3. Back Door Man (Willie Dixon, Chester Burnett) - 4:35
4. Break On Through (To the Other Side) (Jim Morrison) - 3:53
5. When the Music's Over - 12:07
6. Tuning - 0:57
7. You Make Me Real (Morrison) - 3:05
8. Tuning - 0:25
9. Universal Mind - 4:42
10. The Crowd Humbly Requests - 2:15
11. Mystery Train/Crossroads (Junior Parker/Robert Johnson) - 5:59
12. The Crowd Again Requests - 0:12
13. Little Red Rooster (Dixon) - 6:28
14. Tuning - 0:49
15. Gloria (Van Morrison) - 10:02
16. Tuning - 0:51
17. Touch Me (Robby Krieger) - 3:29
18. The Crystal Ship (Morrison) - 3:25

Disc two

1. Tuning - 0:48
2. Light My Fire (Krieger) - 13:53
3. The Crowd Requests Their Favourites - 0:57
4. Celebration of the Lizard (Morrison) - 14:59
5. A Request of the Management - 6:45
6. Soul Kitchen (Morrison) - 6:51
7. Jim Introduces Ray - 1:01
8. Close to You (Dixon) - 4:29
9. A Conversation With the Crowd - 2:12
10. Peace Frog [Instrumental](Morrison, Krieger) - 2:36
11. Blue Sunday (Morrison) - 2:38
12. Five to One (Morrison) - 5:47
13. The Crowd Again Requests Their Favorites - 0:44
14. Jim Introduces the Movie - 1:05
15. Rock Me Baby (B.B. King) - 7:38

 

The Felt Forum box set is so much more enjoyable for me than the other Doors' archival shows. Live at the Hollywood Bowl is pretty great as well.